Uprising

Yetta is tired of society women, although Rahel says their donations pay for bail and lawyers that help keep the strike going. Yetta contemplates how she likes Jane best of all the society women because she can freely admit, “I’m not really doing anything. Just watching” (133). Conditions are hard on the picket line. The strikers are cold and hungry.

Yetta watches Bella run recklessly for the picket line. In her haste, Bella is hit by a car, but she keeps crying out and wading through traffic. She appears ill and disheveled, wearing nothing but her night clothes. Yetta suggests that Jane can read her letter because she speaks Italian. Jane explains that the letter says, “people are dead” (136). Jane says she’ll take Bella home with her and orders Mr. Corrigan to take her in the car.

Although his car hit Bella, Mr. Corrigan initially hesitates to put her in the vehicle, worried what Jane’s father will think. Jane commands him sternly, thinking she sounds just like her father. Jane is excited that she is finally doing something after weeks of feeling useless. In the car, Jane tries vainly to comfort Bella as she sobs with abandon. Jane recalls her own mother’s death when Jane was nine years old, and how Miss Millhouse made Jane feel it was selfish to cry.

At home, Jane orders Mr. Corrigan to carry Bella up the stairs. Miss Millhouse angrily confronts Jane, who explains that Bella “just lost her whole family” (142). Miss Millhouse coldly tells her to send Bella on her way with “a few coins for pity” (142). Instead, Jane draws a bath for Bella. When she assists Bella in the bathroom, Jane is shocked by her thinness and orders the kitchen to send a tray of food. After her bath, Bella tucks herself into bed and Jane watches over her.

In Jane’s bed, Bella drifts in and out of sleep. Jane feeds her warm broth and medicine. When Bella wakes up, Jane tells her that her family is in heaven just like the priest says in her letter. When Bella realizes Jane has the letter, she cries out for Yetta.

Yetta watches a socialite argue with her chauffeur over a protest sign at a women’s rights automobile parade. The socialite woman theatrically protests that the message is important, but the chauffeur says she’ll be complaining about the scratched paint afterward. Yetta feels confused loyalties.

Yetta recalls how she argued with Rahel about whether or not they should bring Bella home with them. Rahel thought they should help her, but Yetta argued that Bella was a scab and her health was not their responsibility.

During the parade, Yetta happily rides in a car driven by a woman. People stare and cheer. Jane’s chauffeur calls out to Yetta from the sidewalk. Yetta gets out and Corrington bows politely, explaining he has been sent to fetch her for Bella. Yetta is torn about whether she should rejoin the parade or go with Corrington until he exclaims, “the whole city is proud of you” (154). He explains that his own niece works in a coat factory.

At Jane’s home, Bella is frustrated because she has been trying to communicate with Jane in Yiddish that she learned at the factory, thinking it was English. Yetta thus serves as a translator between Bella and Jane. Jane translates the Italian letter into English for Yetta. According to the letter, Bella’s parents died the first week of July. Bella is furious because this death occurred during the first week she wasn’t paid. Yetta explains that situations like this inspired The Triangle strike. Bella pledges to strike, too, in order to avenge her family.

Miss Millhouse bursts in and insults both Triangle girls. Furious, Jane attempts to fire Miss Millhouse. Miss Millhouse laughs and says Jane can’t fire her because she’s “just a bit of fluff” her father is going to marry off and that’s “all a girl is worth” (162). Fed up with Jane’s home environment, Yetta declares that she and Bella have to get to the strike. She asks for Bella’s clothes, and Miss Millhouse says she had them burned. Jane offers Bella one of her own blue serge dresses and gives both girls $20. Yetta reflects that no amount of money is worth living with Miss Millhouse.

On the way to the strike, Bella tells Yetta that Jane took good care of her. Now, she has nowhere to go. Yetta offers to let Bella stay with her and Rahel.

Jane cries as Bella and Yetta leave, watching them from her window. Miss Millhouse chastises her for bringing two shirtwaist girls into the house, and Jane angrily throws herself across her bed.

In the midst of her fit, Jane recalls the words of her mother when she was sick. Jane’s mother told her, “Ladies like us, we’re too delicate for this world…” (167). Appalled at the idea of being “too delicate” when she isn’t truly sick, Jane vows to be of use to the strikers. She rises to her feet and makes a list of ways she can support the strike.