Uprising

Jacob approaches Yetta at the end of the day and asks if she’d like to go dancing. Though Yetta feels the pull of spring romance, she declines, worrying that he wants to go dancing “for all the wrong reasons” (236). Outside The Triangle, Bella and Jane giggle about law school boys coming out of the school nextdoor. Yetta snaps that it would be better to pick them out to help the union. Yetta calls out to a law student, Charles Livingston, and asks if he knows of any laws to help the union. The law student says he’s just a first year and he isn’t sure, but he can find out.

Yetta runs into Rahel near the apartment. Rahel beckons Yetta to come sit on the fire escape because she has something to tell her. She announces that she’s going to have a baby. Yetta expresses weary congratulations, worrying that the baby will prevent Rahel from bringing their parents to America. Rahel tells Yetta that back in Russia, she saw people burned alive in the pogrom, that she watched as a girl burned out “in a flash” (240). Rahel explains that she never thought she could have a normal life. Yetta asks how she could want one, and Rahel tries to explain that maybe having a baby is the best thing she can do within her short life.

Over the spring, Jane uses newspapers dug out of the trash to teach Bella and Yetta English. They see a notice for an upcoming suffrage parade in a copy of Ladies Home Journal. They work a half day so they can all go together. Jane brings Harriet along to the parade after successfully convincing Mrs. Blanck that suffrage is part of being an American girl. Riding a trolley toward the parade, they see a small group of rude male protestors. Then, they see a group of woman anti-suffrage protestors. Jane explains there’s a whole club of them who fear suffrage interferes with family values. Moreover, these groups do not want female immigrants and servants to vote.

Jane asks Harriet what she thinks will happen when women can vote, and Harriet dreams of getting a pony. Bella muses that it’s fun to daydream. Yetta is not content with the concept of dreams.

Summer has gone by pleasantly for Jane, Bella, and Yetta, between trips to the beach, reading lessons, and sharing ice cream three ways on the fire escape. Jane leans against the side of the law building while waiting for her friends, musing about the year’s events. The young law student Charles Livingston comes out of the building, saying he now has an answer to Yetta’s question about the strike: because the settlement was only a verbal agreement, there’s regrettably nothing to do but go on strike again. He apologizes there isn’t more he can do, mentioning that one of his professors wrote to the city department complaining of safety conditions at The Triangle.

Jane continues waiting after he leaves. She sees her former chauffeur, Mr. Corrigan. He tearfully approaches Jane and says he’s been looking for her for months. Jane starts to leave, but Corrigan pleads with her not to “get lost again” (256). Jane says she isn’t lost, that she is actually content where she is. Mr. Corrigan explains that in an attempt to salvage Jane’s reputation, her father made up a story about Jane visiting an aunt in Chicago. Mr. Corrigan defends her father’s desire to provide for his family, explaining that he would’ve “given his eyeteeth” (258) to afford any of his daughters a fraction of the privilege Jane has enjoyed.

Mr. Corrigan goes on to explain that Jane’s father fired Miss Millhouse, who had been pining after him for years. Jane’s father also suffered his own romantic low point when a woman he cared for turned down his advances. Jane has never considered her father’s inner life, and she is very surprised by Mr. Corrigan’s story.

Mr. Corrigan offers to smuggle out Jane’s clothes, promising no one would ever know. Jane says that if no one would ever know, he should take her clothes to his daughters, allowing them to enjoy some fraction of her privilege. She hugs Mr. Corrigan and tells him to come back and tell her about his daughters.

It’s the middle of winter, and Bella says this winter feels even worse than last year’s. Yetta points out that they had something to hope for during last year’s strike. Bella argues there’s still hope for Rahel’s baby, for saving enough money to bring Yetta’s family over, and for Jane to go to college. Yetta claims that all of those things feel distant and she wants to change something now.

Bella goes out in the cold and takes a trolley to a wealthy neighborhood. She enters a flower shop in search of roses. She haggles with a suspicious employee until the shop owner appears and sells her a single rose for five cents. Back at home, Bella presents the rose to the two girls as a gift, placing it in the vase between the two false roses from Rahel’s hat. Bella says that because Yetta is saving for her family and Jane is saving for college, she can pay for small pleasures they can share now.

It is March and the romantic spring breezes have returned. At the end of the work day, a new girl relates her plans to go dancing and mentions the cutter who’s always watching Yetta.

Yetta looks over at Jacob as he prepares the fabric for Monday. Suddenly, the cutters step back because there’s a fire from one of their cigarettes. They grab a fire pail, but there is a bright flash and the flames build beyond control.

There is a rush to escape the factory. A woman faints. Another woman’s hair catches on fire. Jacob grabs Yetta and tries to help. Mr. Bernstein, the factory manager, tries to point a hose at the flames, but no water comes out. Mr. Bernstein ushers all the girls away from the fire, and Yetta marvels that they are on the same side now.

The elevator fills up before Jacob and Yetta can get in. The fire grows and Yetta suggests the fire escape. Jacob says it’s no good because the stairs don’t go all the way down. Jacob opens the stairwell for a group of girls by the freight elevator.

A voice calls out that someone needs to tell the 9th floor about the fire. Yetta runs to warn Bella, who works on the 9th floor.

Jane escorts Harriet and Millicent to The Triangle, where their father plans to meet them and go shopping. They take the elevator to the 10th floor, where Miss Mary, the receptionist, greets them. She is busy and distracted. She mentions that Mr. Blanck had to go to the 9th floor and suggests his daughters wait in his office. Meanwhile, her telautograph repeatedly buzzes, signaling she is receiving a message. Mary says she can’t receive the message because the machine doesn’t work properly.

On the way to Blanck’s office, they pass the pressing department, where many weary-looking workers labor over ironing boards. Millicent ominously mentions their father warned them about the gas and heat in this area. Jane leaves them in their father’s office. When Jane comes back to the front desk, she sees that the women have all puzzlingly vacated the area. When riding the elevator down, the operator notes repeated buzzing from the 8th floor. He lets Jane out on the 9th floor so he can take care of the 8th floor.

On the 9th floor, Jane finds Bella. From across the room, Jane hears Yetta’s voice. She shouts, then screams, as the room erupts in a sudden burst of light.