Uprising obviously takes its title of the Uprising of the 20,000, the great strike of garment workers, including Triangle workers, that preceded the fire. It focuses on three characters, each of which represents a key group in Triangle history: Italian women immigrants, Eastern European Jewish immigrants, and the New York socialites who were part of the suffrage movement that supported the strikers. This tripartite structure effectively allows Haddix to revisit the complex social history surrounding the Triangle fire and to understand the multiple social, cultural, and economic forces at play in the making of this event. She also chooses to make these three characters close friends, and their friendship is much a key part of the plot as is the strike and the fire.
In some ways, the historical work that Haddix executes through her fiction could be described as an example of “microhistory,” an approach to history followed by historian Carlo Ginzburg and others:
“Ginzburg and many of his colleagues attacked large-scale quantitative studies on the grounds that they distorted reality on the individual level. The microhistorians placed their emphasis on small units and how people conducted their lives within them. By reducing the scale of observation, microhistorians argued that they are more likely to reveal the complicated function of individual relationships within each and every social setting and they stressed its difference from larger norms. Micohistorians tend to focus on outliers rather than looking for the average individual as found by the application of quantitative research methods. Instead, they scrutinize those individuals who did not follow the paths of their average fellow countryman, thus making them their focal point. In microhistory the term ‘normal exception” is used to penetrate the importance of this perspective, meaning that each and every one of us do not show our full hand of cards. Seeing what is usually kept hidden from the outside world, we realize that our focus has only been on the “normal exception”; those who in one segment of society are considered obscure, strange, and even dangerous. They might be, in other circles, at the center of attention and fully accepted in their daily affairs.”
In your post this week you will focus on one of the three main social contexts—the New York upper class and the socialites involved in the suffrage movement, the Italian immigrant community, or the Eastern European Jewish community.
Discuss how that context is described in the novel. In particular, you should highlight relationship between characters and context and how that context is connected with and sheds light on Triangle history. U
Uprising
Margaret Peterson
Haddix
Uprising
SuperSummary
1
Table of Contents
O V ERV IEW
3
C H A P TER S UM M A RIES & A N A LYS ES
4
Pages 1-69
4
Pages 70-121
9
Pages 122-167
14
Pages 168-228
17
Pages 229-286
22
Pages 287-330
26
C H A RA C TER A N A LYS IS
31
Mrs. Livingston/Bella Rosetti
31
Jane Wellington
31
Yetta
32
Rahel
32
Pietro
33
Rocco Luciano/Livingston
33
Miss Millhouse
34
Mr. Corrigan
34
Eleanor Kensington
34
Harriet Blanck
35
TH EM ES
36
In America, Money Is God
36
Coded Spaces and Rules of Engagement
36
Communication and Language Barriers
37
The Dismissal of Women as a Group
37
Romance and Dreams
38
S YM B O LS & M O TIFS
Downloaded by Monica Ortiz – missmonicaash101@gmail.com
Do not distribute. Copyright © SuperSummary 2022
39
Uprising
SuperSummary
2
Fire
39
Fire Escapes
39
Clothing
40
IM P O RTA N T Q UO TES
41
ES S A Y TO P IC S
48
Downloaded by Monica Ortiz – missmonicaash101@gmail.com
Do not distribute. Copyright © SuperSummary 2022
Uprising
SuperSummary
3
Overview
Uprising is a novel of historical fiction by Margaret Peterson Haddix. The story revolves
around a 1911 New York fire at The Triangle shirtwaist factory that killed 146 immigrant
workers. The Triangle firefollowed a citywide strike led by the shirtwaist workers that served
to summon great public interest. Thus, the fire was perceived as not only a great tragedy, but
an inciting symbol for the Labor Movement in the Industrial Revolution.
Haddix’s narrative interweaves the perspectives of three women from different classes and
social situations: Bella, Yetta, and Jane. Bella is a young immigrant worker just off the boat
from Italy who is desperate to send money home to her starving family. Yetta is a fervent
activist, self-proclaimed revolutionary, and a Jewish refugee seeking asylum from a Russian
pogrom. Jane is the daughter of a wealthy (but nouveau-riche) businessman who desires to
liberate herself amidst her support for The Triangle strike.
Through Yetta and Bella, the reader is introduced to the financial exploitation and poor
working conditions experienced by immigrant workers in the shirtwaist factory. Workers are
refused payment for “learning” days when they fill in for sick workers. Their already meager
earningsare docked for the slightest infractions. Bosses operate like prison wardens, locking
the doors of the factory until closing time, then searching their workers for stolen goods as
they leave. The unbearable factory conditions lead to an uprising of the shirtwaist workers.
Yetta joins a group of strikers who picket daily outside The Triangle. While picketing, Yetta
meets Jane, who has joined a group of Vassar socialites supporting the strike. Though
wealthy, Jane feels imprisoned by social expectations for women.
Despite their radical differences, Bella, Yetta, and Jane unite in the fight for labor rights and
women’s suffrage. In their combined efforts, the three girls become good friends. When the
historical fire breaks out on March 25, 1911, the reader finds that all three women are present
at the Triangle Waist Company. Through the tragedy that ensues, each woman bravely
confronts her own personal struggle, as the city joins together in both mourning and
remembering.
Downloaded by Monica Ortiz – missmonicaash101@gmail.com
Do not distribute. Copyright © SuperSummary 2022
Uprising
SuperSummary
4
Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Pages 1-69
Summary: Mrs. Livingston (1-5)
The novel opens from the third-person perspective of Mrs. Livingston, a woman who
reportedly takes in “anyone who is troubled or lonely or sad” (1). A young woman, Harriet
Blanck, arrives at Mrs. Livingston’s home unannounced. She demands that Mrs. Livingston
“tell [her] about the fire” (1) that took place at The Triangle shirtwaist factory in 1911.
Assessing Harriet’s interest, Mrs. Livingston realizes Harriet is a daughter of Mr. Blanck, who
co-owned The Triangle. Because of her connection to the wealthy factory owner, Mrs.
Livingston is suspicious of Harriet.
Mrs. Livingston muses about the many different stories surrounding The Triangle fire. She
asks why Harriet wants to hear her story. Harriet explains that she is on the verge of
womanhood, old enough to vote. She recalls that Mrs. Livingston spoke with her about the
women’s vote at a suffrage parade when she was five years old. Mrs. Livingston remembers
the parade and pictures the three young women—Bella, Yetta, and Jane—who escorted young
Harriet. Contemplating why she should be the one to tell Harriet about the fire, Mrs.
Livingston realizes: “Of those three girls who took the five-year-old to the parade, [I am] the
only one still alive” (3).
When Mrs. Livingston asks how Harriet found her, Harriet explains that she hired detectives
with the money from her clothing allowance. Mrs. Livingston decides to tell Harriet about the
fire because she “who would rather know the truth than have new clothes” (4). She begins by
remarking that the fire was not the story’s true beginning: “The story begins like so much
else…[w]ith hope. Hope and dreams and daring…” (5).
Summary: Bella (7-31)
The novel moves back in time to 1910, entering the perspective of Bella, a young immigrant
woman fresh off the boat from Italy. Bella has just moved in with her distant cousin, Pietro,
who announces that he has found he found her a job at The Triangle shirtwaist factory.
Signora Luciano, the crude-mannered landlady, warns that Bella “will be fired inside of a day”
Downloaded by Monica Ortiz – missmonicaash101@gmail.com
Do not distribute. Copyright © SuperSummary 2022
Uprising
SuperSummary
5
(10) and offers Bella a job making false flowers for hats. Pietro protests that Bella can make
more money at the shirtwaist factory, privately explaining that Signora Luciano would cheat
Bella out of her earnings if she worked for her.
Pietro walks Bella to work the next morning. He explains to Bella that she is only a “learner”
on her first day of work and will not receive payment. Bella is worried about sending money
home to her starving family in Italy, and Pietro tells he she must accept how things work in
America. He promises to send money home to her family next week.
Bella is quickly thrust into work at the factory. The foreman, Senor Carlotti, orders her to trim
the loose threads off of shirtwaists. He is harsh with his workers, telling Bella “no talking”
when she tries to introduce herself to another girl, and commanding her to work faster or her
family will starve. This pressure makes it difficult for Bella to concentrate, and Carlotti scolds
her for leaving a hanging thread on a shirtwaist. He threatens to fire her if she makes another
mistake.
Without speaking, the girl next to Bella shows her a way she can trim the shirts more
efficiently.
At the end of the day, a contractor incites the factory workers to strike. Bella does not
understand what is happening because she doesn’t speak English, but the girl next to Bella
urges her to rise to her feet and walk out. Pietro meets Bella at The Triangle to walk her home
from work, and she describes what happened. Pietro cries, “You just lost your job!” (26).
After Pietro drops Bella off at the apartment, he goes back to The Triangle to negotiate with
Signor Carlotti for Bella’s job. To prove she is not a “radical or an anarchist” (30), Signor
Carlotti demands that Bella must work four more days without pay. Bella is horrified that she
will not be able to send money home to her family.
Summary: Yetta (32-38)
The next section follows the perspective of Yetta, a Russian Jewish socialist. In this scene,
Yetta argues at the dinner table with her sister, Rahel, who immigrated to America for political
safety years before Yetta arrived. Yetta claims that now is the time for a strike, while Rahel is
more cautious, explaining that the union has not saved enough money.
We learn that Yetta is the girl who was sitting next to Bella in the factory. Yetta recalls the
scene earlier that day wherein a male contractor, Mr. Kline, incited the workers to strike. Yetta
Downloaded by Monica Ortiz – missmonicaash101@gmail.com
Do not distribute. Copyright © SuperSummary 2022
Uprising
SuperSummary
6
argues that this incident matters because it was started by a man, knowing his opinion
carries more practical weight than 400 women combined. Rachel assures Yetta that they will
get ready “so the next time something like this flares up” (37), they will prevail.
Summary: Jane (38-43)
The next chapter follows the perspective of a wealthy young woman named Jane Wellington.
Jane is late to leave for tea with young socialites Lilly Aberfoyle and Pearl Kensington
because her governess, Miss Millhouse, finds fault in the way Jane’s maid has styled Jane’s
hair. Miss Millhouse is anxious about Jane’s social performance because Jane’s family is new
money.
As Jane’s car goes by The Triangle, Jane notices that the workers on break “[look] like they
[are] having a lot more fun” (40) than she is. Jane expresses curiosity and her chauffeur, Mr.
Corrington, starts to explain that his niece works in a similar factory. His story is cut off by
Miss Millhouse.
Bored by the conversation at tea, Jane interrupts Lilly with a remark that she “saw some
factory girls on the way here” (41). Jane wonders what factory girls thinks about, and the
women at tea react as though she’s mentioned something “unpleasant and unmentionable”
(41). Lilly dismisses the idea that poor people “think” like the rich do (42). Pearl jokes that
Jane sounds like her cousin Eleanor, who has expressed “odd ideas” (42) since she began
going to college at Vassar. Jane says she would like to meet Eleanor.
Summary: Bella (44-57)
Bella’s daydreams help her cope with the dull work day. She alternates between fantasies of
the food her wages will buy her family and dreams of kissing Pietro on the fire escape stairs.
Her dreams are interrupted by Signor Carlotti, who asks Bella to fill in for a sick girl at the
sewing machines. He promises she will earn $4.25 at the machines instead of her usual
$4.00.
The machine moves quickly and Bella snags the first shirtwaist she works on. Carlotti warns
that the ruined shirtwaist is coming out of her salary. At the end of the day, he only pays her
$3.10. When Bella protests, he claims he has subtracted extra money because she was a
“learner” on the sewing machine.
Downloaded by Monica Ortiz – missmonicaash101@gmail.com
Do not distribute. Copyright © SuperSummary 2022
Uprising
SuperSummary
7
Bella attempts to navigate through the building amidst the rush of people. She tries to exit
out the window down the fire escape stairs, which are hidden and face toward the back of the
building. A guard accosts Bella, believing she is trying to steal shirtwaists. Bella is shocked
that she is treated as a thief since she has done nothing wrong.
Pietro does not show up to walk Bella home from work. He is not at the Luciano’s apartment,
and Signora Luciano frightens Bella with the suggestion that Pietro might’ve been injured at
his job digging ditches. The Luciano’s ten-year-old son, Rocco, goes out to the bars Pietro
frequents to see if he can learn what happened. Rocco returns with the news that Pietro’s
boss has moved to South Carolina with his entire crew, believing he can make more money
there. Because the boss paid for his workers to come to America, they did not have a choice
in the move.
Summary: Yetta (58-62)
Yetta argues with Rahel about how they should’ve asked Bella to join the union. Rahel
protests that Bella does not understand the union and is preoccupied with her crush on
Pietro. Rachel tells Yetta that one’s perspective on life changes when one is in love. She
suggests that Bella might get married and quit her job soon, so there may be no point for her
to join their union. Yetta argues that Bella should still join their union and fight for the wellbeing of the daughters she might have.
Yetta and Rahel run into Mr. Cohen, a young man in Rahel’s English class. Rahel appears to
be infatuated with Mr. Cohen and says she finds him handsome. Yetta continues to talk about
work at The Triangle, sharing her theory that bosses deliberately drive Yiddish and Italian
workers apart by spreading false rumors. She notices Rahel isn’t even listening because she
is caught up in thoughts of Mr. Cohen.
Summary: Jane (63-69)
Jane comes home late at night from a women’s rights lecture she attended with Eleanor. She
tries to sneak past her father’s door, but his cigar smoke makes her cough. Her father
emerges and yells at her for being so late.
Jane admits that she went to a lecture, but conceals the details her father would not approve
of, including the subject of the lecture, the language Eleanor uses, and the fact that they went
to a low-brow icecream parlor afterward. She defends herself by saying she’s home earlier
Downloaded by Monica Ortiz – missmonicaash101@gmail.com
Do not distribute. Copyright © SuperSummary 2022
Uprising
SuperSummary
8
than she would be if she’d gone to a dance. Jane’s father seems to forgive her late arrival
when he learns she was with Eleanor, who comes from a wealthy family. He asks if Eleanor
has a brother, hoping Jane might marry into the family.
Jane feels hurt by her father’s focus on marriage as a financial issue, thinking back to the
lecturer’s words: “Women are not chattel, to be traded off like cattle or hogs!” (66). She recalls
Eleanor’s conversation at the icecream parlor, wherein she pointed out the speaker’s own
hypocrisies, explaining she forced her own daughter to marry a foreign duke against her will.
Jane’s father says Jane’s marriage could make a big difference for his business. Jane
contemplates her father’s study and how certain spaces are not meant for women. She
reflects back to an experience when her father scolded her for hiding under his desk during a
childhood game of hide and seek. She mentions that she’d like to go to a college for women,
like “Vassar, Smith, Barnard” (68). Her father says that the idea of a woman going to college is
as absurd as women wanting to vote. Jane realizes she must hide her true feelings about
women’s rights from her father.
Pages 1-69 Analysis
The first and final chapters of Uprising are both told from the present tense third-person
perspective of Mrs. Livingston (whom we later learn is Bella). The body of the text is divided
into past tense, third-person sections for each of the three women Mrs. Livingston recalls
from the suffrage rally: Bella, Yetta, and Jane. This structure evokes the sensation that there
are many different personal stories contained within the story of The Triangle Fire, as Mrs.
Livingston suggests with her curiosity toward Mr. Blanck’s perspective and her
contemplation of various newspapers’ coverage. As Harriet says, “The newspaper stories are
just paper and ink…I want…flesh and blood” (2). The stories of these three women provide an
intimate view of the different socioeconomic backgrounds, cultural lenses, and personal
struggles that influenced their respective experiences of The Triangle fire. Mrs. Livingston
significantly states that the true story begins not with the fire, but with the “hope” (5)
embodied by The Triangle strike, suggesting that the strike played a critical role in the way
The Triangle is historically remembered.
Language, communication, and barriers to understanding are prevalent themes in this first
section of the novel. Bella is confused and overwhelmed by her new American environment,
unable to understand the strike because a normal work day still feels so foreign to her. Bella’s
struggle to communicate is augmented by her inability to speak English or Yiddish with her
Downloaded by Monica Ortiz – missmonicaash101@gmail.com
Do not distribute. Copyright © SuperSummary 2022
Uprising
SuperSummary
9
fellow shirtwaist workers. When Yetta demonstrates her sewing patterns for Bella without
speaking, she importantly illustrates the ability to communicate beyond language. This
moment is also a significant demonstration of female solidarity, as Bella’s ambassadors to
the English-speaking world—Pietro and Signor Carlotti—are both men.
The first section of Uprising also establishes the themes of gendered spaces and gendered
expectations of behavior. Pietro acts as a go-between for Bella at the bank and with Signor
Carlotti, telling her that a woman will not be respected in these spaces. When Pietro
disappears, Signora Luciano forbids Bella from searching for news in the bars he frequents,
telling her she will spoil her reputation if she enters those spaces. In a similar sense, Jane is
restricted from masculine spaces like her father’s study and told that the idea of women
voting and going to college is absurd. She is confined to a narrow world of socialite dinners,
balls, and tea parties, where Miss Millhouse performs the role of her ambassador. Miss
Millhouse goes so far as to silence Mr. Corrigan when he begins to converse with Jane about
the factory where his niece works.
Meanwhile, Yetta’s sections reveal the first stirrings of The Triangle strike from the differing
perspectives of Yetta and her older sister, Rahel. The impassioned Yetta represents the more
radical narrative of the strike: aspirations of revolutionary change with no compromises.
Rahel, however, has a more complicated view of the strike that is centered around long-term
plans and the necessity of negotiation. Rahel also acknowledges that the goals of women
who wish to marry and have families might be different than those of women who dedicate
themselves to financial independence. With this thought process, she foreshadows her own
future marriage to Mr. Cohen and suggests the conflict Yetta will encounter between her
ideals for the present and her friends’ dreams for the future.
Pages 70-121
Summary: Bella (70-79)
Months have gone by since Pietro left and life is unpleasant for Bella. In addition to her job at
The Triangle, Bella is now making flowers for Signora Luciano, who refuses to pay and scolds
her for not working fast enough. Signor Luciano is equally abusive. The only good part of
Bella’s life is payday, even though her pay is inconsistent and she often receives less than the
$4.25 she was promised. Every week, Bella gives her wages to Signor Luciano, asking him to
send her money home to Italy. Bella cannot visit the bank herself because she cannot speak,
read, or write in English.
Downloaded by Monica Ortiz – missmonicaash101@gmail.com
Do not distribute. Copyright © SuperSummary 2022
Uprising
SuperSummary
10
The Triangle closes temporarily due to a strike. One of the factory owners, Mr. Blanck, comes
in to lecture the employees that they will lose their jobs if they join any union but the Triangle
Employees Benevolent Union. At the factory, Bella sees workers—including Yetta and Rahel—
chanting about the strike. She is pulled away by Signor Carlotti, who offers to escort Bella
home.
Signor Carlotti is unusually kind to Bella. He talks about her family and vaguely threatens
“What will your family do if you have no job?” (75). He promises there will always be work for
“good workers” like her and claims that the strike is just a few “rabblerousers” (77). Before he
drops her off, he gives Bella a dollar and offers to raise her pay to $5 per week.
Rocco greets Bella at the Luciano apartment. He offers to show her the city instead of making
flowers. In high spirits, Bella agrees to explore with him, reflecting that “[i]t [is] exactly what
the old Bella would have done” (79).
Summary: Yetta (80-90)
At the strike, Yetta holds a sign written in English and Yiddish. Meanwhile, Rahel coordinates
registration funds for strikers at the union office. A group of rich young law students
approaches Yetta and asks, “What’s your gripe?” (81). Yetta explains that they are trying to
gain union recognition, but the only union they are allowed to join is the Triangle Employees
Benevolent Association, whose officials are related to their bosses. The young men are
dismissive toward her because she is a woman.
Replacement “scab” workers arrive at the factory and Yetta urges them not to cross the
picket line. The scab workers pretend not to hear her. They are followed by prostitutes who
brutally attack the strikers, including Yetta. The police arrest the strikers for disorderly
conduct and let the prostitutes go free. Yetta realizes the prostitutes have been paid off to
attack the strikers. When Yetta asks a prostitute why she accepted this money, the prostitute
replies, “In America, money is God” (86). A policeman clubs Yetta and she blacks out.
Yetta wakes up in jail with fellow strikers who are badly injured. Rahel pays their bail fines
with union money. Though Rahel offers to provide cab rides from the prison, the women agree
to walk so the union won’t have to spend extra money. Rahel expresses worry over Yetta’s
condition, but the fight only seems to strengthen Yetta’s resolve.
Downloaded by Monica Ortiz – missmonicaash101@gmail.com
Do not distribute. Copyright © SuperSummary 2022
Uprising
SuperSummary
11
Summary: Jane (91-94)
Jane lies in bed. She has spent much of the past few weeks in bed because life feels
pointless, now that Eleanor has gone back to Vassar. Miss Millhouse tries to make Jane get
up for a dress fitting and gets emotional when Jane refuses. She attempts to conceal her
emotion and bribe Jane out with the offer of “a treat” (92). She shows Jane a newspaper
article about Wilbur Wright’s plane and suggests she and Jane go to see him fly.
Jane notes all of the active verbs in the article such as “To watch. To see” (93). These verbs
remind Jane of a letter Eleanor sent from Vassar. The letter took on a haughty lecturing tone,
telling Jane she should improve her horizons by joining them on a trip abroad. Initially, the
idea of this trip excited Jane, but then she came to see it as another form of “seeing” and
“watching” her life pass her by.
Summary: Bella (95-102)
The work atmosphere at The Triangle is calm and surreal. Throughout the strike, Signor
Carlotti has been unusually kind, giving the workers extra money and niceties, including a
phonograph for dancing at lunchtime. The girls dance together, awkwardly trying to enjoy
themselves. While Bella dances with another girl, she asks about the strike, but Carlotti orders
them back to work before they can talk. Bella understands he is trying to keep them from
thinking about the strike.
Bella reflects back to an incident in Italy when her family’s last goat died. Her mother
pretended to be happy, saying, “This just means we can have a feast!” (98). Only the youngest
child was fooled. The rest of the family understood that the goat’s death was the beginning of
starvation. Bella contemplates that in America, she is being charmed like a child.
At the end of the work day, strikers shout at Bella and try to pull her away from the group.
Yetta stops them from hurting Bella. A policeman sees the struggle and clubs Yetta, thinking
she is among the group trying to hurt Bella. Bella watches helplessly as Yetta is thrown into a
police wagon.
Rocco meets Bella to walk her home. Tired of being manipulated, Bella declares that she must
find someone who speaks English. Rocco claims he has secretly gone to school to learn
English from time to time when his parents thought he was running errands. Bella tries to use
him as a translator with the police, but the policeman just growls dismissively and threatens
Downloaded by Monica Ortiz – missmonicaash101@gmail.com
Do not distribute. Copyright © SuperSummary 2022
Uprising
SuperSummary
12
to arrest them.
Summary: Yetta (103-110)
It is late November and very cold on the picket line. Rahel and Yetta share a meal before that
night’s union meeting. Rahel is distressed that the strike “isn’t working” (103). Many workers
have been arrested and Yetta has bruises all over her body from being clubbed. Yetta is more
optimistic. She talks about how the strike was publicized in The New York Times . Rahel is
skeptical and says the strike only made it into the Times because a rich girl, Mary Dreier of
the Women’s Trade League, was arrested, then released at the station right away. In the
article, Mr. Blanck denied there was a strike going on and lied about how much he paid his
workers.
Thousands of shirtwaist workers from all over New York City pour into the meeting. Yetta is
excited by the turnout, thinking, “We’re like tinder. Just one spark is all we need” (106). Aside
from Mary Dreier, all the speakers are important and famous men, including President of the
American Federation of Labor, Samuel Gompers. Gompers expresses support for the idea of
the strike, but cautions strikers to remain “cool, calm, and collected” (108).
A Yiddish female striker from Leiserson’s factory, Clara Lemlich, approaches the stage to
speak. The venerable men look annoyed to be interrupted while others in the crowd seem
eager to get her on stage. She declares that the time for talk is over and they need to strike
now. The room explodes with cheers.
Mr. Feigenbaumer takes the stage and is cautionary, but the crowd turns against him. He
asks the crowd to take an old Jewish oath of allegiance: “If I turn traitor to the cause I now
pledge, may this hand wither from the arm I now raise” (110).
Summary: Jane (111-121)
Eleanor calls Jane to invite her to The Triangle strike. Jane is initially hesitant to come, but
Eleanor convinces her by saying she “might not get a chance to do something like this again”
(112). Jane’s chauffeur, Mr. Corrington, is eager to take her to the strike, claiming they’re
doing a great service. On the way to the strike, their wealth overtakes their political values, as
a girl worries her new boots might get ruined. Another girl worries about communicating with
the strikers, most of whom don’t speak much English. Eager to be of use, Jane volunteers that
she speaks Italian. She also notices the threadbare clothing of the workers.
Downloaded by Monica Ortiz – missmonicaash101@gmail.com
Do not distribute. Copyright © SuperSummary 2022
Uprising
SuperSummary
13
A Vassar alum named Violet Pike greets them at the picket line, expressing that this is an
educational opportunity for the women’s struggle. When Jane wonders how the strike is
related to the women’s struggle, Violet explains, “It’s all the same in the final analysis” (115).
The girls are given lists of rules that include instructions for what to do if a policeman arrests
them. Violet says the police have been very respectful of “us,” but not toward the “poor
factory girls” (116).
Jane approaches Yetta at the picket line and awkwardly tries to speak Italian to her. Yetta
explains that she came from Russia, but she only speaks Yiddish. Yetta tells Jane about the
strike, explaining that they have been picketing for over two months without pay. When Jane
remarks that the strike is nearly over, Yetta explains that the smaller factories gave into
workers’ demands, but big factories like The Triangle are able to hire scabs, so their strike is
not almost over.
Just as Jane begins to commiserate, a drunk man spits at Yetta, and Jane screams for Mr.
Corrigan to take her home. The police arrive as Jane is chauffeured away, and she marvels at
how free Yetta looks, even when she is being taken to jail.
Pages 70-121 Analysis
The diminishing of women and women’s struggles emerges as a powerful theme in this
section of Uprising. The police hire prostitutes to attack The Triangle strikers with the
mindset, as explained by Yetta, that all women are equally “lowly” (90). This realization only
strengthens Yetta’s desire to fight and prove that female strikers can defy male expectations.
Yetta’s resolve is challenged by conflict among union members. The male speakers—who
dominate the discussion—advise strikers to prepare for compromise, to remain “cool, calm,
and collected” (108). When Clara Lemlich takes leadership over the crowd, proclaiming that
the time for talk is over, the men are impressed, and invite the female strikers to take an oath
that is usually reserved for men. This moment suggests that men have begun to see women
as important and instrumental in their political struggle.
In this section of the novel, Haddix intertwines the themes of communication, confusion, and
dreams. The Triangle bosses prey on the vulnerability of new immigrants such as Bella,
knowing they are desperate to send money home and improve the lives of their families. They
charm the workers with gifts of money and music, attempting to distract them from the strike
Downloaded by Monica Ortiz – missmonicaash101@gmail.com
Do not distribute. Copyright © SuperSummary 2022
Uprising
SuperSummary
14
going on outside the building. While Bella knows that their kindness is not in earnest,
language barriers still prevent her from understanding the strike and breaking past her
dreamlike environment.
Jane, similarly, longs to break out of her cage-like existence, but she does not yet understand
the language of the strike. On her way to the picket line, she identifies with her fellow
socialites’ concern for their fine clothing and shiny boots that may become dirty. At The
Triangle, however, she connects with Yetta’s description of being locked in the factory during
the work day, realizing that she also feels caged, and that the strike is a way for women to
break out of that cage.
Pages 122-167
Summary: Bella (122-131)
Bella’s sleep is disrupted by the Luciano baby’s cough. Bella approaches the bedroom door
with a proposed cure. Unaware that Bella is listening, Signora Luciano pleads with her
husband to “use Bella’s money” (124) to go see a doctor. Bella demands to know if her money
has been sent to her parents as they’ve promised, and Signor Luciano tells Bella it doesn’t
matter because her family is dead. He explains that Pietro received a letter from Italy saying
her family died from an epidemic.
Distraught, Bella runs into the cold street with no shoes. She sees faces leering at her from
alleyways and contemplates stories about girls used by men “for horrible deeds” (128). Bella
sees the sun coming up and fears losing her job. She makes her way to the factory using
directions from a stranger in the street.
Rocco is waiting for her at The Triangle. He tells her his parents were good people back in
Italy, but in America they have become obsessed with money. He shows Bella the letter,
which he found in Pietro’s things after he left. He can’t read Italian, but he points to her
village’s stamp and the priest’s signature. Bella hopes that the letter might say her family’s
not dead. Rocco suggests taking the letter to the bank. Bella does not want to go to the bank,
which she associates with Pietro and Signor Luciano, men she cannot trust. She holds the
letter to her chest and cries out for Yetta.
Summary: Yetta (132-137)
Downloaded by Monica Ortiz – missmonicaash101@gmail.com
Do not distribute. Copyright © SuperSummary 2022
Uprising
SuperSummary
15
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.
Summary: Jane (138-144)
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.
Summary: Bella (145-148)
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.
Summary: Yetta (149-165)
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
Downloaded by Monica Ortiz – missmonicaash101@gmail.com
Do not distribute. Copyright © SuperSummary 2022
Uprising
SuperSummary
16
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.
Summary: Jane (166-167)
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
Downloaded by Monica Ortiz – missmonicaash101@gmail.com
Do not distribute. Copyright © SuperSummary 2022
Uprising
SuperSummary
17
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.
Pages 122-167 Analysis
The novel’s themes of compromise and conflicted feelings within the strike continue into this
section. Here, however, these feelings are more acutely directed toward the society women
involved in the strike. Though Rahel points out that the financial contributions of wealthy
socialites have kept the strike going, Yetta notices that some of them—such as the woman
arguing about chipped paint on her car—seem to have suspect motives. These feelings of
conflict are amplified by the hunger and cold Yetta experiences on the picket line, a stark
contrast to her more affluent counterparts in the strike. In the midst of her internal and
external struggles, Mr. Corrigan’s pride in the factory women resonates strongly.
The theme of communication barriers also continues in this section. Bella learns that her
family died in Italy and that she was not made privy to this knowledge because she could not
read the letter. She also learns that Signor Luciano—whom she believed was sending her
money to Italy through the bank—has been keeping her wages for himself. Bella realizes that
these issues were the direct result of her illiteracy, which has forced her to rely on
untrustworthy people for communication. Bella meaningfully transcends communication
barriers with the help of Yetta, who explains the purpose of the strike, and Jane, who
translates both spoken and written Italian. In a moment of epiphany, Bella declares,
“Vendichero la mia famiglia!” (159). Despite language differences, both women understand
she has joined the strike to avenge her family.
This event leads to a power struggle between Jane and Miss Millhouse that reintroduces the
theme of female diminishment. Angered by Miss Millhouse’s assessment that she is only
valuable as an asset to be married off, Jane vows to take action. By the end of this section,
both Bella and Jane have joined Yetta’s strike as a way to assert their independence.
Pages 168-228
Summary: Bella (168-176)
Bella reflects that she’s never belonged with any group. Even her family in Italy lived on
outskirts of town. Now, she stands in solidarity with girls from Poland, Lithuania, and places
Downloaded by Monica Ortiz – missmonicaash101@gmail.com
Do not distribute. Copyright © SuperSummary 2022
Uprising
SuperSummary
18
she’s never heard of. Rahel praises Bella’s enthusiasm forth the strike, saying she might be
even more “fervent” (169) than Yette. Bella confesses she has romantic fantasies of dying
young. Yette says she cannot die because they need her for the strike. Both girls also confess
that they are starting to forget their families for a new life. They feel guilty, but also freed,
knowing they have new opportunities in America.
On Christmas, Rocco Luciano knocks on the door and offers a package for Bella. It’s a
shirtwaist and skirt from Senor Carlotti. Bella examines the clothes and sees they are of low
quality, gifts she would’ve formerly appreciated, but now sees as a cheap effort to buy her off.
She tells Rocco to sell the clothes and give the money to his family for the baby. Rocco says
the baby died from whooping cough along with almost all the other babies on the block. Bella
sees that Rocco loved the baby. As a tribute to Rocco’s kindness she accepts the gift, along
with a penny he offers: the beginning of his “repayment.” Rocco also confirms Pietro was
using her money to repay his boss. Bella jokes that if Pietro returns and they get married, he
can’t keep secrets like that (175).
Summary: Yetta (177-188)
At the union hall, a male official announces a new proposal from the shirtwaist
manufacturers. He claims the package is generous, with “shorter hours, fairer wages” (177),
four paid holidays a year, and no more petty fines and charges, but no promise of union
recognition. Yetta protests along with other strikers who want a “closed shop,” wherein the
bosses only hire union members. The union official urges them to make the best of
circumstances, but the strikers proclaim this was not the offer they’ve been fighting for.
Yetta and Bella note how excited everyone was at the meeting, but Rahel says it was “like a
riot of skeletons” (179). Yetta holds out hope for the rally at Carnegie Hall as a chance to earn
more money. Unfortunately, Carnegie Hall is a bust. Rich people grumble that the cause is
now too radical, that “those socialists are deluding those poor girls” (180).
Jane sees Yetta at the rally and says she’s been trying to come out, but Miss Millhouse has
her under lock and key. As they are separated from her by the surging crowd, Yetta becomes
depressed by her statement” “If a girl like Jane could be kept under lock and key, what hope
was there for a girl like Yetta?” (181).
February comes and Yetta grows sick from malnourishment. Rahel tells Yetta that the strike
Downloaded by Monica Ortiz – missmonicaash101@gmail.com
Do not distribute. Copyright © SuperSummary 2022
Uprising
SuperSummary
19
is over. The union leaders settle for higher wages and shorter hours, but not a closed shop.
Rahel announces that she is going to marry Mr. Cohen from her English class. Yetta doesn’t
even remember him and asks if Rahel loves him. Rahel is practical and extolls his
handsomeness, his English, his grocery business, and suggests that maybe they could hire
Yetta so she doesn’t have to work in the factory (184). Angrily, Yetta asks, “Are you a
revolutionary or not,” to which Rahel replies, “I was always a better revolutionary in your mind
than in reality” (185). Rahel admits to Yetta that she left Russia not for political reasons, but
because of the pogrom.
Yetta refuses to live with Rahel and work in the store. She says she will stay with Bella
because she’s devoted to this cause. Rahel pleads with her to go to one of the shops that
settled early instead of working for The Triangle, but Yetta says she must go back to The
Triangle because she’s “not done fighting there” (188).
Summary: Jane (189-203)
Jane realizes she is “a very rich girl, but she [has] no money” (189) that she can control. In
desperation, Jane tries to get Mr. Corrigan to sneak food from the kitchen or use his money to
buy coats. Mr. Corrigan explains that he can’t put his own family of seven children at risk.
When her father returns, Jane tries to persuade him to donate money to the strike. Jane’s
father replies that she’s “fallen in with a dangerous, socialist crowd” (194). Jane’s father says
that girls shouldn’t be walking picket lines or even working in factories, believing their fathers
and husbands should support them. He speaks disdainfully of “the Jews”, and when Jane
protests that they aren’t all Jewish, “They’re Italian, Irish…” (195), he dismisses them as
“immigrants” and explains that he’s hired “strikebreakers” (196) himself. Jane is appalled, but
her father insists that’s how the world works. Enraged, Jane trudges away in the snow
wearing a blanket as a coat.
Jane walks to Eleanor’s house, where she finds Eleanor sitting in a ballgown while maids fuss
with her hair. Jane bemoans that everything her father uses, both strikebreakers and the
money he’s earned, is “tainted” (200). When Jane asks Eleanor if her father has also hired
strikebreakers, she glibly replies, “oh probably” (200). Jane understands that Eleanor plays a
game with her father, letting him think she agrees with him because she feels she doesn’t
have another choice.
Downloaded by Monica Ortiz – missmonicaash101@gmail.com
Do not distribute. Copyright © SuperSummary 2022
Uprising
SuperSummary
20
Eleanor advises Jane to go back home and charm her father so she can get what she wants
in the long run. When Jane tells her she walked, Eleanor orders her chauffeur to drive Jane
home. Instead of giving her home address to the chauffeur, Jane gives him the address of
The Triangle.
Summary: Bella (204-206)
Bella and Yetta encounter Jane on their walk home from work. Jane tells them she came to
help with the strike. Yetta replies that the strike is over. Jane expresses bitterness about her
father’s hiring of strikebreakers. Yetta marvels that Jane ran away for their strike. She and
Bella offer to take Jane home with them.
Summary: Yetta (207-211)
As Yetta sews, she restlessly contemplates her regrets, wondering whether she should’ve
been kinder to Rahel, whether she should’ve come back to the Triangle, and whether she
could’ve tried harder during the strike. She feels a strong urge to do something, but she has
no power or money to do anything. She remembers the prostitute who said, “In America,
money is God.”
Now, Yetta works on the 8th floor, with the fabric cutters. The cutters frequently smoke and
they are careless with how they dispose of their cigarettes. Yetta doesn’t like the cutters on
principle because last summer, they beat up the contractor who called for the strike.
One of the cutters seems to have a crush on Yetta. He approaches her about the “rich girl”
(209) living with her. Yetta defends Jane, but internally contemplates that Jane doesn’t seem
aware “that the potatoes she [eats] cost money” (209).
The cutter says she should tell the rich girl to get a job. He shares that Mr. Blanck is seeking a
governess for his daughters. He introduces himself as Jacob. Yetta asks where he was during
the strike. Jacob says he just got a job at The Triangle, but Yetta is skeptical.
Summary: Jane (212-228)
Jane imagines what Miss Millhouse would say if she saw the dingy place where she, Bella,
and Yetta live. Jane is getting dirty herself, now that she only has one dress that she wears
both night and day.
Downloaded by Monica Ortiz – missmonicaash101@gmail.com
Do not distribute. Copyright © SuperSummary 2022
Uprising
SuperSummary
21
Jane goes out into streets for some fresh air. She is shocked by the filth and poverty she
encounters, including a group of ragged children and a young girl with a horrible eye infection.
A child attempts to steal her mother’s gold ring and Jane races back to house. When Bella
and Yetta return, Jane says she needs her own money. The girls divulge how little they make
and Jane realizes that she’s a burden, that she has always been confused about money. Yetta
urges her to earn her own money so she can spend it however she wants. Jane bemoans her
lack of courage and practical skills, admitting that she was “raised to be totally dependent on
others” (217).
Yetta tells Jane about the governess job working for Mr. Blanck. Jane is initially hesitant,
saying, “Oh, my heavens. You want me to be Miss Millhouse” (218). Yetta suggests that she
can be a subversive governess, secretly teaching Mr. Blanck’s daughter all the skills she
wishes someone had taught her. Between Jane’s old blue serge dress and a borrowed hat
from a neighbor down the hall, they attempt to make Jane presentable for her job interview.
Jane meets Mrs. Blanck at her home, where she introduces herself in French as Mademoiselle
Michaud. Mrs. Blanck is impressed. She herself has a Russian accent. She expresses that she
and her husband were not born to money: “Most of our lives have been struggle, struggle,
struggle” (225). She introduces Jane to her daughters: a shy adolescent named Millicent and
a mischievous five-year-old named Harriet. Jane notices Harriet wriggling in her itchy lace
sleeves and recalls herself at that age.
Pages 168-228 Analysis
In this section, The Triangle strike—along with Yetta’s friendship and solidarity—helps Bella’s
independence to flourish. When Rocco visits with a gift from Signor Carlotti intended to help
Bella look more American, he sees that Bella is already an American. No longer the naive
Italian immigrant capable of being charmed by such a gift, Bella sees through Carlotti’s
offering and affirms her loyalty to the strike.
The theme of compromise amidst resistance continues into this section when Rahel
announces the union’s settlement with the manufacturers. Yetta is angry, not only about the
lack of a closed shop, but about Rahel’s announcement of her marriage to Mr. Cohen. Yetta
feels that her sister has chosen her dream of a family life over their dream of social justice.
Rahel points out that social justice is a dream, that Yetta’s idea of Rahel’s revolutionary
identity was a fantasy.
Downloaded by Monica Ortiz – missmonicaash101@gmail.com
Do not distribute. Copyright © SuperSummary 2022
Uprising
SuperSummary
22
Jane similarly refuses compromise when her father tells her about his business’s exploitative
practices, including the use of strikebreakers. Eleanor advises Jane to play her expected role
so she may continue to practice subversive activities beneath the surface. Eleanor compares
her long-term strategy to the gradual loosening of a corset, suggesting that Jane could not
cope with a radical and complete rejection of her father’s values.
Jane challenges this philosophy by running away to live with Bella and Yetta. Encountering
extreme poverty, Jane realizes the true power of money, which she had taken for granted as
someone surrounded by luxury with no agency to use her money for change. With this
realization, Jane takes a job as the Blanck’s governess and not only gains financial
independence, but the power of influencing young women much like she used to be.
Pages 229-286
Summary: Bella (229-234)
Spring has come and the girls walk to work with light spirits. Jane has been working as a
governess for a month. During her first week, she worked out an arrangement with the
Blanck’s chauffeur whereby she can walk to The Triangle with Yetta and Bella, then be driven
back after he drops off Mr. Blanck.
Bella asks about the clothes the girls buy when Jane takes them shopping. Yetta chastises
her, saying that the Blancks can afford that clothing because of their underpaid labor. Bella
explains that she doesn’t worry about such things, that she has so much more than in
America than she ever thought she would have. She also admits that the few things she does
want (namely, for Pietro to come back), are merely fantasies. She confesses that she never
really knew Pietro.
Yetta asks what else Bella wants from life. She says she wants to learn to read so she has
more autonomy and can’t be tricked as easily. Jane and Bella offer to teach her. Yetta says
they should all make a pact to keep learning things and avoid being “useless girls” (233).
Summary: Yetta (235-251)
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
Downloaded by Monica Ortiz – missmonicaash101@gmail.com
Do not distribute. Copyright © SuperSummary 2022
Uprising
SuperSummary
23
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.
Summary: Jane (252-262)
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.
Downloaded by Monica Ortiz – missmonicaash101@gmail.com
Do not distribute. Copyright © SuperSummary 2022
Uprising
SuperSummary
24
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.
Summary: Bella (263-268)
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.
Summary: Yetta (269-276)
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.
Downloaded by Monica Ortiz – missmonicaash101@gmail.com
Do not distribute. Copyright © SuperSummary 2022
Uprising
SuperSummary
25
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.
Summary: Jane (277-286)
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.
Pages 229-286 Analysis
Downloaded by Monica Ortiz – missmonicaash101@gmail.com
Do not distribute. Copyright © SuperSummary 2022
Uprising
SuperSummary
26
Working together, Bella, Yetta, and Jane continue to empower each other to gain more
independence. Jane feels a new sense of purpose as an educator, not only excelling in her
role as the Blanck’s governess, but as Bella and Yetta’s English teacher. The three women
vow that they will continue together in their lifelong pursuit of learning so they will never be
“useless girls” (233). In so doing, they subvert the diminishing language of women, such as
Miss Millhouse, and men, such as the policemen, defying those who perceive all women as
equally lowly and useless.
Yetta’s politics are challenged once again by her sister, Rahel, who announces that she is
having a baby. Yetta is not enthusiastic about this news. She feels that Rahel’s family life has
selfishly subsumed their struggle for social justice. Rahel explains, however, that it is
important to appreciate life’s pleasures, and it is unwise to build one’s whole life around
political struggle. She offers a prophetic warning in the form of a girl who “might have been
you or me,” burned in the Russian pogrom, “gone in a flash” (243). Her story eerily
foreshadows The Triangle fire.
This idea of enjoying life’s pleasures and embracing the right to dream insinuates itself into
the latter half of this section. At the suffrage parade, Jane and Bella ask young Harriet what
she imagines the world will be like when women can vote, suggesting that dreams provide
images of a future worth striving for. Bella also provides the symbolic gift of a rose to help
Yetta appreciate life in the “now” (267).
True to Rahel’s warning, a fire breaks out in The Triangle, and everyone’s lives are suddenly
called into question. The fire, however, presents an opportunity for all three girls to find their
purpose as they work to help those around them in the factory.
Pages 287-330
Summary: Bella (287-291)
Bella is penned in by panicking workers. She feels like an animal, but she refuses to accept
her situation. The fire rolls toward Bella and Jane, consuming shirtwaists in its wake. They
run for the fire escape. Jane questions its safety as Bella starts to climb out. Bella looks down
and sees the bodies of many other girls who have fallen.
Yetta ushers Bella and Jane toward the Greene Street stairs. The flames and smoke are
disorienting. Bella lifts her skirt over her head to shield herself from the smoke. She puts
aside day-to-day anxieties about modesty.
Downloaded by Monica Ortiz – missmonicaash101@gmail.com
Do not distribute. Copyright © SuperSummary 2022
Uprising
SuperSummary
27
Jane worries about the girls in their father’s office, but skirt catches fire before she can reach
them. She starts to move toward what she thinks is a bucket of water, but Yetta warns that
it’s actually machine oil. The fire streaks rapidly along the strands of oil.
Jane screams for Bella to find the girls and make sure they’re safe. She promises to find Bella
and meet her later. Bella sees the path to the stairs closing and knows that in a matter of
seconds, it will be gone. She rushes forward.
Summary: Yetta (292-298)
Jacob follows Yetta upstairs seconds before the fire arrives. Yetta sees Bella and Jane and
warns both of them. The fire escapes seem to have somehow vanished, so she directs them
to the Greene Street stairs.
She and Jacob try to open the stairs, but they’re locked. She yells to take the other stairs, but
Jacob says they can’t. The flames have taken over.
Yetta tells Jacob she doesn’t want to burn. She remembers what Rahel said about the girl
who was gone in a flash during the Russian pogrom. They go out the window and stand on
the ledge. Jacob confesses he was a scab in the strike, but when he saw Yetta, he wanted to
be on her side.
A fire truck comes with a ladder, but the ladder doesn’t reach high enough. Jacob weakly
suggests they jump for the ladder or the nets nine stories below. They jump for the ladder,
miss, and hope they will safely reach the net.
As Yetta falls, she contemplates how she wishes she had been kinder to Rahel, how Bella was
smart to go looking for love, and how she wanted to change the world. Now, she will be gone
in a flash. With this realization, the net breaks beneath Yetta and Jacob’s weight.
Summary: Jane (299-304)
Jane manages to put out the fire on her skirt. She is proud that she’s conquered the fire on
her own. Jane almost wants to tell Bella to stay with her, but convinces herself that once
again, she can manage the situation without relying on others.
Jane imagines that Miss Millhouse would say it serves her right for associating with
Downloaded by Monica Ortiz – missmonicaash101@gmail.com
Do not distribute. Copyright © SuperSummary 2022
Uprising
SuperSummary
28
shirtwaist girls. She feels anger and determination. She runs for the elevator, but the elevator
is full. She almost tells the operator he has to save her because she’s Jane Wellington, but
she stops and realizes her life isn’t worth more than anyone else’s.
Jane seeks comfort in the company of an old woman, musing that she is probably someone’s
mother. She contemplates the potential futures she could’ve had, either going back home as
the prodigal daughter or going to college and seeing this as the year she “slummed it” (302).
She realizes the fire gives her a way to die with her principles intact, a kind of triumph. She
recalls the words of the suffragist at the strike: “the tragedy of the worker’s condition
threatens us all” (303). She reflects on how true this now feels, how all of them are threatened
by this fire. She takes comfort in the idea that they are all dying together.
Summary: Bella (305-315)
Bella makes her way to the 10th floor. Blinded by smoke, she imagines she sees her own
siblings from Italy. She calls out to them and imagines she is going to her family. Then, she
imagines her family members shaking their heads, signaling that she still needs to save the
living.
On the 10th floor, she sees the bows of the two girls’ heads hopping around as they jump over
flames. The Washington Place elevator springs open, and Mr. Blanck places Harriet in Bella’s
arms, believing that she is Jane. They head for the roof.
When they reach the roof, it is on fire. A man climbs to the law building and raises a ladder to
save everyone on the roof. He recognizes Bella. It is Charles Livingston.
Bella ensures that Harriet climbs the ladder to the law building. She follows and Charles leads
her to safety. Outside the building, Bella says that she always met the girls by Greene Street,
so they go there. On the street, they see cops behaving very differently than they did during
the strike, patting crying girls’ backs and comforting them.
Bella realizes that Jane and Yetta aren’t coming. She sees sheets hurriedly dropped over
mounds of bodies. She sees firemen carrying more sheet-draped mounds from the building.
She feels all of New York City is grieving with her.
Summary: Mrs. Livingston (316-330)
Downloaded by Monica Ortiz – missmonicaash101@gmail.com
Do not distribute. Copyright © SuperSummary 2022
Uprising
SuperSummary
29
The novel returns to the present-day scene in Mrs. Livingston’s room. Realizing that Mrs.
Livingston is Bella, Harriet weeps, claiming that she saved her life. Mrs. Livingston protests
that “Lots of people helped you” (317). Harriet feels conflicted loyalties. She wonders why, out
of the many horrible fires in history, people seem to remember The Triangle fire so strongly.
Mrs. Livingston says that she thinks The Triangle fire rings in people’s memories because of
the strike.
Mrs. Livingston shows Harriet her two sleeping daughters, whom she has named Yetta and
Jane.Harriet is moved by Mrs. Livingston’s tribute to her friends whom perished in the fire.
Harriet explains that she went to college because Jane urged her to pursue an education,
even though her parents objected. She believes that Jane’s words had a stronger effect on
her because Jane died in the fire.
They contemplate other positive outcomes of the fire, including safety laws. Mrs. Livingston
says that Charles Livingston became a passionate labor lawyer after the fire. Harriet asks
Bella if her last name comes from marrying Charles. Mrs. Livingston explains that she married
Rocco, who was adopted by the Livingston family after the fire. The Livingstons paid for
Rocco’s school, and eventually he became a doctor.
Mrs. Livingston tells Harriet that after Jane’s father died, he willed most of his fortune to the
suffrage movement. Harriet questions whether or not he earned his atonement with this
donation. Mrs. Livingston scoffs, “I’m not a priest. I’m not a rabbi. Who am I to decide?” (325).
Harriet is concerned with the atonement of her own father. She bemoans his acquittal of
responsibility for the fire, explaining that he actually profited by collecting insurance money.
Furthermore, he continued to lock his employees inside the factory during the workday, and
he’s “lucky there wasn’t another fire” (325). Harriet feels torn between the anger she feels
toward her father as a businessman and the love she feels toward him as a father, but she
recognizes that nothing she does can bring back Yetta and Jane.
As if in response to Harriet’s thought, young Yetta rises from bed in search of her mother.
Mrs. Livingston introduces Harriet to Yetta as her friend. Mrs. Livingston gently whispers into
Yetta’s hair, “We will not be stupid girls. We will not be powerless girls. We will not be useless
girls” (330).
Pages 287-330 Analysis
The life-or-death emergency of The Triangle fire becomes an opportunity for Yetta, Jane, and
Downloaded by Monica Ortiz – missmonicaash101@gmail.com
Do not distribute. Copyright © SuperSummary 2022
Uprising
SuperSummary
30
Bella’s self-actualization. Yetta is able to warn numerous workers who otherwise would’ve
remained unaware of the fire until it was too late, and she accepts Jacob’s declaration of
affection for her. Jane feels pride when she independently puts out the fire on her skirt and
refuses privilege-based help from the elevator operator. Bella survives the fire and goes on
not only to find love with Rocco, but to have two daughters. She names the daughters Yetta
and Jane with the hope that they will carry on the legacy of her friends.
The fire brings the city together in ways the strike failed to. Bella observes her boss helping
the girls to safety and recognizes that they are working as a team for the first time. Bella also
notices that the same policemen who ordered prostitutes to beat the strikers are now
behaving differently, weeping alongside the factory women and comforting them in their loss.
In her present-day conversation with Harriet, Bella (Mrs. Livingston) notes that the fire worked
in partnership with the strike to secure The Triangle in public memory. Indeed, she expresses
that The Triangle fire was remembered in large part because of the strike, because those
who’d followed the strike’s progress “felt like they knew us…[and]took our deaths personally”
(319).
Bella meaningfully introduces Harriet to her daughter, Yetta, as “a friend”. In so doing, Bella
realizes that she has elevated the power of female kinship over the power of money. She
whispers into Yetta’s hair, “We will not be stupid girls. We will not be powerless girls. We will
not be useless girls” (330), affirming the value of women’s independence, and ensuring that
the goals of Yetta and Jane will continue through her daughters.
Downloaded by Monica Ortiz – missmonicaash101@gmail.com
Do not distribute. Copyright © SuperSummary 2022
Uprising
SuperSummary
31
Character Analysis
Mrs. Livingston/Bella Rosetti
Bella makes her first appearance in Uprising as Mrs. Livingston, a woman known for taking in
other women who need help. She is initially cold toward Harriet Blanck, daughter of The
Triangle factory owner, and we learn that this coldness originates from Mrs. Livingston’s
experience as a shirtwaist girl. We learn that Mrs. Livingston came to Ellis Island under the
name of Bella Rosetti with the aim of sending money back to her starving family in Italy.
When she begins working at The Triangle, Bella cannot speak, read, or write in English. Her
illiteracy allows men to emotionally manipulate and financially exploit her. Her landlord,
Signor Luciano, keeps Bella’s wages, which he promises to deliver to her family in Italy,
knowing she cannot communicate with tellers at the bank. He conceals the deaths of Bella’s
family members, knowing she cannot read the letter sent by a priest from her village. Bella’s
boss at The Triangle, Mr. Carlotti, preys on Bella’s vulnerability and confusion as a new
immigrant, distracting her from the strike with small tokens of money, gifts, and music. He
uses her family to threaten her into submission, asking, “What will your family do if you have
no job?” (75). Ironically, when Bella learns her family died during the week when Carlotti
refused to pay her, Bella declares that she will join the factory strike to “avenge [her] family”
(159).
Bella is a fervent fighter, bonding with Yetta and Jane during the strike. After the strike, when
the three women live together, she helps them to find pleasure in the “now” (267). She extols
the power of dreaming, both in terms of romance and political aspiration. At a women’s
suffrage parade, she even urges a young Harriet Blanck to “dream” of a world where women
can vote (251).
After the fire at The Triangle, Bella’s dreams continue to live on as she learns English and
gains her independence. Her romantic dreams coalesce in her marriage to Mr. Livingston (a
grown-up Rocco). Her friendship with Yetta and Jane lives on in her daughters, who share
their names. Her American dream—that “anything is possible” (329)—is realized through her
unlikely friendship with Harriet Blanck.
Jane Wellington
Downloaded by Monica Ortiz – missmonicaash101@gmail.com
Do not distribute. Copyright © SuperSummary 2022
Uprising
SuperSummary
32
Jane is the daughter of a businessman who has only recently earned his wealth. Thus, her
father is eager that she marry a man who will enhance his business. When her character
enters the novel, she is bored and discontent with her life as a young socialite. She feels
caged-in by her lacy dresses, corsets, and the expectations for her behavior as a woman. She
feels quite literally locked in by Miss Millhouse, an oppressive governess who monitors her
every move. When fellow socialite Eleanor Kensington invites her to The Triangle strike, she
identifies with the factory workers and their own struggle to break free.
Despite her desire for freedom, Jane recognizes she has few practical skills and was “raised
to be totally dependent on others” (217). She sees an opportunity to help other women by
being a “subversive governess” (218) to the Blanck daughters, Harriet and Millicent, who
remind her of herself. She teaches the girls to value their education. She even teaches Mrs.
Blanck to consider women’s suffrage as an important aspect of being “American” (247). In the
midst of the factory fire, Jane spends her final moments taking care of herself and refusing
privilege-based assistance. In a sense, the fire allows Jane to stay true to her independence.
Yetta
Yetta is an immigrant from Russia. She lives with her older sister, Rahel, who immigrated
years earlier to escape a pogrom in their village. Though ethnically Jewish, Yetta identifies
most strongly as “a socialist” (32). She is obsessed with the idea of changing the unfairness
she sees in the world.
Yetta is a tireless fighter in The Triangle strike whose resolve flourishes in hard times. She is
dedicated to the idea of women’s suffrage, driven by her anger with upper-class men and
women who oppress immigrant workers. Yetta perceives herself as a revolutionary who is not
content with compromise, who demands major systemic change and recognition “now” (263).
This uncompromising personality puts her at odds with Rahel, who urges her to accept more
gradual change.
Yetta’s political convictions also overshadow her romantic relationships. While Bella and
Jane enjoy noticing the law students that pass by The Triangle, Yetta spurns the attentions of
a handsome young fabric cutter named Jacob. The fire, however, forces Yetta to work
together with Jacob. In the moments before her death, Yette realizes her feelings for Jacob
and wishes she had made more room in her life for love.
Rahel
Downloaded by Monica Ortiz – missmonicaash101@gmail.com
Do not distribute. Copyright © SuperSummary 2022
Uprising
SuperSummary
33
Rahel is Yetta’s older sister who initially serves as her model for a “revolutionary” (37). Rahel
fights diligently for the strike, raising union funds and negotiating settlements. Throughout
the strike, she sees the value of coordinating efforts with people Yetta finds questionable,
including wealthy society women. When the strike ends in a disappointing settlement, Rahel
urges Yetta to move on and do what is best for her own well-being, suggesting she find a job
at one of the smaller factories that treats its workers better. When Yetta questions Rahel’s
devotion to revolution, Rahel replies that she “was always a better revolutionary in [Yetta’s]
mind than in reality” (185).
While Yetta remains devoted to socialist causes, Rahel pursues her own happiness by
marrying her English classmate Mr. Cohen. She co-runs a small grocery store with her new
husband and has children. Yetta is particularly disappointed when her sister becomes a
mother, feeling the money spent on her children will prohibit her from saving to help their
parents immigrate. Rahel is adamant that she needs to live for the moment, describing a
scene she witnessed during the pogrom in Russia. She watched a girl who “might have been
you or me” as she burned to death, whose life was “gone in a flash” (241).
Pietro
Pietro is Bella’s distant cousin, a handsome young worker who provides her a home when she
comes to America. He serves as Bella’s English ambassador, procuring a job for her and
communicating in situations where men do not listen to women.
Bella daydreams about having a romance with Pietro, imagining a kiss on the fire escape
stairs, and an eventual marriage to him. Her daydreams are disrupted when Pietro’s boss
ships him to South Carolina. Because Pietro’s boss paid for him to come to America, he has
no choice but to move.
Rocco Luciano/Livingston
Rocco is introduced in the novel when he is still a young boy, the oldest of the Luciano
children. He is kind to Bella and serves as her advocate in many situations. He shows her
around New York and searches for news of Pietro’s whereabouts when he suddenly departs.
When he learns that his parents were keeping Bella’s money for their own, he develops a plan
to repay everything they owe her. He visits her devotedly, bringing her one or two pennies at a
time.
Downloaded by Monica Ortiz – missmonicaash101@gmail.com
Do not distribute. Copyright © SuperSummary 2022
Uprising
SuperSummary
34
In the final section of the novel, we learn that Rocco was adopted by the Livingston family,
who financed his education and helped him become a doctor. Bella tells Harriet that she
married Rocco and that he is “a much better husband than Pietro” (321) because he remained
loyal to her for so many years.
Miss Millhouse
Miss Millhouse is Jane’s governess, charged with teaching her to be a proper woman, and
ensuring she marries well. She is also Jane’s jailer, metaphorically caging her in corsets and
lace, and literally preventing her from leaving the house to go to the strike. Jane vows to serve
as a kind of foil for Miss Millhouse: a governess who teaches young women the value of
education and independence.
Mr. Corrigan
Mr. Corrigan is Jane’s chauffeur. He is an Irish immigrant with seven children. Mr. Corrigan is
kind toward Jane and supportive of her efforts to aid the strikers, as hisown niece works in a
coat factory. He is the only servant Jane seems to trust with her secrets. He draws the line,
however, when Jane asks him to steal food from the pantry and spend his own money for
coats, explaining that these risks could threaten his ability to provide for his family.
At moments in the text, Mr. Corrigan can be read as a surrogate father figure for Jane. He is
more affectionate and engaged in Jane’s life than her own father, from whom Jane hides
most of her activities. It is interesting to note, however, that Mr. Corrigan provides Jane with a
much richer perspective on her father’s inner life. He wants her to accept that her father
desires what’s best for her, explaining, “I would give my eyeteeth to get my daughters even a
fraction of the advantages that you’ve had” (258). He also illuminates her father’s beneaththe-surface emotional struggles. He tells Jane her father experienced a deep depression after
being rejected by a woman he was pursuing. He explains that Jane’s father also had to fire
Miss Millhouse for her inappropriate feelings toward him.
Eleanor Kensington
Eleanor Kensington is Pearl Kensington’s feminist cousin who studies at Vassar. When Jane
mentions factory girls at a tea party, Eleanor is introduced as a woman with similarly “odd
ideas” (42) about class struggle. Eleanor invites Jane to numerous lectures on women’s
rights, opening her mind to conversations about sexual economy (marrying for money) and
feminine socialization.
Downloaded by Monica Ortiz – missmonicaash101@gmail.com
Do not distribute. Copyright © SuperSummary 2022
Uprising
SuperSummary
35
Eleanor presents a somewhat cynical perspective on the speakers at Vassar, citing a
presenter who forced her own daughter to marry against her will. Eleanor also displays
suspect motives in asking Jane to join her activities, such as the need to use her chauffeur.
Ultimately, Eleanor functions as a foil for Jane: a wealthy activist who is content to accept
“blood money,” and who is not entirely earnest in her support of the women’s movement.
Harriet Blanck
Harriet is the daughter of Mr. Blanck, one of The Triangle’s owners. We learn that Jane served
as her governess when she was five. She first appears (in Mrs. Livingston’s present-day
narrative) as a flapper-like young woman with dark bobbed hair and a luxurious fur coat. She
later appears (in Jane’s past-tense narrative) as the excitable, mischievous-looking younger
sister of Millicent.
Harriet seeks out Mrs. Livingston with the desire to learn the truth about the 1911 fire, hiring
detectives with her clothing allowance. Mrs. Livingston admires her as a young woman “who
would rather know the truth than have new clothes” (4).
Downloaded by Monica Ortiz – missmonicaash101@gmail.com
Do not distribute. Copyright © SuperSummary 2022
Uprising
SuperSummary
36
Themes
In America, Money Is God
The spiritual elevation of money is a reoccurring theme in Uprising. This theme is called out
most strongly in an early scene of The Triangle strike, a strike that is being staged, in large
part, to combat financial exploitation. In this scene, a prostitute is hired by the police to attack
Yetta for striking. When Yetta asks the prostitute why she accepted this job, the prostitute
tells her, “In America, money is God” (86). In a capitalist society with dramatic stratifications
of wealth, money is uplifted to a spiritual level, a kind of deity that can deliver its subjects
from poverty into prosperity.
This idea of money as a distinctly American religion is echoed on every level of the text. When
Bella accepts her job at The Triangle, she contemplates the American dollar as its own
language, unsure what $4 per week translates to in Italian lira. Conversely, Jane does not
understand the language of money until she moves out of her wealthy home, encountering
extreme poverty on the streets of New York. She realizes that without money, she has no
power to help any of the people she sees, and she contemplates the ways money could
transform their lives.
Uprising suggests that the American social climate breeds a ruthless desire to earn money at
the expense of others. In numerous moments, the book addresses how immigrants’ attitudes
toward money change when they come to America. When Rocco learns that his parents have
been stealing money from Bella, he apologizes, explaining that his parents would not have
behaved this way back in Italy. When Jane becomes governess to the Blanck family—the
Russian immigrant owners of The Triangle, who have profited off worker exploitation—Mrs.
Blanck reminds her that they were not always wealthy, that “Most of our lives have been
struggle, struggle, struggle” (225). This revelation is particularly significant in light of the
book’s ending. Herein, Bella realizes the only way to conquer her “money is God” mentality is
to befriend Harriet Blanck, elevating female solidarity above economic disparity.
Coded Spaces and Rules of Engagement
Throughout Uprising, Margaret Peterson Haddix explores the theme of socially-coded spaces,
areas that are forbidden to women and people of different classes. When Pietro disappears,
Bella wants to inquire about him in the bars he frequents. She is prohibited by Signora
Downloaded by Monica Ortiz – missmonicaash101@gmail.com
Do not distribute. Copyright © SuperSummary 2022
Uprising
SuperSummary
37
Luciano, who claims that entering such spaces will destroy Bella’s reputation. When Bella
learns that Signor Luciano has stolen her money, she similarly perceives the bank as a space
for men she cannot trust.
Jane frequently expresses her sensation of being imprisoned, chauffeured among a small list
of approved upper-class feminine spaces: her room, tea parties, and dances with fellow
socialites. She is forbidden to visit masculine spaces such as her father’s study, or politicized,
lower-class spaces such as the Triangle strike. Even when Janes does visit the strike, she
encounters certain rules of engagement, ways that upper-class women are expected to
behave differently from the lower-class strikers. She is literally given a list of rules that implies
the police will treat them differently if they are arrested. The Vassar organizer quantifies this
difference with “us” versus “them” language, explaining that the police have been very
respectful of “us,” but not toward the “poor factory girls” (116).
Communication and Language Barriers
Haddix augments her discussion of social rules with examinations of spoken language and
communication barriers. These barriers are prevalent in The Triangle factory, where workers
speak Yiddish, Italian, and a variety of other languages, and are expressly forbidden to talk to
each other during the work day. Factory bosses use language to make workers feel inferior, as
when Signor Carlotti insults Bella’s Italian dialect. Yetta suspects that the factory bosses also
try to enhance divisions between workers by spreading false rumors about Italians to Yiddish
speakers and vice versa. Haddix demonstrates, however, that the girls often find ways to
communicate with each other that extend beyond spoken language, as when Yetta holds up
her shirtwaist for Bella to observe her sewing patterns. Uprising also includes numerous
instances wherein the girls read each other’s facial expressions and body language.
Uprising also illuminates the ways illiteracy serves as a major obstacle for immigrants. For
months, Bella remains unaware of her family’s situation because she cannot read the letter
sent from her village. Similarly, Bella does not directly receive information about her job, as
Pietro serves as a go-between with Signor Carlotti. Thus, when Bella and Yetta work with Jane
to improve their English skills, they take an important step toward asserting their
independence. By gaining confidence as English communicators, they eliminate the need for
a go-between and begin to speak for themselves.
The Dismissal of Women as a Group
Downloaded by Monica Ortiz – missmonicaash101@gmail.com
Do not distribute. Copyright © SuperSummary 2022
Uprising
SuperSummary
38
Uprising illustrates how women’s struggles are frequently diminished, dismissed with
platitudes about all women being the same. When a group of law students approaches Yetta
at the strike, they assume she is lying about her factory’s work conditions, that her parents
and boyfriend support her while the factory pays “funny money” (82) for non-essential
purchases. By hiring prostitutes to attack female picketers, the police similarly suggest that
all women are alike. At the strike, a policeman looks back and forth between Yetta and a
prostitute, proclaiming, “You’re a striker, aren’t you?…[t]hen I can’t see much difference” (90).
Women of Jane’s class are comparably written off as having little value beyond their
procurement of a wealthy husband. When Jane threatens to fire Miss Millhouse, she laughs,
calling Jane “just a bit of fluff” that her father is going to marry off, claiming that’s “all a girl is
worth” (162). This unilaterally-diminishing language ultimately helps Jane to recognize her
own struggle in the strike. When Yetta tells Jane that the factory owners lock them inside
during their shift, Jane sees an issue she can “relate to…[b]eing locked in was like being
caged” (120).
Romance and Dreams
Haddix presents romance and daydreams as duplicitous subjects. On one hand, Bella’s
daydreams of kissing Pietro and saving her family in Italy help her to survive long dreary days
working in the factory. On the other hand, dreams also serve as questionable distractions.
This questionable quality is exemplified with the phonographs brought in by The Triangle’s
bosses. The music is intended to drown out the sounds of the strike. Yetta similarly scoffs at
her sister’s flirting with Mr. Cohen as well as Bella and Yetta’s romanticization of the law
school men. Yetta worries that dreams of marriage and family overshadow political values
and prevent women from fighting wholeheartedly for justice.
Ultimately, Uprising suggests that dreams can be a powerful political force, inspiring goals for
the future. At the women’s suffrage parade, Jane and Bella ask young Harriet Blanck what
might change in the world when women can vote. As Harriet muses, Bella affirms that it’s fun
to dream, and Yetta imagines that someday, the dream may come true.
Downloaded by Monica Ortiz – missmonicaash101@gmail.com
Do not distribute. Copyright © SuperSummary 2022
Uprising
SuperSummary
39
Symbols & Motifs
Fire
In Uprising, the symbol of fire is imbued with complex and even conflicting resonances.
Haddix links the image of fire to the many hardships that threaten to destroy women. When
Bella becomes dangerously ill, her “tragic eyes burn like embers” (157). In vulnerable
moments, Yetta repeatedly reflects that women are “like tinder” (271). The fire is also
compared to the strikers’ desire for political change, the spark that keeps their struggle alive
and burning.
These resonances are harmonized by Rahel’s description of the violent pogrom she
witnessed. Rahel explains that back in Russia, she watched a woman “who might have been
you or me” as she burned alive, her whole life “gone in a flash” (241). This story functions as a
kind of warning to Yetta: her fire for political change could consume her whole life.
The Triangle fire also provides an opportunity for Yetta, Bella, and Jane to actualize their
political values. Faced with imminent destruction, Yetta is able to focus not on future change,
but on helping others in the here and now. Jane demonstrates independence, putting out a
fire in her skirt and refusing privilege-based help from others. Bella ultimately lives to tell the
story of The Triangle women and the strike, a story which assumes historic importance
because of the fire.
Fire Escapes
Fire escapes are also imbued with both positive and negative value in Uprising. Throughout
the novel, fire escapes are sites of refuge from the struggle in women’s lives. Bella dreams
about romantic scenes with Pietro on the fire escape. Yetta, Bella, and Jane spend happy
evenings sharing icecream on the fire escape of their tenement building. For this reason, it is
interesting to consider the threatening connotation fire escapes have for parties who seek to
repress women. Pietro notes that The Triangle’s fire escape stairs are not visible because
wealthy neighbors find them unsightly. When Bella attempts to bypass long end-of-the-day
lines by going through the fire escape, the boss assumes she is trying to steal from the
factory.
During The Triangle fire, the fire escape proves to be a false refuge. The stairs do not reach to
Downloaded by Monica Ortiz – missmonicaash101@gmail.com
Do not distribute. Copyright © SuperSummary 2022
Uprising
SuperSummary
40
the street and many women die trying to use them. In this sense, fire escapes can be read as
a symbol for the unsafe working conditions at The Triangle, and the factory’s superficial
measures to appear safe. As Bella explains to Harriet, people “took our deaths personally”
(319) and the whole city was unified in collective mourning.
Clothing
Clothing immediately identifies the class and social standing of its wearer. As the makers of
clothing that they are too poor to purchase themselves, no one appreciates this more than
The Triangle workers. While Bella recovers from sickness in Jane’s luxurious bed, she can’t
help but notice the ruffles of Jane’s dress, sympathizing with the worker tasked with sewing
such an elaborate garment.
Bella also demonstrates her progression as an American by becoming conscious of class in
clothing. When Signor Carlotti attempts to charm Bella with the gift of a shirtwaist and skirt,
she recognizes that the fabric is of low quality. Seeing her in Jane’s blue serge dress, Rocco
Luciano remarks that Bella now looks like an American. Clothing also plays a critical role in
Bella’s assessment of Harriet Blanck as a woman “who would rather know the truth than have
new clothes” (4). This assessment ultimately leads Bella to tell the story of The Triangle fire.
Clothing—corsetry, in particular—also serves as a metaphor for the social roles that imprison
women. Jane and Eleanor speak of their corsets as a way to keep women in their place, and
Eleanor describes the gradual loosening of her corset as a subversive act. When Jane
observes young Harriet Blanck wriggling in her itchy lace sleeves, she identifies with the
child’s discomfort. Realizing that Harriet is much like a child version of herself, Jane sees an
opportunity to empower the Blanck girls as she wishes she’d been empowered.
Downloaded by Monica Ortiz – missmonicaash101@gmail.com
Do not distribute. Copyright © SuperSummary 2022
Uprising
SuperSummary
41
Important Quotes
1. “‘The story begins like so much else,’ she says slowly, ‘With hope. Hope and dreams and
daring….’”
(Page 5)
These lines are spoken to Harriet Blanck, daughter of The Triangle shirtwaist factory owner,
by Bella, a former shirtwaist worker who survived the infamous factory fire. Here, Bella
answers Harriet’s request to “tell [her] about the fire” (1) by suggesting The Triangle strike—
and the lives of the women who participated in the strike—are the true story behind the
historic fire.
2. “‘Women are not chattel, to be traded off like cattle or hogs!’”
(Page 66)
When Jane’s father asks about Eleanor Kensington’s brothers, hoping to marry her off and
improve his business, Jane contemplates these words spoken by a women’s rights speaker at
Vassar. This thought process marks the beginning of Jane’s political consciousness as she
starts to apply feminist theory to her own lived experience.
3. “‘In America, money is God.’”
(Page 86)
This line—spoken by a prostitute paid to attack the strikers—becomes a kind of philosophical
refrain over the course of the novel. Immigrant families such as the Lucianos and the Blancks
adopt a more ruthless attitude in America, seeking to earn money at the expense of others.
The novel suggests that this attitude drives many of the struggles experienced by The
Triangle factory workers that lead to the historic strike. This quote is particularly significant to
Bella’s development, as she reflects that her friendship with Harriet Blanck is a means of
conquering the “money is God” mentality.
4. “Rahel kept her arm around Yetta’s waist, holding her up, holding her steady. ‘You still want
the strike?’ she whispered. ‘Even now?’ Yetta answered through split, bloodied lips. ‘More than
ever.’”
(Page 89)
Downloaded by Monica Ortiz – missmonicaash101@gmail.com
Do not distribute. Copyright © SuperSummary 2022
Uprising
SuperSummary
42
Here, Yetta demonstrates the strength of her resolve and devotion to The Triangle strike,
going back to the picket line after being beaten by hired prostitutes. The more challenging
conditions become, the more Yetta desires to change her situation for the better.
5. “‘Because they’re women,’ Yetta said. She remembered the police looking from her to the
prostitutes, saying, You’re a striker, aren’t you?…[t]hen I can’t see much difference. ‘They want
to say we’re just as low as those women, just as unclean.’”
(Page 90)
Yetta recognizes that by hiring prostitutes to attack them, police desired to send the message
that all women are the same, diminishing the strikers’ struggle. This diminishing of women’s
issues becomes a major theme over the course of the novel.
6. “Bella began to wonder if she’d imagined the whole thing—the dancing, the music. Or not
imagined it, exactly: misunderstood.”
(Page 98)
Here, Bella starts to become aware that the small treats offered by her Triangle boss—
including music and dancing at lunchtime—are really just distractions from the strike going
on outside. Bella has struggled to develop this awareness, however, because everything
seems strange to her, as a recent immigrant: a new language that is easily “misunderstood.”
7. “We’re like tinder. Just one spark is all we need.”
(Page 106)
At a crowded union hall meeting, Yetta excitedly reflects that the strikers are “like tinder,”
suggestively comparing their cause to a fire: a force that will raze their old lives and make way
for new beginnings. This image of “tinder” is patterned throughout the novel. It is significant
both in terms of the strikers’ political struggle and the literal fire that consumes The Triangle
factory at the end of Uprising.
8. “‘If I turn traitor to the cause I now pledge, may this hand wither from the arm I now raise.’”
(Page 110)
This is the old Jewish oath taken by the strikers at the union hall meeting. It is a revolutionary
gesture, as women are typically prohibited from taking the oath. Yetta understands that her
inclusion in this oath suggests that the male strikers take the women’s role seriously.
Downloaded by Monica Ortiz – missmonicaash101@gmail.com
Do not distribute. Copyright © SuperSummary 2022
Uprising
SuperSummary
43
9. “If a policeman arrests you…? Jane thought. What had she gotten herself into?…‘Don’t
worry,’ Miss Pike said, because some of the other girls were looking a little pale as well. ‘The
police have been very respectful to us.’”
(Page 116)
Jane is alarmed by this line in the list of “rules” provided to young socialites at The Triangle
strike. This moment exemplifies Uprising’s examination of gendered spaces and female
protocol. It also demonstrates the disparity of treatment between classes, revealing that the
police have been “very respectful” toward the wealthy young women while they have behaved
violently toward the lower-class Triangle strikers.
10. “‘They. Lock. Us. In,’ Yetta said, very distinctly, as if she feared her English wasn’t clear
enough. ‘They lock the doors so we can’t sneak out…It’s like we’re in prison just because they
think we might commit a crime.’ This was something Jane could relate to. Being locked in
was like being caged.…‘You broke out,’ Jane said. ‘The strike is how you broke out of those
locks.’”
…