Ashes Of Roses

The question of workers’ rights and the violations against them runs throughout the book, and this was a very important issue in the early 1900s. In many ways, Rose’s search for employment allows the author to highlight many different aspects of this ongoing struggle. When Rose naïvely takes the job making paper flowers, she fails to ask how much she will make or what her hours will be. She enters into the work agreement with the idea that any money she makes will be good. Therefore, Mr. Moscovitz is easily able to cheat her. Similarly, she is ignorant of the dangers that Mr. Moscovitz himself represents, even when Tessa tries to warn her not to let him touch her. Rose doesn’t fully grasp Tessa’s warning until she Moscovitz later sexually assaults her. The issue of workers’ rights is brought explicitly to the fore when Gussie hears about this incident and goads Rose into standing up for her rights. This proves to be an important lesson for the protagonist, for as Gussie states, “’We fought so hard for our rights, but the owners of these shops don’t care. They just do as they please, and nobody stops them’” (138). She wants Rose and others to be vigilant about labor issues and not settle for just getting by in poor conditions, as workers’ meekness allows bad employers to get away with poor treatment. When Rose says she would never be brave enough to go on strike as Gussie has done, Gussie points out, “One person might not have the courage, Rose, but when there are hundreds, it’s not so hard” (139).

However, Gussie’s activism is not just a sociohistorical detail; her complaints also serve as foreshadowing of the disaster to come, especially when she details the various violations that the factory owners have perpetrated. As she states, “The law says there has to be two hundred and fifty cubic feet of space for each worker. […] They have the right number of cubic feet for each of us, but it’s all above our heads. What good is that? We’re jammed in hip to hip at the floor level’” (181-182). Rose brushes these concerns off, but even she concedes that the anti-theft checks that slow down exits are pointless. Gussie is trying to make the Triangle a union-compliant shop by enrolling workers in the union, but many do not see the importance of her work until after the fire. At the end of the story, Rose vows to work only in union shops. The fire has also ignited an anger in her, which becomes evident when she declares, “Moscovitz might have cheated his girls out of a few dollars and stolen a few kisses, but the owners of the Triangle stole the lives of one hundred forty-six people” (245). She has learned a vital lesson about not letting immediate and individual concerns overshadow the need to ensure the broader well-being and safety of all workers.