In his attempt to make ends meet, he moves from one job to another, first, a coal miner, next, a farmer, and finally a meat packer. He heads to the bar and gets drunk, as most other workers do, to escape from reality. The financial stress on the family is reflected on Jim's violent attitude towards his wife and kids: “He had nothing but heavy blows to the children and he struck Anna too often to remember" (9). However, in some parts of the novel, he shows care to his sick wife and plays with his children. Will and Ben Holbrook: Mazie's younger brothers. Will is attached to Mazie in the beginning of the novel. However, as he grows a little older, he wants to be independent and to have his own friends, secret adventures and gadgets. Ben is weak in body and suffers from lung disease especially when the family moves to the smelly, unclean area next to the packing houses. Jimmie and Bess Holbrook: The youngest son and daughter in the family. Although her role is very limited in the novel, Bess closes the unfinished novel with an optimistic tone when she grabs a jar lid and bangs it enthusiastically against the floor. The Pre-Depression Era: Though this novel was written during the Great Depression, the main plot of the story takes place during the 1920s. Though the themes of the great depression are visible in the family's struggles and tribulations, as Burkom and Williams put it, "Yonnondio" actually represents the 1920s more realistically than "The Great Gatsby" by F. Scott Fitzgerald which shows the life of the stereotypical flappers of the time. By exploring the lives of the working class, the novel portrays a “realistic depiction of the squalid conditions in which the unknown of America’s working class miraculously endure." Had the novel been completed, it would have more precisely represented the depression era via the characters planned involvement in the proletarian movement. Motherhood: Motherhood is a central theme throughout "Yonnondio" because the main perspective, that of Mazie, is watching and commenting on her mother, Anna. As Deborah Rosenfelt put it, the novel focuses on: “the unparalleled satisfaction and fulfillment combined with the overwhelming all-consuming burden of motherhood.” Mazie watches Anna work tirelessly as a wife and mother, giving her health and happiness up for the benefit of her children. To accomplish her goal, Anna finds herself doing whatever is necessary (working extra jobs, finding alternative food sources, and ruining her health) no matter how extreme.