Pelle the Conqueror · Chapter
XXXIII explained
Pelle infiltrates a factory where locked-out workers have been replaced by strikebreakers, giving a rousing speech that rekindles their solidarity and leads them to march out.
What happens
Pelle infiltrates a factory where locked-out workers have been replaced by strikebreakers, giving a rousing speech that rekindles their solidarity and leads them to march out. Meanwhile, his relationship with Ellen remains strained until she wins lottery money, which temporarily restores warmth between them.
Themes in this chapter
Labor Movement and Solidarity
Pelle's speech reignites the workers' sense of unity and collective action, leading them to abandon strikebreaking and march out together.
Poverty and Survival
The locked-out workers' families endure hunger and despair, and Ellen's lottery win provides a temporary escape from financial hardship.
Fatherhood and Family
Pelle's concern for his ailing children and his strained relationship with Ellen highlight the personal costs of his labor activism.
Characters to notice
- Pelle the Conqueror
Gives a passionate speech to the locked-in workers, rallying them to solidarity and leading them out of the factory. At home, he struggles with Ellen's coldness but finds temporary relief after her lottery win.
- Ellen
Distant and silent toward Pelle, she wins lottery money which transforms her mood, making her affectionate and supportive of his work for the Cause.
- Anna
Ellen's old friend who jointly enters the lottery with her, providing the money that changes Ellen's demeanor.
- Father Lasse
Mentioned as Young Lasse, Pelle's son, who cries in terror when Pelle approaches him after shaving off his moustache.
Key passages
“Do you know of anything more infamous than to sell your mother-country? That is what you have done—before ever you set foot in it—you have sold it, with your brothers, your wives, and your children!”
Pelle accuses the strikebreakers of betraying their homeland, their families, and their fellow workers by accepting the employers' terms.
Pelle uses strong rhetoric to shame the workers into rejoining the strike.
“She was like the winter sun; the side that was turned away from her received no share of her warmth.”
Ellen's coldness toward Pelle is compared to the winter sun, which only warms one side.
Describes the emotional distance between Pelle and Ellen.
“I've won that in the lottery!”
Ellen announces she has won money in a lottery, which she used to pay for the children's medical care.
The lottery win temporarily relieves the family's financial strain and improves Ellen's mood.