Bread and Roses, Too

Bread and Roses, Too is a 2006 historical fiction novel by Katherine Paterson. It chronicles the eponymous “Bread and Roses” strike which erupted in 1912 in response to the gross underpayment of immigrant mill workers in the town of Lawrence, Massachusetts. The story is told from the perspective of two young children, Rosa Serruti and Jake Beale. Serruti struggles to balance school with her family life as the Serrutis labor intensively in the local clothing mill. Ironically, they are unable to even afford the clothing they make. Beale, similarly, lives in extreme poverty, and escapes his abusive alcoholic father by running away from home and into homelessness. Serruti ends up caring for Beale as he struggles with his socioeconomic precarity. The novel received positive criticism for its vivid depiction of the impoverished conditions of the working class in the years before child labor laws were passed, and for its message about the excesses and inequities of modern capitalism.

The novel begins as a murmur of an impending revolt stirs in the town of Lawrence. Virtually all of the local mill workers have grievances about being underpaid. Having heard rumors of the violent consequences of workers’ revolts in the past, Serruti is wary of the dangers of a chaotic uprising. The protestors begin to create picket signs, and Serruti makes one that states, “We want bread, and roses, too.” Though the protest begins peacefully, it soon escalates into violence. The workers’ union decides to keep the children of the workers safe by sending them out of Massachusetts and into the care of families who sympathize with the plight of underpaid workers. These families have agreed to feed and house the kids. Disillusioned and fearful about her future, Serruti rides a train to Vermont. On the train, she discovers Beale stowing away under a seat. She decides to pretend that they are siblings, ignorant of the fact that Beale has fled the city after allegedly killing his father.

Serruti and Beale’s meeting is serendipitous; soon, they become fast friends in their temporary home in Vermont. They successfully convince their host family that they are siblings, and learn about their trades as stonecutters. While Serruti intends to wait until she can return to her family, Beale dreams of running away to New York City and starting a new life. Meanwhile, the strike rages on. Partly due to women’s prominence in the clothing manufacturing business, the “Bread and Roses” strike is the first of its kind led completely by women. Many of these women are first generation immigrants, and raise grievances against their employers that they were aggressively baited and promised high-paying jobs, only for the factories to renege on their claims as soon as they landed in the country. The strike is thousands strong, and includes representation from 25 different countries. A key organizer is Bill Haywood, a Marxist social justice advocate who helps educate and galvanize the workers to demand equitable pay and labor rights.



Beale and Serruti represent distinctly different attitudes towards the means and ends of labor revolt. Ultimately, Beale conceives of the Bread and Roses strike as a force that will propel him into a different life. Serruti, on the other hand, is ambivalent about the utility of organized revolt. She feels that it has alienated her from her family and friends, and is excited to return home at the end of the novel. Bread and Roses, Too illustrates these starkly different views, suggesting that the lives of children are inextricable from issues of politics and power relationships in the modern era.