At the close of that novel, an intoxicated Studs had been beaten up by old rival Weary Reilly, and left on a snow-covered sidewalk overnight.
Several of Studs' old friends have already died, due to venereal diseases or excessive drinking, and Weary Reilly himself is in prison for rape.
After job hunting all over the city on a rainy day, Studs contracts pneumonia again, and dies after falling into a feverish coma.
Judgment Day concentrates more on the devastation and suffering caused by the Great Depression, and reflects Trotskyite author James T. Farrell's belief that capitalism itself is responsible for the travails of families like the Lonigans.
But blue collar Irish-Americans like the Lonigans denounce socialists as "Reds," foolishly blame the Jews for their plight, and openly yearn for an American equivalent of Benito Mussolini to come to power.