Upton Sinclair’s “The Jungle”, was published in 1906 to shed light on the harsh realities faced by the working class in America during the 20th century. The novel depicts themes of the grueling immigrant experience and the evils of capitalism. Sinclair uses these themes to inform readers of the struggle and harshness of life during this time and to represent the need for labor rights.
The story begins by introducing the main character, Jurgis Rudkus, a Lithuanian immigrant. Poverished and indebt due to the passing of his father-in-law, Jurgis moves to America in pursuit of the American dream. Jurgis begins work at a meat packing to lift his family out of poverty, but is met with the harsh realities of being an immigrant. He is treated as a commodity that can be easily replaced. Lured by the
…show more content…
He witnesses long working hours at an average of 59 hours per week at an average hourly wage of 21.7 cents. In addition, he witnesses the unsanitary environmental conditions and practices performed in the industry, such as diseases, and meat being butchered and mixed until the rest of the meat is cured. Sinclair writes, “It was the great packing houses that were ruining the stockyards; they were driving the independents to the wall” (Sinclair, 1992, p. 120). He demonstrates how large companies manipulate the markets and how workers are treated with contempt and forced to take on dangerous working conditions. Under the monopolistic control of the market, meatpacking corporations disregard the working conditions, human rights of their employees, and sanitation of their factory productions. Sinclair exposes the corruption and the exploitive nature of the capitalist system, using Jurgis’ experience in the meatpacking industry as a testament to the struggles of immigrants during this time to serve as an important reminder of the importance of protecting the rights of
In The Jungle , Upton Sinclair shows The corruption of the Industrial Age through his depiction of working conditions, wages, and living conditions. The working conditions were considered extremely bad in the industrial age. One was that no one could take a day off and if you didn’t go to work you job might not be there the next day. Another example of terrible working conditions was the danger that jurgis was in the Jungle.
As the novel unfolds the downhill battle of the main character Jurgis Rudkus and his family Sinclair delivers a textual illustration on the harsh reality faced by a vast majority
However, a man soon approaches him and offers him a job, but Antanas has to give him 1/3 of all of his wages. Tamoszius tells Jurgis that this practice is just a part of a deeper web that goes on in business. Soon Antanas and Jurgis are both working in the meat packing factories, and discover the truly disgusting practices of these establishments. Around the same time, the family learn that their house is a swindle and they are paying interest in addition to their monthly payment. Soon Ona and Stanislova get jobs, with Stanislova getting a job canning lard and Ona sewing cover on ham.
The importance of his family to him is evident when Ona passes away. In the moment, “An icy horror of loneliness seized him; he saw himself standing apart and watching all the world fade away from him---a world of shadows, of fickle dreams” (197). Though in despair, Jurgis grasps the situation and learns to move on. Almost as if a weight is off his chest, Jurgis learns to accept the inevitable fate of his family.
One can argue, however, that in addition to the corruption of the system, the workers of the late 19th and early 20th centuries put themselves in the situation of endless strife. This was due to their naivety with regards to misconceptions of the American Dream and system, unfamiliarity with the English language, nonexistent awareness of classism, political motives, and greed. Through the illustration of the hardships new immigrant workers faced, Sinclair used the life of Jurgis Rudkus to advance his argument for the movement towards socialism in the Gilded Age. Originating from a rural area in Lithuania, Jurgis tried to seize any opportunity he could in order to better life for himself and his posterity.
However, when Jurgis came and pounded Conner into a pulp, the judge working the case sentenced Jurgis time in prison, and a gargantuan fine neither he nor his family could pay. The judge, a victim of xenophobia, ignored the facts brought to his attention, and ruled in Connor's favor. Helplessness was felt in the first several months in America. Jurgis and his group did not speak English, only Lithuanian. "But only ten days after she had joined, Maija's canning factory closed down, and ... they could not understand why the union had not prevented it, and the very first time she attended a meeting Maija got up and made a speech about it.
Subject: The Jungle mainly focuses on poor living conditions for the working class in 20th century Chicago. I learned how corrupt politics in this time period were, how gross the meatpacking industry used to be, and how hard immigrants had it when they came to America. This text is controversial because it gives suggestion that socialism is the better government system. This would split the sides into those for capitalism and those for socialism. Occasion: The Jungle was written in 1906 by Upton Sinclair.
Jurgis gains a new perspective of everything around him and everything that has happened. The main character Jurgis Rudkus is an immigrant coming to America. He searches for a job to provide money for his wife and parents. In the article Schema Criticism by Mark Bracher, he emphasizes that, “Jurgis is the prototypical image of autonomy. He is powerful, exuberant, striking figure who towers above the other workers” (32).
The conditions in the meat packing industry in 1897 were terrible. The main character Jurgis is used by Upton Sinclair to give an inside perspective of the meat factory and show the conditions they went through. Jurgis ended up getting a job at one of the meat packing
The Bosses squeezed and drained the life of those men. In the book The Jungle written by Upton Sinclair he described the life of a struggling family try to work and stay alive in the filth. The working conditions in the factories were unsafe, unsanitary and people made little. The purpose of this book was for people to become socialist other than capitalist.
His novel The Jungle serves as a credible account of the harsh reality of migrant workers during the Gilded Age, just before the turn of the nineteenth century. The plight of foreign-born workers during this era
There are many other traps around America that deceive the immigrants because their weakness of not knowing English and the desire of getting a great life in America which lead them unpreparedly get fooled by the businessmen. These traps prevented the immigrants from leaving America, because of the significant amount of debt that they have to pay each month, which forced them to keep working and become the slave of this capitalistic society in America. Unfortunately, even they work very hard, in most of the time they will not get anything in return, such that Jurgis’s family cannot even keep the house at the of the book and many of family members’ health destroyed by the harsh working conditions in the
Jurgis becomes quite hopeful for him and his family's future in America; however, once settled in Chicago, Jurgis realizes how hard he must work to support his family. Jurgis compares his family to being the same as trapped rats (Sinclair 77) and they had no way of getting out of their desperation (Sinclair 118). This comparison indicates that Jurgis and his family feel trapped in their
Thus, Sinclair’s purpose of writing The Jungle failed to bring readers to advocate for the rights of workers trapped in the low wages, unsafe working conditions, and long hours of meatpacking factories, but rather, succeeded in opening the country’s eyes to the meatpacking practices that went on behind closed doors and the establishment administrations to protect the public from these unscrupulous
They take you on a journey full of dream-crushing brutality and deception of what seems to be the ideal place to work and built a life. They settle near the stockyards and meatpacking district, where Jurgis finds his first job at Brown’s slaughterhouse. Jurgis, thinking the U.S. offered more freedom, finds that the working conditions there are very