Compare And Contrast The Jungle And Cinderella Man

“I had to believe that when things are bad, I can change them” –James Braddock. Within this piece of literacy work, James Braddock, who is the main character in the movie Cinderella Man, which is based off the book written by Jeremy Schaap, and Jurgis Rudkus, who is a fictional character from the book The Jungle written by Upton Sinclair. Cinderella Man takes place in New Jersey right before the Great Depression hits. The Jungle begins with Jurgis’ family coming to Chicago to work and they find a boarding house to live in and jobs within Packingtown to work at. Although Jurgis Rudkus and James Braddock are both hard working men, they have a wide variety of similarities and differences in physical traits, family dynamics, and personal values.

“Jurgis could take up a two-hundred-and-fifty-pound quarter of beef and carry it into a car without a stagger, or even a thought, and now he stood in a far corner, frightened as a hunted animal, and obliged to moisten his lips with his tongue each time before he could answer the congratulations of his friends” (Sinclair 6). With his robust build, Jurgis could get a job very easily, because he was the tallest, strongest, and most attention grabbing man within the crowd. The employers would look at him, see a big, strong immigrant, and be more willing to employ Jurgis. That however changed throughout The Jungle. “There was a twinge of pain, but Jurgis was used to pain, and did not coddle himself” (Sinclair 117). There was an accident at the meat packing plant and a steer had gotten loose and stampeded through the warehouse. Jurgis was knocked into one of the traps in the floor where they pushed waste and his foot had gotten broken. It took him a while to heal and when he came back to work, Jurgis discovered that his job was no longer his. “He was no longer the finest looking man in the throng, and the bosses no longer made for him; he was thin and

Jurgis was very committed to being the best he can be for the people whom depend upon him in the beginning of The Jungle. “I will work harder” (Sinclair 22). This is Jurgis’ driving motive. He is willing to do whatever it takes to take care of his family and Ona in particular. However, this definitely changes with the death of Ona and his son. “He must have a drink now and then, a drink for its own sake, and apart from the food that came with it.” (Sinclair 277). With his profession of a strikebreaker, he is expected to go out drinking with people and soon, that is what drives Jurgis. He lives to drink. After Jurgis returns from the country, he falls into a Socialist group and works at a Socialist populated hotel. “That he had a score of Socialist arguments chasing through his brain in the meantime did not interfere with this; on the contrary, Juris scrubbed the spittoons and polished the banisters all the more vehemently because at the same time he was wrestling inwardly with an imaginary recalcitrant” (Sinclair 318). With his new Socialist mind, Jurgis’ new motive to spread the superiority of Socialism to unknowing people. Socialism occupies his mind when he is resting and working. James Braddock is also very committed to his family in the beginning. He boxes to make money and provide a good life for his family. When the Depression hit,