Immigrant Workers In The Jungle

In the book the Jungle many hardships and obstacles are shown through the life of Jurgis and many others that surround him. Both mentally and physically draining challenges were present for immigrant workers in the gilded age. Not only for men but for women and children as well. Since families of immigrants needed all hands-on deck. The environment they lived in was in many ways harsh as well. Living in neighborhoods that can literally injure or murder a small child. In this paper I will go through how immigrants went through their daily life and how they adapted or not.

I will first go over the living conditions that an immigrant worker would have to deal with. Most immigrants that worked at the Union Stockyards lived in places that were

Man, woman or child. Even children could make a "living" working at the Union Stockyards. Being able to operate in hard to reach places that older men couldn’t. Moving their small hands and bodies into machines they may still be in operation. Sometimes costing them a limb or even worse their life. Even though women were not allowed to work in the Stockyards, owners and overseers found other uses for them in Packingtown. An example shown by Jurgis' wife Ona. Who sold her own body as a prostitute. Since even though they could do other forms of labor it was difficult to secure that job as a permanent position. Since some families struggled to make payment to payment work such as prostitution was a last resort for some. Driving families mad such as Jurgis's and nearly tearing them apart. Most knew women were left with the choice of selling their body or allow their family to starve. Even then the husbands can't retaliate against the men who pay for their wives. Since most likely they are a part of the machine. For families in the Stockyards im sure the plan for most was to have the men be the dominant breadwinner and provide for the family, but for most im sure that’s not was transpired. Every member of every family was a vital part of whether they could continue to live. The family would more likely be the bread winner. With everyone working

For workers who wished to forget about the misery of their life, alcohol was a good way to lessen that memory. Giving a bit of a boost for the market of the alcohol business as well. Since when most workers got off their day at the Stockyards they would head straight to their local pub. Trying to block out what their life has instore for them for most likely the rest of their life. Leaving immigrants little time for other luxuries such as going to a library or spending leisure time with the family. Meaning that they don't have the time to gain other hobbies or skills that can help them out of the working class and into the middle class. Unionizing at this time also did little to help immigrant workers. If you were injured on the job or had to miss work, you would most likely let go, and there was nothing the unions could do. They also could not argue work hours and wages. Leaving them to work all day with little