Social Darwinism Exposed In Upton Sinclair's The Jungle

After the first reading The Jungle, it was clear that Sinclair was creating a jungle-like atmosphere to help create the chaotic story of Jurgis and his family. Written during the early 1900s, America was experiencing a lot of change. Immigrants were pouring into the cities across the country searching to achieve the American Dream. Although the immigrants were slowly being replaced by newer immigrants, they struggled to fight against each other to make it big in the cities. Sinclair wanted to expose the corruption of the industries and the immigrants attempts to fit into the capitalistic society. Sinclair uses different methods to overall make this industrial jungle present in the novel. He shows how social Darwinism is normal in this society

Sinclair creates a society where only the strongest and best survive. The strong ones in the society, like the factory owners, prey on the weakest links, the immigrants. They are showing their strength to the lower classes by pushing them to the lowest of the low and not helping them when they are in desperate need. Sinclair makes a reference to the family being like a tree in the winter time and every member of the family was like a branch. He says, “The branches of the trees do battle for light, and some of them lose and die … strew the ground with these weaker branches” (Sinclair 66). This shows how only the strong can survive in this society in Chicago. It represents how the weaker links are killed off from the rest and the strong continue on until they are eventually replaced by a pack of newer and stronger

Sinclair hints at the characters being like animals. Jurgis says many times throughout the book, “I will work harder,” like a working horse from another famous book, Animal Farm. The title of the novel even symbolizes the competitive nature of the jungle. Sinclair most likely choose this title to show that throughout his novel. He displays these jungle-like aspects through many quotes. “But I’m glad I’m not a hog!” (Sinclair 29). Jurgis says this when he is touring through the meat packing factory. He says this as if he is relieved, but in reality he is a hog to the factory owners. He is being used for his labor and then is throw away, like the hogs. Sinclair also says, “They use everything about the hog except the squeal” (Sinclair 27). This quote helps emphasize the last point even better. It shows that the factories can take everything away from their workers like their health, money, and families, yet they will still have a voice against them. Towards the end of the book, Jurgis realizes this and begins to take a stand against the corrupted system. In an actual jungle, animals can have everything taken away from them and can still fight back against their predators and hunters. Sinclair writes, “...and the wild beast rose up within him and screamed, as it has screamed in the jungle from the dawn of time” (Sinclair 186) It represents how Jurgis was truly turning into a