The Role Of Immigrants In Upton Sinclair's The Jungle

The 1906 novel The Jungle written by Upton Sinclair rendered the sickening work condition of immigrants in the industrialized city of Chicago. The early twentieth century was the time when Europeans were migrating to the United States many of the immigrants lived in an overcrowded urban area, and immigrants worked for low and unfair wages for American factories and businesses. At the time the city of Chicago had one of the worst poor living conditions in the United States. The Lithuanians faced the American businesses who ruthlessly manipulated them, experiencing the horrendous working conditions, and the harsh exploitation of the labor of women, men and children. Immigration.”the act of coming to live permanently in a foreign country”(dictionary).

Another example is having multiple workers getting injured like Mikolas who lost his hand and Antana who had a lung disease and died from the chemical that surrounded him in the pickle room, there’s no safety net or medical treatment given to them, if your sick or injured you are replaced with someone worthy of their money, you are replaceable. Another reason is when Jurgis found out about Phil Connor and Ona, Jurgis’s instinct overcame him, he attacked Connor and went to court and testified to the judges about what he has done to Ona but since Connor has power and connection all over the social structure in Chicago the judges believed Connor’s words against Jurgis. Everything that surrounded them was corrupted, the factories, businesses, policeman, judges, courtrooms, and the government. People lied about everything because they knew they could get away with it. Jurgis and his family came and migrated to American to live the American dream but instead, they lived and experienced the American