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The Role Of Socialism In Upton Sinclair's The Jungle

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Upton Sinclair reflects the reality of the people during the late 1800’s in his novel The Jungle. In his novel, Sinclair wants to promote Socialism by showing how people lived in the meatpacking plant and under a corrupt government. The inhuman working conditions, combined with the lack of hygiene and a corrupt government, made trying to make a living a total hardships for the low class and the immigrants.
The Jungle takes place in Packingtown, Chicago, where the employees work under horrible conditions. In the meatpacking plants workers have to perform dangerous tasks and problems as the absence of heat in the winter or conditioning air in summer, make the situation worst. ‘’Later came midsummer, with the stifling heat, when the dingy killing beds of …show more content…

The Jungle presents a corrupted government that abuses its power in other to get personal satisfaction and accomplished interests. A good example is how the government pays the immigrants for their votes promising a better lifestyle (251). Also, people lived under unfair accusations and sentences to jail. ’’Poor Jurgis could not know that the owner of the saloon paid five dollars each week to the policeman alone for Sunday privileges and general favors nor that the pugilist bartender was one of the most trusted henchmen of the Democratic.’’ (245). It is shown how the economic status gives different power to people. Corruption in the late 1800’s was about the big guy against the small guy; the people who had money had all the power above the immigrants and the lower class.
Sinclair used these different arguments to persuade people to turn into socialism, showing the dark side of the government at the time of the Gilded Age. The bad working conditions, the absence of sanitation and the corruption made difficult for people to succeed in life, taking away their rights and opportunities making a real hardship for the working class to make a

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All the elements and conflicts presented in the book leads to the theme of socialism. Upton Sinclair is a supporter of the socialist move. To the point of writing this work is to elicit sympathy for the working class and build support for socialism. Everything within the book is criticizing capitalism; the only remedy for the evils of capitalism is socialism (Sinclair). In capitalism, the upper-class keep getting richer by exploiting the lower working class, leaving a wide gap between the wealthy and the impoverished.

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In Upton Sinclair's The Jungle, Jurgis and his family attempt to survive in a malicious society. In this jungle of a town, rotten meat is being packaged in order to save money. Throughout the novel, the immigrants are faced with greedy capitalists who take advantage of the family’s ignorance and naivety in order to make money. The symbols of corruption, a jungle-like setting, and the tension between family and a work-based lifestyle transparently contribute to the unifying theme of anti-capitalism. In other words, this book is not art; this book is propaganda.

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The Jungle written by Upton Sinclair was an expose on the life of those who lived in Packingtown, Chicago. Packingtown was where most of the people who was looking for work lived, it was a very crowded city. Job openings were scarce and most of the jobs were very unsafe. Most of the people in this part of town were poor, so they did not really have much doubts of food,. The Jungle exposed the horrific work conditions, the poor food quality, and the deceitfulness of the business owners.

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