The Jungle: The Plight Of Immigrant Workers

Jason J. Park

Mr. Zak Zerby

English 319

12 March 2023

The Plight of Immigrant Workers

The plight of immigrants in the United States accumulates to decades of struggle and oppression; racism and unfair practices have degraded the quality of immigrant lives throughout US history. In the public sphere, these immigrants are most impacted by the workplace, since the majority of immigrants come to the United States to find jobs. Known for his meticulous research, Upton Sinclair was widely praised for his work that exposed social injustice. His novel The Jungle serves as a credible account of the harsh reality of migrant workers during the Gilded Age, just before the turn of the nineteenth century. The plight of foreign-born workers during this era

Both in the late 19th century and today, immigrants face unfair pay, resulting from nationalist attitudes and exploitative employers. During the Gilded age, there was retaliation against so-called “new” immigrants. “The Immigration Restriction League…blamed the [new immigrants] for problems ranging from urban crime and poverty to mass unemployment” (Foner et al. 524). New immigrants, unlike old immigrants from northern and western Europe who were more aligned with white “stock” Americans, were darker-skinned and came from southern and eastern Europe. The surge of new immigrants and the changing demographics from old to new immigration caused a resurgence of nationalism, and the Immigration Restriction League reflected the population’s negative perception of these immigrants, accusing them of stealing jobs and crime. As a result, excess workers and negative attitudes toward new immigrants lead to unfair practices by employers. Many of these unfair practices are shown in Sinclair’s novel The Jungle. Sinclair describes his character’s situation: “There were weeks at a time when Jurgis went home after such a day as

He is paid thirty-five cents (his employer refused to pay idle time but forced workers to stay) for a day’s work, which has the buying power of around ten dollars today. At around 1890, the time period that The Jungle is set in, thirty five cents would buy little more than a dozen eggs. With the added expense of his house payments, Jurgis has trouble feeding himself and his family. Like Jurgis, employers of the era neglected the needs of their workers and exploited them to maximize profits. This was possible because there was a low demand for workers compared to the amount of immigrants coming into the United States. On top of this, workers were dehumanized and treated as machines with the sole purpose of doing work. This was exacerbated by the fact that humans are quick to discriminate by outer appearance—new immigrants had darker skin and did not speak English. There were no laws to protect these workers. Evidently, immigrant workers are most likely to face mistreatment when there is a high supply of workers, a strong nationalist attitude, and inadequate legal protection. Even today, exploitative workers take advantage of weak laws. The lack of “worker protections and basic labor rights…[for] unauthorized immigrant workers