Corruption In Upton Sinclair's The Jungle

Upton Sinclair’s social commentary novel of the 1900s’ turbulent age, “The Jungle”, critically acclaims Marxism with the idea of fundamental flaws and the idea of destined break down of the capitalism through an Lithuanian hard working immigrant seeking for the ‘American dream’. The muckraking of abhorrent Capitalism,the idea of Marxism, was evidently illustrated through the family exploited to lies and chicanery, unfair treatment causing struggles between upper and lower class and the lead to the destruction and the deaths of untold millions.

Written at the turn of the 20th century, Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle took place in an era of unprecedented advancement in civilization where the American economy had risen to become one of the wealthiest on the planet. However, Sinclair asserts that the rise of capitalist America resulted in the virulent corruption and competition that plighted society into an untamed “jungle.” Shown by the corruption of the Chicago meatpacking industry, Sinclair highlights the repulsive filth of human greed that was created as a byproduct of the economic boom. The effects of industrialism and the rise of untamed capitalism is what raped the superfluity of workers, like Jurgis Rudkus, of the opportunity to uncover prosperity in America. Not only does The Jungle capture the brutality and acceleration of corrupt capitalism and ruthless Darwinism during the Progressive Era, it also prompts resistance and displacement of the existing political system in favor of a socialist revolution. Through the novel, Sinclair demonstrates how the deterioration of the American Dream was exacerbated by the capitalist greed and corruption that eventually drove Jurgis and his family into mental degeneration and despair.

Throughout the reading of “Just Mercy”, a novel written by Bryan Stevenson, and the movie “The Shawshank Redemption”, there are many examples that represent the corruption within the criminal justice system. The various forms of corruption are expressed through specific cases that have occurred within the criminal justice and through different characters in the reading or the movie that show examples of corruption. The different corruptions categorize into overall groups such as race, gender, and mental capabilities.

The novel follows Jurgis's Lithuanian immigrant family into the disgusting tenements and meat packing factories of Chicago. There, they suffer the loss of all their dreams of success and freedom in America. They find themselves leashed to the grinding poverty and misery of the city slums despite all their best efforts. Sinclair's purpose is to display the evils of capitalism as an economic system. "…had given to the thought to a struggle by the America's working class to free themselves from their enslavement under capitalism, and to the creating of a new and classless society controlled collectively by all the people in their self interest" (Harris 57). Sinclair was bemused by the public reaction to his phenomenally successful novel. "He said that he had aimed for America's heart, but had ended by hitting it in the stomach" (Harris 82).

Muckraking journalist brought many social issues of the day to the public’s attention and created a need for change. Upton Sinclair’s and his book, The Jungle brought the poor working conditions that came along with the industrial age into the public’s eye. In addition, this also caused the creation of strict laws for food and drug manufacturing as well as meat inspections. This also helped protect consumers from unsafe practices and deceitful labeling. Robert Hunter and Jacob Riis also wrote about the poor of America and their living conditions. This led to the development of social workers and agencies to help poor populations. Another journalist, Lincoln Steffens also brought corruption of the government into the light which put pressure

Battles over power are constantly fought in societies. Inevitably, one group will find a way to rise up and assume authority over the others.As exemplified by Upton Sinclair in The Jungle, economy in twentieth century America was determined by power struggles between the wealthy capitalists and the impoverished proletariat. On a more individual level, the character of Jurgis is portrayed with the unceasing desire to free himself from the power of others and in turn gain power for himself.

The Jungle written by Upton Sinclair was published in February 26, 1906 by Doubleday, Jabber and Company. As soon as the book hit the shelves, it sold hundreds of thousands of copies. It took its readers by storm. Upton Sinclair, however, was pleased yet he wasn’t entirely pleased. In his book, The Jungle, he wrote about an immigrant worker that goes through a lot of hardships and problems in his life, and becomes a socialist, and the horrid practices of the meat industry. Although, the majority of the readers didn’t seem to care that much about the protagonist instead it was the meat packing industry, in which where our protagonist works. The way Sinclair described the meat industry with such detail that readers were outraged, they could not

His work was affected by his outrage towards the “unfairness of American social structure” (“The Jungle,” Novels 154). After years and years of struggling, Sinclair finally found his answer to a better life, which was Socialism (Blackwell). Sinclair’s promotion of Socialism mainly occurs towards the end of the story. In the book, Jurgis becomes sick and tired of his life being awful to the point where he turns to Socialism (Sinclair 340-350). Like Sinclair, Jurgis comes to a realization that there was an answer out there for his struggling life. In Sinclair’s mind, Socialism was absolutely necessary: “Socialism was simply a necessary step toward a far-distant goal, a step to be tolerated with impatience” (Sinclair 359). Sinclair and Jurgis both share the same mindset, as both of them see Socialism as the only answer. Sinclair used the story in order to put his goals into place: “Sinclair had...visions of ridding America of all its capitalistic evils” (Blackwell). Not only did Sinclair turn to Socialism as his answer for a better life, Jurgis follows the footsteps of his author: “Jurgis’s victimization and later embrace of Socialist ideals give voice to the author’s [Sinclair] own convictions” (Moss and Wilson). Lastly, Socialism was given national attention both in the book and in the real world. In the story, during election time, the Socialist party was at its highest peak in members (Sinclair 367-370). The same growth of the party happened when Sinclair ran for Governor of California in 1934 (“The Jungle,” Novels 154-156). He uses events that happened in real life as influence for his book. Sinclair shares his philosophy through his book with the

He told the hardships of Jurgis and his family’s lives, who came here for the American dream, only to realize what it was really like for an immigrant trying to establish himself. Sinclair used examples of occupation, illness, and a new, hopeful idea as symbols. These symbols supported the idea that capitalism was dangerous, and needed to be limited. Following the publishing of this book, many laws were set in place in favor of the workers, to give them better conditions to work in, and fair

Gary Krist introduces Mayor Bill Thompson as “blustering, flamboyant, unscrupulous, but always entertaining,” (Krist, 31). This attitude of “sloppy and uncritical optimism” continues throughout the book as Thompson becomes the face of Chicago during the crises of July 1919. Gary Krist was accusatory and scathing with his tone toward Mayor Bill Thompson as Krist tried to find blame for the crises that happened within City of Scoundrels.

In Upton Sinclair’s novel The Jungle, his main idea is to push for socialism because he thinks you have to be corrupt in order to practice capitalism. Throughout the novel he makes numerous metaphors about how capitalism is bad and a person must be corrupt in order to be successful. The main example for this is the main character Jurgis Rudkus, who displayed various acts of corruption in order to survive and make a living for himself. I’m the end of the novel, Upton Sinclair had Jurgis become really involved in a socialist party, and he allegedly did fine.

As of 2015, immigrants make up more than 43.3 percent of the United States population. By the early 1900s there were already more than 10 million immigrants living in America. Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle reveals the struggles and hardships of a family that immigrates to the United States from Lithuania during the 1900s. Although many immigrant families came to America in search of a better life, soon most found themselves barely surviving with no job, food, shelter, or money. As is the case of the family in The Jungle. The novel not only unveils the corruption of the political and economic system during the time, but also exposes the severe torment and misery that was faced by the working class. Upton Sinclair’s book, The Jungle, describes

Two of the more critical issues amid this period were (1) the inclusion of police in defilement and (2) constrained oversight and supervision of watch officers. Amid this period, police inclusion in debasement went up against various distinctive structures. Initially, on account of their cozy association with groups, officers were defenseless to contribution in criminal action or the acknowledgment of rewards as a byproduct of the nonenforcement of laws. The later piece of the political time matched with Prohibition and made open doors for officers to pick up fiscally by securing illicit drinking foundations or speakeasies. An arrangement of political support and the nearby association officers needed to neighborhood ward legislators likewise made them exceptionally defenseless against political debasement. Since they gave oversight at neighborhood surveying areas, it was normal for officers to have undue impact over open voting choices or in a few cases to deliberately fix decisions. The issue of defilement was confounded by the constrained types of administrative oversight and supervision of watch officers. Not at all like the verifiable periods that would take after, the accessibility of innovations to screen and track the area and exercises of officers was constrained to nonexistent amid this time. Watch officers were managed extensive watchfulness in their day by day exercises, and there was restricted inspiration to regulate and rebuff them for wrongdoing given the complicity of administrators in political defilement too. The wastefulness and disruption that came about contained an immediate target and force for the following authentic period, the change/proficient

In this critical response, we will be examining a novella filled with greed and corruption written by John Steinbeck called ’The Pearl’. “Power does not corrupt, Fear corrupts… Perhaps the fear of a loss of power.” This compelling quote from another of Steinbeck’s works suggests that those traits are very common, and that they have been explored in all sorts of media and texts. It is so ubiquitous that it must have some negative effect on us in our everyday lives, seen in the Grimm Brothers’ fable, ‘The Fisherman and His Wife’. People have been known to use other’s greed and the desire for wealth to benefit themselves, demonstrated in José Padilha’s TV show “Narcos”. However, Steinbeck also explores the idea that there is a way to live

Government in our society have become exceedingly corrupt, and other appointees make that appear to be accepted. Once an act has been committed that is unacceptable to people of our factions, officials make that behavior orthodox. In the novel, “Sold” police are paid off by the bothal owner, Mumtaz. Even after the girls were rescued the police officers were never ceased. If those executing wicked acts are seized they have almost no discipline.