Examples Of Capitalitarianism In The Jungle

The Jungle by Upton Sinclair is a vivid account of life for the working class in the early 1900s. Jurgis Rudkus and his family travel to the United States in search of the American dream and an escape from the rigid social structure of Lithuania. Instead, they find a myriad of new difficulties. Sinclair attributes their problems to the downfalls of capitalism in the United States. While America’s system was idealistic for Jurgis and his family at first, the mood of the story quickly transforms to assert that capitalism is evil. This theme drives the author’s message and relay of major issues throughout the entirety of the novel. The idea of capitalism and social Darwinism is to

Christopher Phelps’ Introduction states, “As a metaphor, ‘jungle’ denoted the ferocity of dog-eat-dog competition, the barbarity of exploitative work, the wilderness of urban life, the savagery of poverty, the crudity of political corruption, and the primitiveness of the doctrine of survival of the fittest, which led people to the slaughter as surely as cattle.”(1), this is the foundation to Sinclair’s arguments that capitalism promotes competition between the working-class for mere survival all the while destroying human rights

“Order of society”, this is in reference to how there are a few people who have monopoly over the whole city, and that the working men are just pawns in the whole charade. And the crooks are the power pieces in an elaborate game that belongs to the kings. Jurgis starts off as a pawn or a working

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.

In the book, The Jungle, Upton Sinclair advocates for the overall elimination of oppression and exploitation of workers and immigrants and the use of socialism as a solution. The book depicts, and illustrates, the events and outcome of Jurgis and his family from Lithuania coming to the America’s in hopes of a better life, from the ideology of “The American Dream”. Jurgis believes that hard work will pay off no matter the size of the problem, however him and his family realize that the America’s posses corruption, harmful working conditions, and oppression of the worker and immigrants. Sinclair uses examples to express the hardships and cruelty that lower class workers faced to allow the reader to perceive whether or not there is a need for change in the system. Frederick Douglass uses the same form of writing to bring light to the harsh and unjust experiences he endured in order to persuade and communicate why there is a need to accomplish what he is advocating for.

They were forced to work longer without pay, work in unsanitary conditions, and more. Much later in the novel, after Jurgis has run away fromm his family, become an alcoholic, and homeless, he accidently stumbles upon a political meeting where he is first introduced to socialism. When he first gets to the meeting, he enters just to sit and rest until someone encourages him to listen to the speech. To his surprise, the speaker is pointing out the terrible conditions that workers face each day. Additionally, he talks about how capitalists grind most workers into capitulation. Jurgis has never heard anyone speak so vividly of the realities he was facing each day, causing him much joy. This was the first time a political party was in favor of the working class rather than the privileged and wealthy. Sinclair does an excellent job of developing the theme of reform from capitalism to socialism. As he speaks to Ostrinski, a Lithuanian speaking socialist, he is informed that just because America is politically free doesn’t mean there is no “wage slavery”. When Jurgis finds a new job, under a socialist boss, Sinclair makes it obvious that this is a much better political party than capitalism since Jurgis is making thirty plus dollars each month. This new wage is nothing compared to the amount he was making before. Throughout the novel capitalism is portrayed as a destructive form of government while Sinclair promotes socialism.

“Ona’s heart sank for the house was not as it was shown in the picture; the color scheme was different, for one thing and then it did not seem quite as big”(p.35). Jurgis and his family purchased a house thinking it was going to be big and brand new, but turns out it was an old small house that someone has already lived in it. Jurgis’ family also had to work, including the women and children, just so they can pay the rent. The main issue was that the working conditions were terrible for their family. For example, the children would sometimes have to walk around in the cold snow just to sell newspapers and the women would sometimes have their entire factories shut down and lose their jobs. The factories closing did not only affect Jurgis’ family, but also every other worker who worked for that factory.

3. Many critics believe this scene is written to delight Sinclair’s socialist friends. At the time it was written, readers would have easily recognized that the butler is named after Alexander Hamilton, who was Secretary of the Treasury, and that the dog is named after Admiral Dewey, who fought in the Spanish American War. Sinclair and the other socialists would have considered these two men to be perpetrators of the capitalist system, and ridiculing them in this scene would have been very amusing. Besides providing his readers with an amusing scene, what does Sinclair reveal about the changes in Jurgis’ character during this chapter?

The Jungle by Upton Sinclair, published in 1906 was written to depict the harsh conditions that immigrants that came to the U.S. lived in. This book describes the life of Jurgis, a young Lithuanian immigrant living in Chicago in search of the American dream. Jurgis faces many hindrances throughout his life in Packingtown. His living and working conditions, the nature of capitalism, and Packingtown’s environment affected both his physical and emotional states.

People in this story live in a very dis honest world, it's a rough life and it's almost impossible to live comfortably and make an honest living. Jurgis tried to be an honest working man but all the frauds and dishonest people around him made an influence. You see the dishonesty throughout the book cover to cover. Jurgis has several encounters with people who constantly try to cheat him out of his money or are dishonest about their intentions. You can see one encounter in the early pages of the book when jurgis and his family first arrive to america, they're looking for kettles and pots for there new house and the man that they bought them from cheated them out of a few pots. You can also see this late story when jurgis is trying to get his 100 dollars changed the man he asked him to change it. The man took the money from him and changed him 95 cents.

The Jungle by Upton Sinclair details the life of a Lithuanian immigrant named Jurgis, in the late 1800’s. In the novel, Jurgis and his family immigrate to America in order to find prosperity and follow the “American Dream”. However, upon reaching reaching America, they face many trials and tribulations. Foremost, no one in the family is able to speak English, as well as being poor immigrants that are easily taken advantage of by society. Initially, Jurgis tries to keep his head up and tries through his own work to succeed, but as the events of the novel unfold, we see him tore down and corrupted. The moral corruption of Jurgis can be seen as a reflection of the environment in which he lived. In the end, Jurgis believed that the capitalistic society that he lived in was against the common man. The Jungle illustrates how greed and unchecked capitalism can have devastating effects on people.

Sinclair was an expressive socialist, and showed his beliefs in his novels. In The Jungle, Sinclair frequently referenced socialism and how it would fix all the problems created through capitalism. “Capitalism is not the problem.

Based on chapter 13 of How To Read Literature Like A Professor I believe The Jungle is a political work centered on the contrasts between capitalism and socialism. Upton Sinclaire uses Jurgis to represent immigrants and the working class, making the character more relatable helps to get the authors point across to the audience. Wether it be politically or otherwise, the story is meant to change us and in turn change society. In the case of The Jungle , Sinclaire uses symbolism and propaganda like antics to express his ideas both through Jurgis and the story itself. This novel being programmatic (pushing a single cause, concern or party position) supports socialist ideas and causes. For example, in The Jungle, Jurgis is constantly oppressed

Jurgis and his family are thrust into the polluting factories, toiling away for meager wages. Even as all of them work, including the children, it’s barely enough to scrape by to pay for rent and food. “Working harder,” as Jurgis says, only brings them closer to death. As the result of capitalist greed, workers are treated as only a means to an end, making profit while the workers scrounged up cents a day to make ends meet. Immigrants such as Jurgis were a seemingly endless supply, and employers manipulated this to implement cheap wages for long hours. All around Jurgis, his family members waste away; his wife, Ona, dies during childbirth because their family couldn’t afford a doctor inside the attic of a dingy house. One of the children, “wretchedly sick and undersized” [1, Ch. 13, pg. 91] was perpetually sick and dressed in shabby clothes and forced to crawl under heavy machinery. Furthermore, one particular scene describes Ona’s rape; if she didn’t sleep with her boss, Phil Connor, her whole family would be without work. Sinclair portrays capitalism as soulless and lacking any empathy for humanity.  Jurgis keeps “working harder,” [1, Ch. 1, pg. 14] but capitalism forces him to work harder and harder until he cannot work any harder. Jurgis then comes to be educated in socialism, where he is enthralled by the idea. His journey through the jungle has only brought him grief, and in the end he can only rely on himself. The people that have meant most of them have submitted themselves to capitalism or have died at the hands of their work. The economic system has failed him, the judicial system has failed him, and he had nowhere to turn. Socialism was his answer, and so after meeting Hinds, who educated him, his life turned around and gave him a purpose to fight for.

In the book the jungle the author upton sinclair. Wanted to focus on socialism and capitalism.there was many conflicts such as living in the U.S . such as poverty,deaths,and capitalism . there is many causes to capitalism.such as taxes ad workplaces being horrible .Jurgis had to go thru many problems. And saw that the united states wasn't really the place of freedom and opportunities .the author tried to create socialism and ended up changing other thing such as the way we make food products .