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Sexism In The Jungle

Decent Essays

The lives of people who immigrated to the United States in the early 1900s were harder than they anticipated. In Upton Sinclair’s novel The Jungle, class, racism, and sexism shape the experiences and choices of the immigrants in many ways.
The Jungle was written in 1906 and the novel also takes place around that same time. Class affects the immigrants extensively throughout the book. The family that The Jungle focuses on is very poor and they do not have many opportunities because of it. They are looked down upon by the business-owners and the wealthier people that they encounter. The family is not treated fairly and when they first come to the United States, they are tricked into buying a house that they eventually lose because it cost more …show more content…

Ona and Marija are the characters most affected. Jurgis thinks of Ona as a fragile thing that he must protect throughout the novel. He does not even want her to work at first, until she is forced to in order for the rest of them to survive. Because Jurgis is so defensive of Ona, she does not feel as though she can tell Jurgis when she begins to be assaulted by Conner at work (126). She knows that if she tells Jurgis, he will fight him and get in trouble and she will lose her job. She feels as though she has to lie to him about where she is and what she is doing in order for the rest of her family to be okay. Jurgis interprets the assault as more than just an attack on his wife, but also a blow to his pride and his ability to take care of his family. On the other hand, the female gender is explored in a very different way with Marija. Marija is shown to have more in common with the men of the family than with Elzbieta or Ona. She is a strong and hardworking woman and she even gets a job that is meant for men at one point. Although her and Ona are so different, they both still fall in love and get engaged (71), which is great because it does not reinforce the idea that you can not be independent and also be in love. Marija’s relationship with her fiance, Tamoszius is different from the other relationships portrayed in itself. Tamoszius is frail and petite while Marija is broad and strong, which are qualities not usually attributed to women. “Marija could have picked him up and carried him off under one arm.” While the oddity of this pairing is remarked upon by the other characters, it does not make their relationship any less

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