Winston Peterson Professor Laderman HIST 1305 (001) 3 October 2016 Response Paper No. 1 The “American Dream” is the idea that anybody, from any background, can ultimately achieve their goals through hard work and determination. This popular idea is what made America so appealing to foreigners, and immigrants alike. Which is why so many immigrants moved to America; to achieve their version of the “American Dream”. However, from reading, The Jungle by Upton Sinclair, this was not the case. Many immigrants that moved to America wishing to fulfill the “American Dream” of happiness and prosperity in the early 1900s, came to the realization that the “American Dream” was indeed nothing more than an idea, and was not actually put into practice. …show more content…
Not only was Ona raped by her boss, but Ona’s workplace was also secretly a prostitution ring in which many of the workers’ were forced to work for. Sinclair’s description of the events that happened to Jurgis and his family are purposefully made towards others in the working class, as they can directly relate with what Jurgis had to deal with. The objective of Sinclair writing this book isn’t just to make people feel bad about the injustices done to the working class, but it is more so a “Call to arms”, pointing out that something needs to be done about capitalists treating workers so badly. This is the reason why this book became so popular within the working class. It united people under a cause to try and better the conditions for themselves during that time. Sinclair stated the issue with the capitalist movement and how it negatively affects the working class through telling a story of the hardships that Jurgis and his family face while living in America, then offers a solution by promoting the unionization of workers and offers socialist ideas to remedy the effects of, in his mind, the oppressive capitalist government when Jurgis realizes the corrupt system that dwells within his town, Packingtown, and becomes a socialist himself. Within the book, Sinclair gives his thought on what capitalism truly relies on. He notes, “One of the necessary
One of the immigrants from Lithuania in the story, Jurgis Rudkus, is a strong unswerving (future) husband who came from a family of peasants. Like many families who moved to America, one main goal for Jurgis was to earn wealth for his family, which he soon realized was a far, far away dream. Shortly after his move with his fiancé, he’ll come to learn
As the story goes on Ona and her baby Antanas both die. Ona during child birth and Antanas will drowned in front of the house. Jurgis will then move out of the city to the suburbs leave all of his family behind. Later returning to Chicago and getting himself into a lot of trouble with the law. After some time of being in and out of jail Jurgis finally gets a job working at a hotel. He will become back in touch with his family that he left and begin to support them on what he makes by working at the hotel.
Another form of exploitation that doesn’t allow Jurgis and his family to achieve their American dream is the long hours of labor they must work in order to maintain the family alive. These unhealthy long hours of labor that they must work brings the family physical and mental pain. When Jurgis starts to work in the meat packing plant he is exited and happy to have a job, soon after he discovers that he is engaged in unfair labor activities as well as unsafe food handling. In chapter 11 Jurgis suffers from a terrible accident at work. The company doctor tells him that he'll be laid up for months with a severe ankle and foot injury. The accident poses a terrible problem for the family. Without Jurgis' wages, they might starve. “It was dreadful that an accident of this sort, that no man can help, should have meant such suffering. The bitterness of it was the
In 1900, there were over 1.6 million people living in Chicago, the country's second largest city. Of those 1.6 million, nearly 30% were immigrants. Most immigrants came to the United States with little or no money at all, in hope of making a better life for themselves. A city like Chicago offered these people jobs that required no skill. However, the working and living conditions were hazardous and the pay was barely enough to survive on. This is the bases for Upton Sinclair's book, The Jungle.
The Jungle by Upton Sinclair was published in 1906. After reading two-hundred and ninety-four pages, it is evident that humans have been shaping the world over time and the world has been shaping us as well. A lot has changed since the industrial revolution, the time frame in which this novel takes place. Our food industries have improved, money value has risen, and job opportunities have expanded. Throughout The Jungle the reader follows an immigrant family on their journey of hardships and losses as they grapple through gory times that was the Industrial Revolution.
series of class struggles, then moves on to target the bourgeoisie, stating that they have been a
Jurgis always struggled with money even when Ona was on the verge of dying. Jurgis finally convinced the women but Ona didn’t make it on time because it was too late already. Upton Sinclair shows you the struggle Jurgis went through with money and it wasn’t a fair life for him. When Jurgis lost both Ona and his son Antanas he was begging and a drunk man gave him a 100 dollar bill, that next day he enters a bar to receive change but the bartender tells him he has to buy a drink first, once he does the bartender only gives him 97 cents and refuses to give him his change. Jurgis then gets in a fist fight with him but then is sent to Jail. Once he was a prison he realized the life of crime was the best way to survive as an immigrant, then Jurgis finally loses his hope of getting that American dream he always wanted. Jurgis had a good reason to feel like this because he kept getting turned down by jobs and had nowhere to stay, he was homeless.
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.
Sinclair uses a third person narrative in his book The Jungle, of a family who emigrates from Lithuania to America, to portray the harsh realities that these immigrants often encountered. Upon arrival the Rudkus family is looked down upon by the citizens of America due to their social status.
“The Jungle”, written by Upton Sinclair, is an astonishing novel informing readers about the devastating truths involving impoverished life in America, particularly Chicago. This novel gives the reader an inside look into to the struggles of numerous European immigrants as they ventured to America during the early 1900 's. Sinclair depicts the disturbing and emotional realities average people in America faced daily and successfully demonstrates the correct societal and governmental reforms such as the meat packing industry would have allowed these issues to be avoided. The main societal and
During this chapter, Sinclair reveal that capitalism bought out the worst in people especially Jurgis. After Jurgis migrate to America, he became an alcoholic, a violent and an adamant man. For
"The history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggles." Throughout history, us Proletariats have been oppressed by the Bourgeoisie. They make us factory employees do their work, but they reap the rewards. As many articles have suggested, this must be stopped. Each article provides a unique standpoint on the method of halting this abuse.
Throughout the story, “The Jungle” by Upton Sinclair, uses of propaganda are displayed. Sinclair applies numerous hyperboles and unrealistic ideas/scenarios to his novel. This can be proven through the Calamities that befall on Jurgis and his immigrant family. Sinclair describes the conditions of the family as well as their workplaces. His true goal was to display the hardships of immigrants caused by politics, economics, and industry. Therefore, his exaggeration use is applied to gain the attention of the public through the use of propaganda. This was an attempt to abolish the corrupt system of politics and industry that caused for many immigrants and others to obtain great hardship and calamities. An initial reading of The Jungle by Upton
The American Dream: Is is fact or fiction? In the United States’ Declaration of Independence, our founding fathers set forth the idea of an American Dream by providing us with the recognizable phrase “Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness”. The green light at the end of Daisy Buchanan’s dock symbolizes Jay Gatsby’s “Pursuit of Happiness” in the novel, The Great Gatsby, set in the 1920s on Long Island, New York. The American Dream can be defined as “the belief that anyone, regardless of where they were born or what class they were born into, can attain their own version of success in a society where upward mobility is possible for everyone. The American Dream is achieved through sacrifice, risk-taking, and hard work, not by chance” (Fontinelle, Amy). At the birth of our country in 1776, our founding fathers introduced the American Dream as a personal desire to pursue happiness; however, the pursuit of happiness was not intended to promote self-indulgence, rather to act as a catalyst to encourage an entrepreneurial spirit. As our country has changed, the idea of the American Dream, in some cases, has evolved into the pursuit of one’s own indulgences such as material gain regardless of the consequences.
Have you ever heard of the book called The Jungle? This book was written by Upton Sinclair, a muckraker. Harry Sinclair Lewis was a janitor at Upton Sinclair's socialist colony and he was influenced by Sinclair’s idea of socialism. Therefore, their ideas are very much alike even though their childhood backgrounds were completely different. Upton Sinclair had a great impact on society by addressing social issues in the early 1900’s, so what is the significance of Lewis’s works? Some of his major representative works are Main Street, Babbitt, and Arrowsmith (“Assignment Five -- Sinclair Lewis Babbitt”). These books played a big role on muckraking the social corruptions in his time period.