The Jungle: A Close Examination Essay

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.

making him less human. Even though Jurgis makes money from his work, it is not enough to

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

“..the more they want to earn the more they must sacrifice their time and perform slave labour in which their freedom is totally alienated in the service of avarice...” (Bottomre; 1963, pg 71)

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.

First, Jurgis caused his own distress by not listening to other workers. These workers had been at Packingtown far longer that Jurgis, and they knew the truth. They knew about the debt and loss that comes after working in Packingtown, and they tried to tell Jurgis his was going to come crashing down at some point. But still Jurgis did not listen. It was after his first day at work that he began to realize, with a sinking feeling, that perhaps the other workers were right, saying “When he came home that night he was in a very sombre mood, having begun to see at last how those might be right who had laughed at him for his faith in America” (Sinclair 72). Jurgis was beginning to see that the others were right, and yet he still didn’t listen, and kept going with job. Shortly after, he gets pulled into debt and can no longer escape. Jurgis was his own enemy, taking the bait of the trap, even when everyone told him not to.

Jurgis was in the poor-working class that he never really get money maybe like $5 a week

In The Jungle, Jurgis and his family are immigrant workers that moved to the United States to live the American Dream. Throughout their journey in the United States, the family suffers from illness as well as accidents in the workforce. The family is trying their best and working hard to understand what it takes to live in America as an immigrant. Jurgis experiences the hardships of working and also providing for a newborn baby that Ona has just given birth to. Jurgis has lost his grandfather, Dede Antanas, to an accident while he was working, and knows that it is going to happen, but works hard the best he can. In the film, Cinderella Man, James has boxed his way to the top, but also experiences the hardships of needing to provide for his family during the Great Depression. He has to give his children to Mae’s family to help take care of them as they figure out how they will pay for their bills. Suddenly, James is awakened by a second chance. Joe has found him a fight, not for as much money as James would like, but enough to help get back on his feet and hopefully pay as much of the debt back that he can. This second chance then leads to more fights that he trains for to get back on his

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

Jurgis and his family were faced with many predicaments related to these poor surroundings and circumstances. The family hastily saw that they must enter the competition forced upon them in a social Darwinist fashion. When he first arrived in Packingtown, Jurgis found work quickly in the meat packing industry because of his strong, young stature. As the years went by, however, and he grew plagued with injuries and financial troubles, Jurgis found work to be evermore difficult to obtain and hold. The social system cracked down on the family and offered nowhere for the Rudkus' to turn for help.

Jurgis is happy with his job, though he never thought of the meat and blood side of it until he works on the killing floor. The speed of the workers is very fast, and Jurgis sees how the bosses hire men that can speed up the pace of the other workers and place those men in crucial positions along the killing lines. This process is speeding up the competition and anyone who cannot keep pace loses his job. Jurgis is discouraged to learn that not like him, most men in the factory hate their jobs.

Living in the bottom of the class system, capitalism takes a toll on Jurgis and his family. His

The jungle by Upton Sinclair has made me realize how history shaped what america is today. It was in this book that raised the spotlight on many topics including: meat handling, minimum wage, workers compensation, sexual harassment, child labor and most importantly the right to express one's thoughts. Now we live in a country that not only honors our freedom but respects and looks over our health. The jungle takes place in the 1900s when over 9 million immigrants were flocking to America searching for what was known as the American dream. So was this particular lutheran family that came to America for just that. Not knowing that in the end they would be contributors of the awareness and importance of checking meat handlers.

A job can easily become something so much more; it can become your lifestyle, especially when it comes to prostitution. Prostitution molds your life, the judgmental views of society, and the loving relationship one thrives off of. Love Suicides, “The Life of a Sensuous Woman”, and “Du Tenth Sinks the Jewel Box in Anger” displays prostitution significantly and has these women’s decisions, emotions, and endeavors fueled by their line of work. Trying to define and live a life of love (which the main characters seem to be longing for) when your lifestyle is filled with fits of lust, when your lifestyle is your business, and when society frowns up you poses a challenge. From the outside looking in on the lifestyle of prostitution people assume, use stereotypes, and have skewed views on these women.

There may be humane masters, as there certainly are inhuman ones - there may be slaves well-clothed, well-fed, and happy, as there surely are those half-clad, half-starved and miserable; nevertheless, the institution that tolerates such wrong and inhumanity as I have witnessed, is a cruel, unjust, and barbarous one. (127)