Throughout the beginning of the novel The Jungle, by Upton Sinclair, the main protagonist, Jurgis Rudkus, states multiple times “I will work harder” (Sinclair 24) in reference to his ever growing debts. Jurgis attempting to work his way out of his problems is symbolic of the many immigrants coming to America at the time. These immigrants came to America, the land of opportunity, that brought in people from around the world to work. But unbeknownst to these immigrants, within a few days inside of America, as it was for Jurgis, “this land of high wages had been sufficient to make clear to them the cruel fact that it was also a land of high prices” (Sinclair 31). Such begins the downward spiral of Jurgis and his family along with the many immigrant families at the time. These families are necessitating more work for their ever growing debts, and their constant efforts to thwart such failing. Jurgis’ mentioning of him working harder in order to save himself and his family also can be used to reference his shifting of his mindset throughout the novel. In the beginning, he is fresh and looking for work and believes that he will be able to work his way out of any rut that is in his way. However, as the story progresses, Jurgis’ soul and spirit become crushed by the city and its way of life. This constant antagonist to his well being lead him to, for a period of time, leaving the city and hoboing the countryside. Jurgis’ spirit was crushed until a point where his former ideals
The Jungle (1906), by Upton Sinclair, is a story mainly about the life and turmoil of a man who came to American in hopes that he will become a free, rich man with a beautiful wife, Ona, and happy family; this man is the young Jurgis Rudkus, a strong, energetic Lithuanian whose personality and life are all changed several times over the coarse of the story. Major usually tragic events that occur in the story serve as catalysts for Jurgis's dramatic, almost upsetting, transformations. There were four major turning points in Jurgis's life: after he loses his job and is forced to work at a fertilizer mill; when he loses his wife and children; when he is incorporated into the criminal and political underworlds; and when he picks his life
In The Jungle, Upton Sinclair reveals the vicious and merciless characteristics of the system of Capitalism through Jurgis. At the beginning, he comes to America full of hopes and dreams to improve his life but then he helplessly falters because of the cruelty of Capitalism. The Jungle portrays two oppositional images of America, which is seen by newcomers like Jurgis as a free land of opportunities that would give them fortunes and make their dreams come true, but in reality is a world of slavery under Capitalism.
The Jungle by Upton Sinclair was about Jurgis Rudkus who was an immigrarnt from Lithuania that came to the United States to discover his dreams, hopes, and desires. He took his family to Chicago to begin a new life. He worked in meatpacking industries that were unsanitary and brutal amount of hours that resulted into starvation. He was mistreated and realized the American dream wasn't as easy as it seemed. The book deals with disease, hunger, corruption, crime, poverty and death. “Leave it to me; leave it to me. I will earn more money – I will work harder.” This was said by Jurgis frequently because him and Ona always struggled with money and having a job but Jurgis never wanted Ona to stress about those problems. Jurgis always took charge
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.
“The Jungle” truly is a touching story that depicts just how bad being an immigrant in America was. They often worked in worse conditions than anybody else while those in charge lived comfortably. The book also shows how hopeful some wear and how strictly they believed in the so-called American dream. Jurgis was a strong spirited man, which often helped his family. Ona, seeing her husband work as hard as he did, trusted his feelings that they would soon make it out of the hole they were stuck
In the world of economic competition that we live in today, many thrive and many are left to dig through trashcans. It has been a constant struggle throughout the modern history of society. One widely prescribed example of this struggle is Upton Sinclair's groundbreaking novel, The Jungle. The Jungle takes the reader along on a journey with a group of recent Lithuanian immigrants to America. As well as a physical journey, this is a journey into a new world for them. They have come to America, where in the early twentieth century it was said that any man willing to work an honest day would make a living and could support his family. It is an ideal that all Americans are familiar
Truth be told, Sinclair demonstrates that the working environment security was greatly low and representatives were at the high danger of harm similar to the instance of Jurgis companions, relatives and Jurgis himself. In the meantime, the damage of laborers frequently implied the loss of employment that demonstrates that the mid 20th century specialists were not secured in their rights. Now, it merits specifying the way that lawful demonstrations that legitimately secured representatives, who endured wounds or had incapacities, were presented just in the late 20th century, for instance the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990. Consequently, the carelessness of managers and absence of worries about their representatives' wellbeing was a standard in the US in the past and this disposition has
Many believe the path to success isn’t easy, but with hard work, drive, and passion, it is possible to attain the American Dream. However, when a person thinks of the American dream they are standing from the outside looking in and fail to see the struggle that comes with it. In the Jungle, Upton Sinclair portrays how difficult it is to obtain this fantasy by showing the journey of a Lithuanian immigrant family coming to America. They came to America because they heard that “any man willing to work an honest day would make a living and could support his family.” Jurgis Rudkis, the main character of the jungle, is a vigorous, motivated, and honorable Immigrant whose vision is quickly destroyed by poverty, disappointments, and corruption. "I will work harder," is Jurgis 's motto and his answer to every setback he encounters. While this attitude brings Jurgis closer to the American dream, the harder he works the more obstacles he seems to face. Cheated in the worst ways possible, Jurgis tries to push forward through everything, hoping he will eventually gain the dream he had heard of in the past. "I will work harder" only helps Jurgis so much in his quest to achieve the American Dream. However, it could work in today’ America.
The Jungle written by Upton Sinclair in 1906 portrayed the harsh realities endured by millions of immigrants and working-class people during the Gilded Age. The book is centered around a Lithuanian immigrant named Jurgis and his wife Ona and their family. In the beginning, Jurgis and Ona have just moved to Chicago and neither speak English; yet, they have a sense of optimism about what their life in America will look like. In fact, when Ona tells Jurgis about her concerns that their wedding costs more than they can afford, Jurgis simply shrugs her off and states “Leave it to me; leave it to me. I will earn more money-I will work harder” [1]. This optimism found in the beginning; however, does not remain relevant throughout the rest of the novel. Numerous tragedies strike Jurgis and Ona’s family and soon, the happy couple loses their sense of optimism they struggle to even survive. Although, The Jungle is a fictional novel; the situations encountered by Jurgis and Ona is likely similar to what many immigrants faced during this time period. Sinclair uses his novel to make the argument for socialism and blames American capitalism for most of Jurgis and Ona’s
The Jungle was written to demonstrate the evils of the capitalist system in America. In the novel, Upton Sinclair shows the way the capitalist system exploits the working class, gives absolute power to the wealthy few, and forces individuals to act only out of self-interest, regardless of the suffering of others. The Jungle portrays the many injustices that result from capitalism, including horrific working conditions, child labor, political corruption, prostitution, drinking, cheating, and crime. Workers are exposed to brutal working conditions where they suffer exhaustion, injury, bodily harm, and death. In order to survive, individuals must compete for these horrendous jobs, send their children to work and be prepared to lose more than a limb. Crooked real estate agents sell "new" homes, merchants sell medicine and food doctored up with chemicals, and politicians buy votes. Capitalism forces even well-intentioned people to become unfeeling and cutthroat and to prey on others to survive. For example, when Jurgis first arrives in America, he tries to make it as an honest worker at the meatpacking plant. After being continually beaten down, he starts drinking, leaves his remaining family, turns to crime, and later returns to the meatpacking plants where he works for corrupt politicians and as a scab during a strike. Throughout the book, capitalism has a dehumanizing effect, turning men into animals or machines to be used for
This hard working, yet naïve immigrant leads his family from Lithuania to the one word of English he knows, Chicago. In the beginning of the novel, Jurgis believes a good, strong work ethic is the foundation for what any person needs to be successful in America, even opposing the very idea of a union. Upton Sinclair affirms this idea by writing, “But Jurgis had no sympathy with such ideas as this- he could do the work himself, and so could the rest of them, he declared, if they were good for anything. If they couldn’t do it, let them go somewhere else” (Sinclair, 43). But throughout the novel, it is exposed that greedy businessmen take advantage of unskilled workers by lowering wages and extending working hours because of the abundance of immigrants willing to work for less. For example, business leaders employed women and children at a fraction of the pay rate compared to men, which promoted institutionalized poverty and highlighted the lack of government influence in this economic period. Everyone is willing to undercut each other just to survive the machinery of capitalism, as evident by the title The Jungle, a cut throat competition for survival. Just like the cattle and pigs lined up to be slaughtered in Packingtown, wave after wave of immigrants lined up to be worn down and abused by the non-stop grind of dehumanizing conditions. Sinclair shows that the painful and toxic evils of capitalism are the driving force which keeps hard working immigrants like Jurgis from leaving their socio-economic
In The Jungle, Author Upton Sinclair uses Jurgis, the main character of the book, as an example of what the common working man’s life was like. Jurgis, along with all his family are Lithuanian immigrants, who just immigrated to the U.S. Not knowing the foreign culture, they were hired by a meatpacking plant. This plant, ran by corrupt politicians, applied strict rules and regulations; not reimbursing/paying their workers enough, long hours, etc. Jurgis joined a Union, after realizing he should fight for his rights as a laborer. Sinclair’s opinion about labor rights was, that the common working man should fight for, and be granted more rights to increase their chance of supporting their families.
In this novel Upton Sinclair shows the problems of working class people. His believe in and contempt for capitalism as described in this story “The Jungle”. The writer explains capitalism in which the labor communities were treated very badly and to survive in the conditions of poverty. The novel rotates around the family of a character Jurgis Rudkus who have immigrated to America from Lithuania. As well as explained about the shameless extortion of migrants in the U.S.A.
Both sets of workers at Fordlandia and those portrayed by Jurgis in Upton Sinclair's The Jungle were given the opportunity to work. This opportunity meant a lot to them because a job gives people a sense of purpose. They also wanted to provide for their families, so this seemed like a clever idea at the time. Jurgis, a picture of factory workers in America, is the main character of The Jungle. He immigrated to America believing he could find a better life and the Brazilians believed Henry Ford when he said that he would give them jobs.
Moreover, Sinclair’s arduous efforts of depicting society's way of testing Jurgis family don’t go unnoticed. The one thing that this family had going was their love and affection for each other, but unfortunately society found various of ways to challenge that. He describes society in the novel as, “always on the verge of starvation” (page 123), which was in addition to having poor health and lack of proper nutrition. Some members of the family had no option, but to work in the meatpacking industry which was described as a dangerous, and miserable career. After long and difficult days of work coming home to each other is all that they looked forward to, “Leave it to me; leave it to me. I will earn more money - I will work harder” (page 22). Jurgis acknowledges the fact that his family will need money to survive and regardless of all the obstacles that are thrown in his path he