The Theme Of Capitalism In Packingtown, By Upton Sinclair

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.

It is an obvious safety hazard at the fault of the company, yet, he does not receive compensation. He is forced to beg for his job back. Marija loses her job drawing advertisements at a canning company when she joins a union. Ona’s boss, Phil Connor, harasses her. When Jurgis learns of the assault, he attacks the man and goes to jail. “They put him in a place where the snow could not beat in, where the cold could not eat through his bones; they brought him food and drink—why, in the name of heaven, if they must punish him, did they not put his family in jail and leave him outside—why could they find no better way to punish him than to leave three weak women and six helpless children to starve and freeze?” (Sinclair, 184-185). This quote shockingly illustrates that the prison is actually an environment far preferable to the cruel, filthy world of Packingtown. Sinclair’s famous descriptions of the repugnant meatpacking plants is meant to enhance the plea for better physical conditions. There are endless examples where Sinclair addresses the lack of rights for the working class. He suggests socialism as a possible remedy where the social classes would be even, but stresses the necessity of labor unions to maintain wages, workers’ compensation claims, and a safe and healthy work environment free from exploitation.

Upton SInclair’s novel, The Jungle, is a novel based on the “Gilded Age” in american history. It is the life of a working man named Jurgis Rudkus and as the story progresses, it shows the corruption and dishonesty of the people during this time period, as well as their reasoning behind their actions. Also as the novel continued, it showed the author's inspiration for the title of this novel. Throughout the book, Upton Sinclair had scattered metaphors as to why Capitalism is corrupt and why Socialism is better. With subtle hints to social classes and how Jurgis progresses through them through corruption.

The last decade of the nineteenth century and the early twentieth century saw the development of several movements in literature through the changes in America. Consequently, these influences amounted to have an impact on authors at the turn of the century. Moreover writers began to respond to social changes of the industrial revolution and provide an understanding of a newly emerging society in America. Chapter 14 of the novel “The Jungle”, by Upton Sinclair” depicts these societal changes during the turn of the century. Capital and social influences are demonstrated in “The Jungle” by exposing the injustices in America.

And he writes of dishonest politicians and tricky real-estate salesmen. At the core of the story, Sinclair tells about the devastation and the falling apart of Jurgis's family as a result of the ruthless, abusive, and oppressive nature of work and life in Packingtown. By the end, Jurgis wanders alone, deprived of all dignity. He comes across a rally of political socialists, hears a speech on socialism, and enthusiastically converts to that cause. In the last chapters of the novel, Sinclair manifests arguments for socialism, in the form of speeches that Jurgis hears. The book ends with an appeal of a socialist speaker to "Organize! Organize! Organize!" so that "Chicago will be ours! Chicago will be ours! CHICAGO WILL BE OURS!" (Sinclair 372-73)

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.

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

Workers in Packingtown were subject to conditions similar to slavery. Sinclair describes the situation explaining that “they were tied to the great packing machine, and tied to it for life” (Sinclair 94). Most of the workers could not escape the grasps of the Beef Trust, a monopoly on the beef industry that was above even the law. They were forced to work in dangerous and filthy conditions, earning barely any compensation for their work. All of the workers were seen as “cogs in the great packing machine,” replaceable and cheap (Sinclair 74). By objectifying their workers as simply moving parts to a machine, employers could find moral high ground in the poor and inhumane working conditions, and they could replace old and damaged “parts” with new ones without so much as thinking about what they had done for that worker. Sinclair hoped to promote Socialism with these depictions, spending the last few chapters of the book detailing how Socialism could fix all of the problems detailed in the beginning. His ideas of “‘Communism in material production, anarchism in intellectual’” were never realized in the United States (Sinclair 291). He believed that people should be given equal resources and then allowed to have as much intellectual gain as they wanted. The general public did not respond to this argument. They saw the problem in a different perspective, blaming not capitalism but

These hardships only seem to intensify as winter brings illness to the family. Jurgis is becoming increasingly aware of the corruption of the management of Packingtown and finally joins a union after a long period holding out. His contacts within the union persuade him to learn to speak English, become an American citizen, and vote in elections. This introduction into politics will not become a major theme until much later in the novel, but will eventually become the central focus of Sinclair’s work.

From 1865 to 1910, the Industrial Age was an interesting time of great economic growth and prosperity for the United States as a whole, however the American citizens who worked to push this positive chain of success paved the way and paid the cost for that very occurrence. In The Jungle, a family from Lithuania travels to the United States in order to gain a better living than what they had in their home country. During their time of adjustment to life within the United States, some members of the Rudkus and Lukoszaite family especially Jurgis Rudkus, experienced extreme hardship while attempting to develop their lives into a better state for the sake of their family’s wellbeing. Upton Sinclair opens a small window into the lives of hopeful and hardworking immigrants to reveal how America’s Industrialization Age hindered many from true freedom. This was due to a lack of care for employees and their wellbeing in the workplace, poor sanitary conditions that led to unhealthy living conditions for workers, and political corruption which was held over certain citizens in order to allow corruption to thrive, making workers remain powerless.

     While the works of Upton Sinclair are not widely read today because of their primacy of social change rather than aesthetic pleasure, works like The Jungle are important to understand in relation to the society that produced them.  Sinclair was considered a part of the muckraking era, an era when social critics observed all that was wrong and corrupt in business and politics and responded against it.  The Jungle was written primarily as a harsh indictment of wage slavery, but its vivid depictions of the deplorable lack of sanitation involved in the meatpacking industry in Chicago resulted in public outrage to the point where Congress passed the Pure Food and Drug Act and the Meat Inspection

A crooked, corruption and industry that overtake the life of the immigrants that come here for a better life in the early 1900s. The jungle by Upton Sinclair a muckraking novelexposed this and help change standers in industries like the meat packing industry. The points in this is that there were two sides in this the predator and the prey. The industries and political machines the predator and the immigrants the prey.

Throughout the novel it is evident that factory owners care more about their profits, than the health of their workers. Jurgis would often work long shifts for little pay. In the story the Sinclair states, “And for this, at the end of the week, he would carry home three dollars to his family, being his pay at the rate of five cents per hour—just about his proper share of the total earnings of the million and three-quarters of children who are now engaged in earning their livings in the United States" (85). This quote proves that Jurgis was laboring long hours, every single day, to make no more than a child. Due to this Jurgis struggles to provide for his family and purchase necessities to live a healthy lifestyle. Eventually his lack of success leads him to drinking and corrupt activities. The corrupt practices of the factory owners are evidenced by child labor, sale of contaminated meat, and abuse of female workers. While capitalist gain financial earnings, the corruption that takes place destroys the heart and soul of workers throughout the stockyards, until all hope is lost.