The “American Dream” is a characteristic of the United States that includes a set of shining ideals where liberty comprises the chance for wealth and success that are accomplished through laborious work in a community with few barricades. Thus, in the time period between 1905-06, thousands of people in the world immigrated to America in aspirations of building a better life and making the “American Dream” come true, despite the fact that there were a lot of unknown hardships waiting for them ahead on the way to achieve their dream. The characters Jurgis Rudkus and his family in Upton Sinclair’s novel, The Jungle, also did the same. The Jungle is a tale of difficulties and trouble, some successes and countless failures as a family attempts to …show more content…
achieve the "American Dream." In Upton's book, the story of failures Jurgis Rudkus is the backhand of the "Horatio Alger Myth." And, the writing styles of Sinclair and Alger both connect to social Darwinism in the way people fight against the injustice for their believe and faith between 1870 - 1890. Jurgis Rudkus and Ona Lukoszaite come over to the United States with his poor family from Lithuania. They live in Packingtown slums, full of hope for a shining future in American companies. Jurgis, a young and energetic man, who is totally confident in his capacity to subdue the meatpacking career. They live in an awful apartment and they have to share their bed with someone else. And, they decide to buy a house which is better than their living condition. The family has been unforeseeable how much they have to spend for their new house. This issue leads to more problems in their life. More than that, Jurgis and Marija are in risk of losing their jobs. To ensure that her husband and Marija can keep their works, Ona stays in silence when her boss, Phil Connor, rapes her. When Jurgis discovers that, his thinking about money immediately stops. He goes to where Connor is and attaches him. Jurgis gets locked up thirty days in prison is a consequence. Jurgis is in jail means sources of support the main financial of their family is taken away. They cannot have enough ability to pay for the house payments and Jurgis's family is pushed out from their home. They have to get back to to Mrs. Jukniene slum apartment. Not so long after that, Ona passes away in sorrow and Antanas soon dies as well. Losing everything in life, Jurgis has no home to get back and he wanders from place to place. In winter, he gets back to Chicago and attends the Socialist meeting unintentionally. He actually begins feeling at home again after his long lost time and he chooses to become an active member of Socialist. Sinclair and Upton use the same method in their introduction of the characters and also the plot of the novels. First, the two authors have the common in the way they introduce their characters. Sinclair introduces his characters are from low class, look for a shining future, avoid bad habits and work very hard. For example, Jurgis’s family have the horrible living condition at the slum apartment. Sinclair claims “There was nothing better to be had – they might not do so well by looking further, for Mrs. Jukniene had at least kept one room for herself and her three little children, and now offered to share this with the women and the girls of the party. They could get bedding at a secondhand store, she explained; and they would not need any, while the weather was so hot – doubtless they would all sleep on the sidewalk such nights" (Sinclair 32) They live in an awful apartment that they share with many other people and the remarkable thing in this passage is using the second-hand bed, if they do not want to have their night on the footway. Sinclair portrays his characters Jurgis Rudkus and Ona Lukoszaite as poor people, they seem to get stuck in their poverty life with nothing, but their optimistic and hope. And, relate to Alger’s writing style, people easily recognize that they have the same beginning style for their characters, who come from the low class, live in the terrible place and have faith that they can change the future if they are diligent and dodge bad habits like smoking, drinking and gambling, but their lives do not run as smooth as they want it to be. Secondly, Sinclair and Alger also have the same setting for their characters that is the way they set up the plot of their novels. Sinclair puts his characters into the problems which ask they behave and act sinfully, and they have to pay for their crime by getting locked up in jail. For example, when Jurgis detects Ona has to keep silent when Phil Connor rapes her, to ensure that her husband and Marija can keep their works, he goes to where Connor is and attaches him. Jurgis gets locked up thirty days in prison is a consequence. Sinclair writes “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 160). He is the main financial resource of his family and now he is in bootstraps to pay for what he does, without him, three women and six kids will be put in starvation. According to The Jungle by Upton Sinclair, people can easily find out the same writing styles of Alger and Sinclair that their characters are both from poor family and work so hard for the new future, but the fate is so cruel when takes away their opportunities by locked them into bootstraps. Their characters’ lives are poor and now turn into poorer. Although Alger and Sinclair have the same writing style from the beginning to the middle of their novels, they have the different resolutions to finish their books. The differences in writing styles between Argel and Sinclair are clarified from the middle to the end of their books.
The fullness endings of Alger for his characters are completely different from the unfinished resolutions of Sinclair for his characters. For example, Sinclair lets Jurgis loses the most important things in his life: his wife, his son and his house. The whole plan of Jurgis about American Dream collapses. Unintentionally, he finds out Socialist Party conference which give him faith to keep going on his path. Sinclair notes “To Jurgis the packers had been equivalent to fate; Ostrinski showed him that they were the Beef Trust. They were a gigantic combination of capital, which had crushed all opposition, and overthrown the laws of the land, and was preying upon the people.” (Sinclair 311). There is no way to heal the family of Jurgis. He remains nothing but belief about Socialism. Jurgis finally opens his mind to embrace politics and economics. He embraces the socialist movement with an enthusiasm which is as powerful as he originally espoused capitalism and the American Dream. In The Jungle, people realize that Sinclair had the mentality that his characters are capable of neither surviving nor living happily ever after, whereas Alger gives people hope that everyone could build themselves up after their failures, if they were diligent, avoided bad habits, and never gave up believing. And, if The Jungle is written by Alger, it would be a completely different book, because Alger may let his characters face struggles but it would be on the route of success and he would give Jurgis and his family the happy endings, while Sinclair lets Jurgis’s life hits dead end after dead end and in the end, Jurgis still has nothing, but a new belief. Nonetheless, in spite of the differences between two of them, they both related to social
Darwinism. The Jungle by Upton Sinclair and the writing style of Alger both relate to social Darwinism, which is about applying biological theories of "natural selection" and "survival of the fittest" to society, polity, and economy (Foner 31). Their characters have to struggle for their living as horrible living conditions, getting a job, and fighting against injustice. However, that proves that human cannot put an end to "survival of the fittest," and that human can only intercede with it and create the unfitting things (Foner 35). It represents the life between 1870-1890, which is called America’s Gilded Age. The Gilded Age was portrayed by a remarkably fast growth of railways, small industries and banks; and it comes with the beginning of millions of farms' rising, particularly in the large open area of grassland region. The increasing super fast of economic and population made America the richest country in the world. Having a small, growing worker union campaign, and the labor unions only stood for capitalism, not socialism. The richness of the period is focused by not only the a promiscuous lifestyle of the upper class, but also the increasing of the American humanitarianism that provided thousands of universities, hospitals, public libraries, and foundations. The end of the Gilded Age occurred at the same time with the 1893 Panic, a deep recession. The recession kept going until 1897 and marked a restructuring of governmental structure in the 1896 election, which is mentioned in The Jungle. The Reconstruction ended in 1877, and it began for the losing of the right to vote of African-Americans in the 1890s. Evidently, they became second-class residents judicially. Racial struggle happened and reached the climax in the 1890s. In conclusion, The Jungle by Upton Sinclair is the opposite parts of poor people’s life in America’s Gilded Age beside the richness and glamour of the upper class. Upton’s story also portrays the difficulties which the immigrants have to overcome to make their “American Dream” come true; and not like Alger’s writing style that everyone will be successful and live happily if they work hard, Upton shows the failures and the terrible faces for readers and makes them realize that hard-working is not enough to create their achievement. And, America’s Gilded Age with the richest economy in the world is not only as well as people think, but also have a recession and it put an end for that era.
The United States of America is known as the land of opportunity and dreams. People dream of migrating to this nation for a chance of a better a life. This belief has been around for many years, ever since the birth of the United States; therefore it’s a factor in which motivate many people migrate to the United States. Upton Sinclair, author of the Jungle, narrates the life of a Lithuanian family and there struggles with work, crime, family loss, and survival in the city of Packingtown. Sinclair expresses her disgust as well as the unbelievable truth of life in the United States involving politics, corruption, and daily struggle that many suffered through in the 19th and 20th century.
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 with- one of the foundations that got American society where it is today. However, while telling this story, Upton Sinclair engages the reader in a symbolic and metaphorical war against capitalism. Sinclair's contempt for capitalist society is present throughout the novel, from cover to cover, personified in the eagerness of Jurgis to work, the constant struggle for survival of the workers of Packingtown, the corruption of "the man" at all levels of society, and in many other ways.
In The Jungle, Sinclair deeply understands his subjects and can make the plots real for the reader. Even in a small section of the book, Sinclair makes me feel, imagine and contemplate his words. Chapters 18 through 23, were chapters that Sinclair took time and effort to write and make it to perfection. In my own perspective, I think he achieved this accomplishment and made these chapters a realistic event.
In the world of economic competition that we live in today, many thrive and many are left to dig through trash cans. 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 with one of the foundations that got American society where it is today. However, while telling this story, Upton Sinclair engages the reader in a symbolic and metaphorical war against capitalism. Sinclair's contempt for capitalist society is present throughout the novel, from cover to cover, personified in the eagerness of Jurgis to work, the constant struggle for survival of the workers of Packingtown, the corruption of "the man" at all levels of society, and in many other ways.
Sinclair's novel is meant to entirely reject the capitalist system and to bring in its place a socialist system. In this novel, capitalism and its exploitation of the immigrants and other workers, are in fact shown to be tools of the capitalist bosses, used as another means to control and mislead them. In Sinclair's novel the broken dreams of Jurgis Rudkis and his fellow Lithuanian immigrants, unions are meant to be institutions which give false hope to the workers. They live in utterly dreadful circumstances and are exploited like animals by their capitalist bosses. The women are forced to work at an inhuman pace, lose money if they cannot, and then fired if the complain. (106). And the men in the packinghouses like slaves in hell. When Jurgis is lucky enough to be picked for work, he finds working conditions to hardly fitting of the American Dream for which he left his native Lithuania. Sinclair is relentless in providing page after page of detailed horrors the immigrants faced everyday at work, "there were the beef luggers who carried two-hundred-pound quarters into the refrigerators cars, a fearful kind of work, that began at four o'clock in the morning, and that wore out the most powerful men in a few years.......of..... al those who used knives, you could scarcely find a person who had the use of his thumb (101).
The world consists of economic competition which throws people for a whirlwind. Many however do thrive, yet there are still some with scratched knee’s left to dig through the dumpster. Throughout the modern history of society, it has been a constant struggle for practically everyone. A world popular example of this struggle is Upton Sinclair’s 1906 novel, The Jungle. The groundbreaking book takes readers along on a journey into a new world for a family of recent Lithuanian immigrants. The family trekked to America, which in the early twentieth century was said to be the land where any man willing to work hard during the day would make a fair amount of living and could support his family. It happens to be an ideal that every American should be familiar with at least one of the foundations that got the American society to where it is at today. Yet, while telling his story, Upton Sinclair put the reader in a metaphorical war against Capitalism. Sinclair’s disdain against capitalist society is present from cover to cover, shown through the enthusiasm of Jurgis to work, the struggle for workers of Packingtown, and the corruption that was put on “the man” at all levels of society.
even those who do not have a lot of money. Faye obtains her wealth by
Through many creative forms of literature one can see how authors such as John Cheever, Louise Erdrich, and John Updike present a variety of views on American Life. It is through short stories like “The Swimmer”, “I’m a Mad Dog Biting Myself for Sympathy” and “A&P” that authors put forth examples of how the American Dream means different things to different people. American politician Bernie Sanders once said, “For many, the American dream has become a nightmare.” Thanks to these stories it is possible to see how the American Dream is viewed and how the idea of freedom in this country affect people from all sorts of backgrounds. It could be argued that each story shows a struggle either while being at the pinnacle of success in terms of reaching the American Dream or while attempting to feel a sense of freedom within such a promising country. This is seen through Neddy’s struggle to get his life together after being hyper focused on artificial possessions that the American Dream often romanticizes, through the Native American narrator in “I’m a Mad Dog Biting Myself for Sympathy” struggling to accommodate and resist his displeasure with society via reckless behavior, and the group of girls in the A&P store who are displeased with Lengel’s remark on their attire or lack thereof.
Social Darwinism is the central theme that dominated the novel “The Jungle” by Upton Sinclair. Upton had demonstrated successfully how social Darwinism is not the way for a functional society to thrive, thus providing a solution like Socialism to the readers. Social Darwinism, putting into the simplest context, is the theory of society where the rich survives and the poor dies; whoever could make the most money and bribe the most power would win the game, while for the people who have to find job and money are the one designated to fail. Jurgis Rudkus was a Lithuanian immigrant that came to America seeking fortune for his family, thinking that he would achieve the “American Dream” if only he retained his diligence with work. Sadly he is not getting any prosperity, “The great corporation which employed you lied to you, and lied to the whole country—from top to bottom it was nothing but one gigantic lie.” (Sinclair 62) He soon found out he would not be able to gain success, but only through corruption and later Socialism.
In the late nineteenth century to the early twentieth century, many immigrants came to the United States to pursue the American Dream. The American Dream is a belief that anyone can have success and prosperity through hard work in a society where upward social mobility is possible. The values and ideals of the American dream consist of democracy, equality, fairness, justice, and liberty. In Upton Sinclair’s novel, The Jungle, he portrays through a Lithuanian immigrant family the hardships immigrants faced while seeking a better life in America. One member of the Lithuanian immigrant family is Jurgis Rudkus, who marries a young woman named Ona Lukoszait. After they get married, Jurgis and Ona move into a home in Chicago with some of Ona’s family members. As the family struggles to pay for the house, they undertake stressful jobs and become workers of cruel and selfish employers. Although employers exploit Jurgis, Jurgis continues to tell Ona that he “will work harder” (Sinclair, 22) to help them achieve the American Dream. Upton Sinclair portrays how capitalism attacks the values of the American Dream through the ugly effects of capitalism, such as exploitation, poor working conditions, dishonesty, manipulation, and corruption.
During the Gilded age, the United States used its growing industrial development and began to appear as a profitable powerhouse. During this time America had a sufficient economic capital to endure such hasty industrialization; however it was a different story when it came to labor. The solution to this problem was European immigration. Since many European immigrants came to America looking for work opportunities, they unintentionally provided an alternative of cheap labor for American factories and businesses. These Europeans were thrilled to come to the United States. They saw America as a land of opportunity, and a chance to live the "American Dream". Upon arrival to this dreamland of opportunity, the United State's capitalistic society ruined many ambitions of said immigrants and embedded them into a harsh routine that controlled each aspect of their lives. In Upton Sinclair’s story The Jungle we are introduced to Jurgis Rudkus and his family, they are poor Lithuanian immigrants who came to America in search of an easier life, only to end up working in Packingtown also known as the meatpacking plants of Chicago. To some readers Jurgis and his family face massive hardships such as cruel and hazardous working conditions, poverty and famine, corrupt businessmen who take their money and crooked politicians who take advantage of them. To other readers, Jurgis and his family made rash and senseless decisions on their own. Upton Sinclair's The Jungle accentuates the manipulation of many immigrants as they attempt to achieve the unachievable "American Dream".
Thomas Hobbes in his Leviathan states that, "in the state of nature mans life is nasty, brutish and short". In depression era America, no greater truth could be said. There were millions unemployed, largely unskilled and living on the margins of society. The lowest of the low were the migrant labourers travelling from place to place trying to scratch a living. They often had to travel illegally by freight car with all its consequent dangers. Their life expectancy was low, crime was rampant and despair was a fellow traveller. This is the setting of John Steinbeck's, 'Of Mice and Men'.
The American Dream is what everyone so desperately desired for in the 1930’s. Many come to America for the American Dream, to be successful, have freedom, and support their families by the better opportunities given. In Of Mice and Men the movie the setting sets in the 1930’s where Lennie and George become farm workers for Curley’s dad. Working in these conditions in the 1930’s must of been difficult as shown in the movie when Lennie and George face problems in their journey together. What’s your American Dream?
Of Mice and Men is a story set during the 1930's America, this was a
Each character in the novel has their own interpretation of the ‘American Dream – the pursuit of happiness’ as they all lack happiness due to the careless nature of American society during the Jazz Age. The American Dreams seems almost non-existent to those whom haven’t already achieved it.