In the early twentieth century, one after the other, steamboats rolled into the new land shore hauling immigrants by the two thousand, each optimistic about their plans to forge the American Dream. Well into the Industrial Revolution, it was a promising time for production and business, however, only for those in power. The hopeful and tireless could not climb the ladder of opportunity without stepping on top of others to get ahead. Jurgis, the main character of The Jungle, represents this idea as he battles capitalism first failing with hard work and later with corruption. Upton Sinclair, the author, develops the idea that rising up social classes is restricted by individual traits that limit people from changing between the classes. These same defining qualities can be found in our social classes today. Because of these barriers, there …show more content…
are inequalities and disadvantages between groups of people. The working class is greatly defined by their lack of opportunities. Because every penny is used towards their needs of survival, the thought of investing in themselves for the future is nonexistent. Education becomes a luxury. At the beginning of the novel, all of the children in Jurgis’ household attend school. As hardships got harder, however, it was necessary for “two more of the children . . . to leave school” and were “sent out to make their way to the city and learn to sell newspapers” (Sinclair 111). In contrast, “Master Freddie” is practically given an education that he doesn’t even value because of his immense wealth. His main concern is spending his “small bills”, which are really hundreds, on drunken nights. Similarly, today, education is treated as mandatory for a healthy, comfortable lifestyle. Employers wouldn’t dare glance a person’s way unless there was some formal education listed on their résumé. This puts the lower class at a concrete position because they can’t afford an education to land a higher positioned job. The underclass is often ridiculed for being ignorant and illiterate, but this is only a product of their circumstances.
Speech is an overwhelming signifier of social class. When Jurgis is before the judge to give his testimony of what happened, he wrestles with “stammering and balking” due to his “inadequate” vocabulary (Sinclair 153). The judge was impatient and annoyed, which could have played into an unbiased verdict. The black community in The Jungle is depicted as lower class simply in how Sinclair spells their spoken words, “‘ef you doan’ like de way Ah does dis job you kin git somebody else to do it’” (Sinclair 248). The clash between the upper and lower class speech is depicted when Jurgis meets Jack Duane in the jail cell. Jack Duane “spoke like a man of education, like what the world calls a ‘gentleman’” and made Jurgis grateful that he would even “hold a conversation with a mere laboring man” (Sinclair 150). Even today people are instantly upheld to a higher respect when using a wider vocabulary. Slang and improper grammar are characterized as lower class, while eloquent speech is retained by upper class
individuals. Jurgis begins as the optimistic idea of the American Dream, and evolves into the crushing reality that capitalism demolishes any honest opportunity to rise. Having no time to dedicate to anything beside his twelve hour shifts, Jurgis is eaten away by the packers who feed upon his productivity. The upper class, or Packers, push down upon the lower classes to remain on top, which then the lower class is restored to cling on to whatever income they receive. Due to their limited resources, there is nothing left to invest in education or health care. On the opposite end of the spectrum, the upper class thrives on their ability to choose. Nothing hinders them from getting what they want because they can pay off anyone who tries to intercept. This corruption is still existent even as we work toward an equal society. Due to these stereotypical traits, people often prejudge others to be in certain class, but people should not defined by their status.
Language is also pivotal in determining Richard’s social acceptance. For instance, Mr. Olin, a white man tries to probe Richard into fighting another black boy. Richard was disturbed. He uses contrast to show his disturbance, “the eye glasses…were forgotten. My eyes were on Mr. Olin’s face.” A certain dramatic irony exists exists when Richard asks, “Who was my friend, the white man or the black boy?” The reader knows it is the black boy. Wright uses detail such as Mr. Olin’s “low, confidential,” voice to create an apocryphally amiable tone. If Richard complies with Mr. Olin’s deceiving language, he would gain the social acceptance of the white men. If not, he would be ostracized as a pariah. Wright uses a metaphor, “my delicately balanced world had tipped” to show his confusion.
The period of time running from the 1890’s through the early 1930’s is often referred to as the “Progressive Era.” It was a time where names such as J.P. Morgan, Andrew Carnegie, Jay Gould and John D. Rockefeller stood for the progress of America and their great contributions to American industry and innovation. This chapter however, has a much darker side. Deplorable working conditions, rampant political corruption and power hungry monopolies and trusts threatened the working class of America and the steady influx of European immigrants hoping to make a better life for themselves and their families. What started as a grass-roots movement pushing for political reform at the local and municipal levels soon began to encompass
Dorothy Day had a curious personality and a very imaginative mind. When she attended the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, she wrote in her biography The Long Loneliness, "my reading began to be socially conscious" (Day 36). It was around this time that she began to read Upton Sinclair's The Jungle. Sinclair was a socialist whom Day most likely would have strongly related to. Day was a part of the Christian Socialist Movement and sympathized with a lot of Sinclair's ideals. At the time she was introduced to The Jungle, Dorothy Day lived in Chicago with her family. Coindentally, The Jungle was set in Chicago, and so Day could further relate to the realities depicted in the novel.
The main character of the novel, Jurgis Rudkus and his family had immigrated to Chicago hoping to reach the “American dream.” However, they were unable to realize that only a few would reach that dream since industrial corporations exploited the skills of expendable immigrants. A majority of the immigrants fled from their countries to escape religious persecution, famine, crop failure, and industrial depression. The corporations and factories in Chicago took advantage of the immigrants by offering them lower
Upton Sinclair's Purpose in Writing The Jungle Upton Sinclair wrote this book for a couple of reasons. First and foremost, he tries to awaken the reader to the terrible. living conditions of immigrants in the cities around the turn of the century. Chicago has the most potent examples of these. conditions.
Nevertheless, our social structure isn’t a brick wall were individuals are trapped in there social class. We are still able with education and the opportunities to shape our lives and achieve our full potential. Harlon L. Dalton emulates the possibility within his story about Horatio Alger, “neither Alger nor the myth suggests that we start out equal. Nor does the myth necessarily require that we be given an equal opportunity to succeed. Rather, Alger’s point is that each of us has the power to create our own opportunities.”
Author Upton Sinclair published the novel The Jungle in 1906. In his novel, Sinclair wrote of a Lithuanian immigrant family who moved to Chicago in the early twentieth century, who was struggling to make ends meet. The author explained how immigrants in this time era experienced difficulties adapting to the new society of America, and its conditions. Sinclair’s novel described how immigrants’ lives, experiences, and choices were effected by social class, racism, and sexism. He produced very strong examples, some more significant than others, which illustrated how immigrants were effected.
Discuss how Upton Sinclair portrays the economic tensions and historical processes at hand in the late 19th and early 20th centuries
Upton Sinclair’s “The Jungle,” gave the most in-depth description of the horrid truths about the way America’s food companies, “the only source of food for people living in the city,” are preparing the food they sell. “The Jungle” describes the terrible
“You don’t have to be satisfied with America as you find it. You can change it. I didn’t like the way I found America some sixty years ago, and I’ve been trying to change it ever since” (azquotes). The quote in the previous sentence reveals the structure by which Upton Sinclair lived his life. During his lifetime, he penned many novels, articles and stories that changes the way America functioned then, and the way America continues to function now. One novel created by Upton Sinclair was The Jungle. This story of pain, suffering and tragedy brought the dangers of the meat packing industry to the people of America. He was able to use his socialist views to inspire the novel The Jungle, which passed many laws and made meat-packing plants making
In "Bums in the Attic," a chapter from her novel The House on Mango Street, Sandra Cisneros discusses the differences between groups in which the upper class ignores anyone not belonging to the same leisure status. Those belonging to the lower classes however, has had to work to gain success and cannot forget the past in which he struggled. In chasing the American dream, the lower class realizes that the only way to gain true happiness from monetary success, one cannot forget his past and must therefore redefine the traditional attitude of the upper class.
Foreigners, who were uneducated about America’s customs, were unable to find jobs or prevent swindlers from causing their already insufficient wealth to subside. Because of this, Jurgis and his family’s economic and social lives have changed drastically. For instance, in Lithuania, Jurgis and his family had many friends and, therefore, were well-respected in their community.... ... middle of paper ...
One of the stereotypes portrayed regarded urban dwellers as criminals, alcoholics, and violent. The garage owner openly express his distain on numerous occasions throughout the film for people who live in the slums. He deemed these people as liars who place no real value on human life. The idea that the slums were a “breeding ground for criminals” was also tossed around and largely affected many of the juror’s initial decision to vote the defendant as guilty. Another inference that warranted mentioning was the messenger service owner’s assumption that the adolescent generations are increasingly growing worse (behavioral wise). He not only based this assumption on limited and faulty information, he used his relationship with his son as a means to characterize others in the same age group of his son. These inferences were not only accepted by the individual jurors themselves, they were magnified by the entire jury. The defendant was judged commodiously by where he was from, which in turn are unrepresentative generalizations of the young
The "American Dream" supposedly allows everyone to climb the "social/economic ladder," if they wish to do so. Anyone that works hard is supposed to be able to move to a higher class. However, society often prevents social mobility. Social classes dictate who moves to a higher class and who does not. In the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, this issue was especially prevalent. The rigidity of classes was often an underlying theme in many novels during this time period. For example, The Age of Innocence and The Great Gatsby both feature the exclusive nature of social classes as a motif. In both The Age of Innocence and The Great Gatsby, the rigidity of social classes and the desire for social mobility leads to the downfall of several
Many Disney fans of this classic film may say that the idea of racial discrimination in The Jungle Book does not exist, but how can that be the case if Disney itself knows that racial discrimination was and still is an issue. This is one of the reasons why The Jungle Book was rewritten and remade in 2016. There were some significant changes to the second release of the movie because Disney had gotten criticized so hard for the original version. In the live-action remake of the movie King Louie still sings "I Want to Be Like You," but the lyrics are altered so it's clear that King Louie believes the relationship is one that would benefit Mowgli as much as it benefits himself unlike the idea that Mowgli is better than King Louie (Reijmer). The voices of the characters are also altered to a certain extent, mainly to give accents of Indian descent, which is the actual setting for the story, this helps change the idea that one set of characters are less than another.