Socialism Exposed In Upton Sinclair's 'The Jungle'

The Jungle Analysis Essay

In the novel, The Jungle (1906), author Upton Sinclair, Pulitzer Prize winner, and avid socialist, asserts that a combination of oppression and corporate abuse prevent immigrants from attaining the American Dream. This becomes a running theme throughout the novel as he suggests Socialism as the answer to the evils of capitalism. Sinclair appears to write in hopes of advancing socialist ideology, to get Americans to see that individuals among them, namely immigrants, work tirelessly, yet have a poor standard of living, because of systematic oppression. Because of the author’s condemnatory tone, it would seem as though he writes for a Capitalist and covertly classist American society.

As previously mentioned, an enduring

theme in The Jungle is that both oppression and corporate abuse preclude immigrants from reaching the American Dream. At the onset of the novel, Jurgis Rudkus, the protagonist, is an ambitious, zealous, and hardworking young man, whom along with his family, has moved from Lithuania to the Chicago Meatpacking District with hopes of leading a better life. Jurgis cheerfully takes up the role as his family’s main provider and comforter. The novel writes “‘Little one’ he [Jurgis] said, in a low voice, ‘do not worry--it will not matter to us. We will pay them all somehow. I will work harder.’ That was always what Jurgis said” (Sinclair, 14). From the very beginning, Jurgis resolves to “work hard” every time he is met with an obstacle, because he is naive enough to believe that he, a lowly immigrant, is on a level playing field with all other Americans, and like other before him, if he works hard, the American Dream is his for the taking. However, Jurgis would soon discover that his motto could not be further from the truth, as the first of many of his dreams evanesce. As part of his American Dream, Jurgis wants to give his family members a comfortable life, on that he was not fortunate enough to have had. He wants his wife, Ona, and her stepmother, Teta Elzbieta, to stay at home, and he especially wants the Stanislovas Lukoszaite (Teta Elzbieta’s oldest child) to go to school so that they can become skilled men, and avoid his line of work. Things did not go a Jurgis had planned. Unfortunately, Jurgis’ family would fall on hard times, and as such, they could no longer stay afloat of Jurgis’ income alone; he would have to prematurely send Stanislovas into the relentless work force, and he did so reluctantly. The story goes “he set someone else at a different job, and showed the lad how place a lard can evert time the empty arm of the remorseless machine came to him; and so was decided the place in the universe of little Stanislovas, and his destiny till the end of his days” (Sinclair, 53). This is clear cut oppression, in that the system is well aware of the fact that most of these immigrant families are living in poverty, however, it does not want to provide for said families, let alone just the impressionable immigrant children, whose brains need to be cultivated, so that they can move past working this their hands, thus being liberated from the cycle of working odd jobs. This is most likely the case because the corrupt government system does not want immigrants to climb up the ranks socially and economically, as they are the only ones both willing and able to perform dirty and dangerous jobs, namely working in the meatpacking industry. One could only imagine how devastated Jurgis was knowing he has sent Stanislovas, a boy of only 13 years of age, to work in Packingtown. Jurgis recognizes at this rate, and without an education, the boy will inevitably live paycheck to paycheck for the remainder of his life, as he works grueling hours. Additionally, the corporation for which the immigrants work, and their so called “fellow” Americans see the laboring immigrants as second class citizens. There is obviously a stigma surrounding laboring work, “perhaps this was due to the repulsiveness of the work; at any rate, the people who worked with their hands [much of whom were immigrants] were a class apart, and were made to feel it” (Sinclair, 75). This reveals that the American society is very exclusive, therefore, even if hard work got immigrants to the top, they would be exceedingly lonely there because they would never be accepted into the American social scene. Another example of immigrant oppression can be found in the manner in which Jurgis and his family’s home was foreclosed upon. Sinclair writes “They [Jurgis and his family] were beaten; they had lost the game, they were swept aside… six years more of toil they could expect the least respite, the cessation of the payment upon the house; and how cruelly certain it was that they could never stand six years of such a life as they were living” (Sinclair, 99). This is also an example of oppression keeping immigrants from achieving the American Dream in that the system is rigged, due to income inequality, clearly, the poor are getting poorer, as Jurgis and his family can no longer afford their source of shelter, their home. It is almost as though Jurgis and his family are engaged in a sordid game, in which the cards are stacked against them.
Furthermore, the latter portion of the novel’s theme suggests that corporate abuse keeps immigrants from achieving the American Dream.

Although the immigrant workers of Packingtown are the back bones of the corporations, they are devalued, marginalized, abused, and overall treaded like they are disposable goods. Corporations within the meatpacking industry have little regard for their predominantly immigrant employees, as such, the work environment is deplorable. The slaughterhouses are disease-ridden due to sanitation, or lack thereof, and they are also very dangerous on account of all the sharp tool and hazardous chemicals used by the industry. The text states “As for the other men, who worked in tank rooms full of steam, and in some of which there were open units near the level of the floor, their peculiar trouble was that they fell into the vats; and when they were fished out, there was never enough of them left to be worth exhibiting—sometimes they would be overlooked for days” (Sinclair, 108). This is a more literal example of how corporate abuse can prevent immigrants from attaining the American Dream. In this case, the slaughterhouse corporation neglected to put some type of safety mechanism overtop of the vats to prevent workers from falling into the toxic liquid. Thus, those who would fall into vats would die a painful death, as the toxic liquid chemicals in said vats, would burn the immigrant workers till only their marrow remained. Consequently, the fallen immigrant stockyard workers would forfeit attaining their American Dreams, as they were not dead, at the hands of reckless superiors, who compromised employee safety for saving money. In addition, Packingtown officials demonstrated their abuse of corporate power in the cavalier way they would let go of individuals. Sinclair writes “The peculiar bitterness of all this was that Jurgis saw so plainly the meaning of it. In the beginning, he had been so fresh and strong, and he had gotten a job the first

day; but now he was a second-hand, a damaged article, so to speak, and they did not want him. They have gotten the best of him—they warn him out, with their speeding up and their carelessness, and now they had thrown him way! And Jurgis would make the acquaintance of the others of these unemployed men and find that they had all had the same experience” (Sinclair, 90). The stockyards for which Jurgis worked took advantage of his naivete first and foremost. They also took advantage of there not being any government regulation regarding the hiring/firing of individuals without warrant. Subsequently, they were able to hire Jurgis, a robust young man, and when he grew a bit weary, he became a “damaged article,” and was thrown to the way-side. Without a job, Jurgis had no source of income; living in poverty was nowhere in Jurgis’ American Dream. The stockyard corporations abuse their immigrant employees by working them to exhaustion. These corporations would hire hardwearing men (under the false pretense of being long-term employees), wear them out, fire them, then hire a set of replacements, and continue the cycle, so as to ensure that their workers’ productivity is high, so they can garner more of a profit. Also, when Jurgis burned his hand on the job, the corporation for which he worked was not forthcoming with him about his being entitled to some form of workers’ compensation. The text recounts “As it chanced [Jurgis] had been hurt on Monday, and had just paid for his last week’s board and his room rent and spent nearly all the balance of his Saturday’s pay. He had less than seventy-five cents in his pockets, and a dollar and a half due him for the day’s work he had done before he was hurt. He might possibly have sued the company, and gotten some damages for his injuries, but he did not know this, and “it was not the company’s business to tell him” (Sinclair, 163). Not appealing for workman’s compensation was Jurgis’ undoing because the injury to his hand put him, and inherently his family, in a financial bind, as he had to take some time off, meanwhile, bills continued to mound. Had he known that he could receive damages from his company for his injuries, he would have taken all necessary measures to do so. However, he was oblivious of that fact, and it would not serve the company’s own interests if they had told him. The corporation’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy is very telling of their greed and their psychological abuse of their workers’ in that they cognizant of the fact that generally speaking, poor and oppressed persons (such as the immigrants) are often unfamiliar with legal avenues, and government systems, therefore they are ignorant of their rights. For these corrupt corporations, who have built their businesses by abusing their immigrant workers, “ignorance is bliss” because it keeps them from facing litigation, and having to shut down or change their business practices. Above all, the theme of corporate abuse preventing immigrants from attaining the American Dream is self—evident in the ordeal between Phil Connor and Ona, in which Jurgis would inherently become involved. Chapter 15 of The Jungle reveals that Ona develops a pattern of not returning home immediately after work, and when she would eventually come home, she would conceal her whereabouts by fabricating an explanation. On fateful day, Jurgis confronts Ona about the truth regarding her whereabouts, at which point Ona makes the painful revelation that her boss, Phil Connor has been taking her downtown, and forcing her to give him sexual favors. Phil Connor has been raping Jurgis’ wife, Ona. Ona has been complying with her boss, Phil’s demands because he has been threatening her, using her family as leverage, in saying that he would blacklist them all, ensuring that they would never find work in Packingtown, unless Ona with him. Upon receiving this news, Jurgis seeks out Phil Connor, and violently attacks him onsite; as a result, he is arrested. During Jurgis’ court trial, he had an exchange with the judge that goes as follows: “‘I hit him sir,’ said Jurgis. ‘Say