The American Dream is characterized by the ideals of liberty, opportunity, and contentment. When an individual thinks of achieving the American Dream, they only see the light at the end of the tunnel and not the struggles that come with it. In the political fiction novel, The Jungle, Upton Sinclair portrays the effects of corruption and capitalism on the world. Sinclair does so by showing how depraved the capitalist government can be and how tremendously this affects the lives of the innocent. Three Lithuanian Immigrants by the names of Jurgis Rudkas, Teta Elzbieta Lukoszaite, and Ona Lukoszaite, migrate with their relatives to Chicago in hopes of living a poverty free life. It is common for immigrants who migrate to the United States to want to do so as a means of finding a better home lifestyle than the one they are already in. In the workplace, Capitalism serves as the stem of problems for these immigrants thereby causing a great deal of corruption. Throughout The Jungle, Jurgis, Teta, and Ona face various obstacles on behalf of this corruption, preventing their family from reaching the American Dream with ease.
To begin with, Jurgis Rudkas migrates to the United States in hopes of finding the American Dream but faces a number of obstacles in doing so. He is brilliant and extremely hard working but with his lack of money, he faces a great deal of poverty. Jurgis additionally witnesses corruption within the businesses he works at as well as in the government. This significantly hinders his chances of reaching the American Dream. Throughout The Jungle, Jurgis runs into many obstacles, including poverty and corruption. These two factors reduce his chances of finding the American Dream. In trying to maintain a well-paying job an...
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...to a heartbreaking end for the family.
In essence, capitalism and corruption both play a central role in addressing the theme of The Jungle is expressed through capitalism and corruption. These factors hinder the lives of immigrants Jurgis Rudkas, Teta Elzbieta Lukoszaite, and Ona Lukoszaite as they migrate from Lithuania to Chicago in hopes of finding the perfect American Dream. They do this not just for themselves, but also for the rest of their family members who are working together to achieve the same goal. In doing so, they face a number of struggles that either sets them back The American Dream is characterized by both freedom and the opportunity for prosperity, much of which Jurgis, Teta, and Ona struggled to obtain. Many migrate with hopes of reaching such goals, but not all find it with the overwhelming amount of capitalism and corruption in the way.
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
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.
The life of Jurgis Rudkus, from the novel The Jungle by Upton Sinclair, shares many parallels to the life of the working class in American society during the period 1865 to 1910 that limits the freedom of the working class. Even though it is stated on paper that working class citizens such as Jurgis are equals and just as free as the upper class citizens, people like Jurgis are not truly “free” because the social and political forces at the time are limiting their ability to exercise their freedom, trapping them in an endless circle of poverty and despair.
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.
The immigrants of the twentieth century faced many hardships and shockingly inhumane treatment. They came to America in pursuit of a better life and to see the famous "land of opportunity." However, what they saw was discrimination, isolation, poverty, and unfriendly competition. The protagonist in each of the novels convey the dispiriting side of the America that the immigrants unknowingly fell into. The stereotypes and classifications placed upon the ex-colored man, the Filipino immigrant, or Mexican-American boy were unfortunate but true representations of the time. The American Dream was not attainable by all, as it claimed to be.
When arriving to America the family sees the real way that the people live in the city and immediately know it is not the life they thought it would be. When arriving to the city Jurgis says, “Tomorrow, I will get a job, and perhaps Jonas will get one also; and then we can get a place of our own”(Sinclair 35). Jurgis arrives to america with an eagerness to find work to support his family which becomes more and more difficult for him as the story goes on. The constant bad luck that happens to Jurgis is later connected to the faults of capitalism and how corrupt it is for the working class in this society. Soon Jurgis could not support his family on his own and eventually the entire family needs to get a job to pay for their costs. Sinclair builds sympathy for Jurgis and his family throughout the beginning of the novel but also depicts the poverty of the working class and how they are equally struggling to make a living.
To be concise, Jurgis and his family faced various challenges in America. As a result, their lives changed, for better or for worse. They were inexperienced, and therefore made many mistakes, which made their life in Chicago very worrisome. However, their ideology and strong belief in determination and hard work kept them alive. In a land swarming with predators, this family of delicate prey found their place and made the best of it, despite the fact that America, a somewhat disarranged and hazardous jungle, was not the wholesome promise-land they had predicted it to be.
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".
The American Dream provides a uniformed idea of a goal that is seldomly achieved. It includes having a successful job, a healthy family, and happiness achieved through hard work and determination. Those born and raised well with strict parents often attain the American Dream, but those raised with abusive parents that live separately often find the American Dream extremely difficult to achieve. However, this idealistic stereotype can be false. Surprisingly, in the book In Cold Blood by Truman Capote the American Dream poses as a difficulty to maintain and achieve by the Clutter family, Perry Smith, Dick Hickock, and Floyd Wells.
People from all around the world have dreamed of coming to America and building a successful life for themselves. The "American Dream" is the idea that, through hard work and perseverance, the sky is the limit in terms of financial success and a reliable future. While everyone has a different interpretation of the "American Dream," some people use it as an excuse to justify their own greed and selfish desires. Two respected works of modern American literature, The Great Gatsby and Death of a Salesman, give us insight into how the individual interpretation and pursuit of the "American Dream" can produce tragic results.
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.
The Jungle and The Great Gatsby were books envisioning the two sides of the American dream. The Jungle showed the poverty-stricken world created by the initial boom of the industrial revolution and the struggle just to make ends meet in the early 1900s. This poverty seems to be emphasized in the reading of The Great Gatsby detailing the unheard of riches held by some in the 1920s. But these two nearly polar opposites show the struggle and hollowness of truly reaching the American dream. In neither of the books are the primary characters able to reach this dream in the same way that the world has told them that they would be able to. Each character
The Impossible American Dream in Anzia Yezierska's “America and I,” Uncle and Jayanti from Chitra Divakaruni's “Silver Pavements, Golden Roofs,” and Leon from Fae Myenne Ng's Bone. America has always been characterized as the land of dreams and opportunities. Immigrants entering America took these characterizations to heart. The dreams and aspirations of stable, wealthy, and happy lives in America became known as the “American Dream”. However, the “American Dream” hardly ever turns out like any individuals have anticipated. This is evident in the lives of the main character from Anzia Yezierska's “America and I,” Uncle and Jayanti from Chitra Divakaruni's “Silver Pavements, Golden Roofs,” and Leon from Fae Myenne Ng's Bone. The failed “American Dream” is a driving force in all of their lives. Gregory S. Jay suggests a solution to this problem though. He writes,
The existence of bribery and unethical behavior is rampant in the world market and may not change overnight. The question of bribery has been distilled in business literature as a question of ethics. In this situation at the airport with the customs officer, it is important to distinguish between business ethics and personal ethics. In a business ethics situation, the Foreign Corruption Practices Act would prohibit offering any bribe to the custom office – for example to free a shipment of goods that was lost in red tape (Pitman & Sanford, 2006). Most companies also have policies against bribery as well. In this situation, however the main issue at hand is that of personal ethics. When in a situation where your company is unknown and there is no business being conducted, normal business ethics and laws (including FCPA) do not apply only personal ethical standards.