Upton Sinclair's The Jungle - The Lie of the American Dream

The Jungle - The Lie of the American Dream

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.

The main theme of these 6 chapters is "The lie of the American Dream". Jurgis thought by coming here to the United States, he would find everything easy, but everything turned against his wishes. In chapter 18, he's out of jail, free, only to find someone else in his home. He realized that his family had lost their home because of lack of money, and because he wasn't there when they needed him the most. Later finding them and finding his wife giving birth with complications and smelling death around him. Is a very shocking and yet horrifying idea.

With only a dollar twenty-five, Madame Haupt helped Ona give birth, but failed to give them their life. With that dollar twenty-five, Ona lost her life and left Jurgis alone forever. That same day little Kotrina earned three dollars, Jurgis took it and got drunk. This American lie struck him hard, the least he can do was to get drunk and forget about life for a while.

However, life was still ahead of him. He went back to the fertilizer, but found no job there. He owed so much money, the least he could do was to get a job. He tried many places until his friend found him a job in a big factory. There he worked and worked, but lost it because the factories closed down and there was no work until further notice. Probably Jurgis thought "America lies to me once again", and has to deal with it.

Thus, Jurgis did not stay with his arms crossed; he went out again to look for more work. He begged, he slept in the streets, he tried everything, but finally he got another job in a mill and worked there. It seemed that life was getting easier but it got worse. One day, Jurgis got home, and found out that his son, his little boy Antanas, had died. This was a nightmare for Jurgis.