Evil of Capitalism and Sinclair’s Perspective: Analytical Essay

In The Jungle by Upton Sinclair, Jurgis and Ona are Lithuanian immigrants who have been recently married and are pushed into the factory life in Chicago. Jurgis begins his journey by receiving a job in Packingtown (known for its meat industry), where his job is revealed to be gruesome and harsh. As their story continues, winter sets in and Ona gives childbirth but only receives seven days off of her work. Soon after their son, named after Jurgis’ father is born, Jurgis sprains his ankle due to harsh working conditions and is unable to work for months. Due to being fired from his job, Jurgis is forced to take a job at the “fertilizer plant”, which is known for being the worst working place in Packingtown. As a result, he begins to use alcohol to numb his disappointment. Ona is pregnant again, yet this shimmer of happiness is quickly dimmed when Jurgis discovers that Ona’s boss forced her to sleep with him. Out of anger and resentment, Jurgis beats Phil Connor (Ona’s boss), and is sent to jail due to an unfair trial. When he is released, Jurgis finds out his family is where they first stayed at in Chicago, and finds his wife in child labor but her and her child die due to premature labor in unhealthy and unclean conditions. As Jurgis finally begins to find the light again, he is met with another disaster when his son drowns in the mud-filled street. Jurgis then leaves his family and faces a life alone as he is constantly deceived and misled. At the end of Sinclair’s novel, Jurgis is wandering the street filled with despair when he comes across a socialist rally that fulfills Jurgis’ beliefs. If people turn to socialism, the speaker said, “Chicago will be ours!”

Throughout the book, Sinclair reveals the horrors of not only the meat industry, but of the life immigrants have to face when struggling for a better life. In the novel, Jurgis seems like a real person. He turns to alcohol to numb himself, he turns to criminal acts to gain money, and he is filled with despair. Portraying Jurgis as a real person who reacts realistically only makes the novel more intriguing and saddening when he is faced with even more despair. I specifically enjoy how even the judicial system is perceived as unjust when Jurgis has his trial as this is something that still occurs today. Being able to see Jurgis and envision him as an immigrant seeking a better life for his family is something that made this novel an interesting read. In previous books, the protagonist is always “just” and a perfect person, yet in this novel, Sinclair is willing to communicate how Jurgis is a real person, thus he reacts like a real person. The only thing I dislike about The Jungle is how much despair Jurgis has to face. I feel as though Jurgis did not need his only living son to die as well after Ona and his unborn child’s death. But I do understand that it was a key motivator in his turn to socialism.

One of the main themes proclaimed in the novel is the evil of capitalism that Sinclair’s perspective is based on. Throughout the book, Jurgis’ family’s demise is due to the effect of capitalism on the lower classes. Jurgis, Ona, and all of the other characters that are beaten down with deceitfulness, hate, and poor working conditions are a reflection of what all immigrants have to go through in order to “achieve” their dreams. Sinclair conveys the evil of capitalism further by expressing how even the corporations were willing to sell diseased and unhealthy meat to the innocent public. As long as the businesses get their money, they do not think about what they have to do to get there. Another theme that reflects the detriments of capitalism directly on immigrants is Jurgis and his family’s hope in the American Dream. When faced with problems, Jurgis often tries to explain that he will simply “work harder”, yet as Sinclair’s writing conveys, hard work is not what achieves the American Dream when capitalism is in the way. Instead, crime and corruption of one’s morals is the way to succeed materialistically. Even though Jurgis’ family emphasizes that they value hard work and ethics, it is not the way to achieve success in a capitalistic world. Sinclair continuously stresses how Jurgis and his family’s values support the American Dream, yet capitalism makes these values useless and hollow due to the moral corruption of greed that capitalism causes.

Sinclair’s novel, The Jungle, utilizes an abundance of symbols in order to convey the corruption capitalism has on the public. One of the more noticable symbols are the slaughterhouses filled with animals that come in a constant flow. The animals at Packingtown are slaughtered mercilessly, a reflection of how the working class of immigrants are pushed into the world of capitalism, where they are treated poorly and unfairly without a choice. Animals come into Packingtown daily without missing a beat, similar to how after one generation of immigrants go through pain and suffering trying to make it day-by-day, another generation replaces them. Similarly, the cans of unhealthy and unsafe meat that are still distributed to America’s public manifests capitalism’s corruption of the American Dream. Although the cans may look perfectly normal and shiny, even appetizing, it is filled with unhealthy meat that is not meant to be consumed. The cans symbolize how although America’s capitalistic system may look like a place for dreams to become reality, once the immigrants come to America, they are faced with the deceit and greed that accompanies capitalism.

Throughout the novel, Sinclair emphasizes how capitalism is not the solution to achieving the American Dream for the poorer classes. Although capitalism was sought after as a way to encourage Dreamers, it only creates more poverty and harsher conditions. The question that faces us today is can people achieve the American Dream in a capitalistic society?

The American Dream, for immigrants mainly, is a key motivator in moving to the United States. Yet, as Sinclair clearly visualizes, the American Dream is not a black and white picture. Instead, capitalism taints the American Dream by filling it with greed, immoral values, and deceitfulness. Jurgis is explained how capitalism works by Ostrinski when he states how as “far as it concerned the wage-earner, the man who had only his labor to sell; to those on top, the exploiters, it appeared very differently, of course—there were few of them, and they could combine and dominate, and their power would be unbreakable…all over the world two classes were forming, with an unbridged chasm between them, —the capitalist class, with its enormous fortunes, and the proletariat, bound into slavery by unseen chains” (chapter 29). Capitalism is a system where, as far as the worker is concerned, are dependent on the capitalists for any jobs available, even if it is in poor conditions and for low wages. But, as the workers become so focused on just getting a job, they forget what they came to America in the first place for: the American Dream.