...America’s economy is based around the system known as capitalism. Capitalism is a system where means of production is privately ran. Meaning the government does not have control over corporations, or prices of goods. Any American can earn money as they see fit. You can start a business selling books, out of your garage, which may turn into the biggest online retailer in existence. Or you could work in a factory, earning a living with your hands. In many ways capitalism is seen as a great system. The people who work hard, usually reap the rewards of their labor. In the novel The Jungle by Upton Sinclair we follow the story of a Lithuanian immigrant Jurgis, and his family, on their struggles in the early nineteenth century America. Jurgis starts to feel like an outcast in this strange new place. The economic system of capitalism makes Jurgis feel...
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...then on getting rid of corruption in government. (Constitutional Rights Foundation) Journalists of this time took advantage of the opportunity to show the American people how corrupt many of the health systems were. In 1902, magazine publishers discovered that their sales increased dramatically when they highlighted popular stories of political corruption, corporate misconduct, or other offenses. (Gilder Lehrman Institute) The novelist Upton Sinclair also played a large role during this new era in the fight...
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...Black Gold HST 370.05 Prof. Hoikkala October 19, 2015 In Oil! by Upton Sinclair, published by Penguin Books, Sinclair writes to expose the corrupt oil industry in California through the education of both readers and main character, Bunny Ross, on the proceedings for success in the oil business, including bribery and propaganda. Through the start of the book, the reader learns that the main characters father is a rising business man on the verge of becoming a magnate, although only through bribery of politicians and land proctors. Unfortunately Bunny sees both from a upper class and a lower class frame of reference and does not wish to abuse his power and take advantage of the lower class, yet still become a rich individual such as his father. This battle between the classes is seen with Bunny’s fight in favor of workers unions and against religion, using propaganda to aide him. I chose to write on this novel because I was familiar with Sinclair’s work in The Jungle, and after researching more about this book and his inclusion into the real-time history of California and how big of an impact Sinclair caused, I couldn’t choose another book to interest me as much as Sinclair engages his readers. The idea of capitalism and the processes in its execution always grab my attention due to their need for wealth and lack of inclusion from outside aide in order to better increase their wealth. Sinclair is also excellent in his ability to give a rich character development, leaving...
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...In 1906, Upton Sinclair's Book The Jungle was published in book form; it had previously been published as a newspaper serial in 1905. Few works of literature have changed history in the United States so much as The Jungle did when it was published. Does Sinclair Lewis make a compelling argument for socialism in his book, The Jungle? I think that the answer to this question is going to be dependent on what you end up believing about socialism. A die hard socialist is probably going to point to Sinclair's ending with zeal and passion because it proves that Jurgis could only find a home when renouncing capitalism and its perverse interpretation of the American Dream. I think that Sinclair believed in the socialist ending of his novel. Yet, I want to pivot the question a bit. While the socialist claim might not be persuasive, like Marx himself, Sinclair is probably more eloquent on suggesting that the current capitalist system, the one being written about at the turn of the century, is in desperate need of repair. His persuasion might lie in his critique of capitalism more than his embrace of socialism. “The Jungle by Upton Sinclair, exposed the nauseating conditions of Chicago’s meat packing industry.” (Goldfield, David R. The American Journey: A History of the United States.) He couldn't have been very happy that the book gained fame for a different reason, but nonetheless it did gain a significant amount of fame and get that message of socialism is better than communism...
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...The Jungle by Upton Sinclair Compared to Modern Day Meat Processing The theme of Upton Sinclair’s novel The Jungle is that capitalism is the devil. In the novel, capitalism is made out to be absolutely evil, one reason being that they (the meat companies) willfully put contaminated meat on the market for the oblivious consumers. There are several ways that the meat-packing practices from the novel are similar to how meat is processed today. The first similarity is that slaughterhouses were and have been treating animals very brutally; also, the slaughterhouses in the book were just as unsafe to work in as the slaughterhouses today. People are taking major risks just by going to work. The second similarity is that contaminated meat is being sold and served to the consumers. Another similarity is that if you get hurt on the job and become disabled for several months, a lot of companies will stop paying you or possibly lay you off. The last similarity between The Jungle and modern-day meat processing is that meat companies can and will sue you or throw you in jail if you “spill the beans” or defend yourself or your family. First of all, the slaughterhouses and meat factories are just as filthy, cruel, and unsafe as the slaughterhouses and meat factories from the early nineteen-hundreds (time period in which The Jungle takes place). The novel says that animals are brought into pens, suffer, and are slaughtered. In slaughterhouses today, animals are rounded up, placed somewhere...
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...Whenever you hear "The Jungle" most think of a tropical forest full of thick, brightly colored plants and trees containing various types of animals. However, the book The Jungle is a novel written by the American journalist and muckraker Upton Sinclair. Sinclair wrote the novel to expose the harsh conditions and exploited lives of immigrants in the meatpacking industry of Chicago. So how do the two relate? The novel's title symbolizes the competitive nature of capitalism. The life of living in Packingtown is like living in a jungle, in which the strong prey on the weak and all living things are engaged in a violent, brutal fight for survival. In the book, you only see the use of the word "jungle" once. This being when Jurgis has been drinking and decides to sleep with a prostitute. The novel also seems to compare Jurgis' sexual desire to that of a beast in the jungle. Therefore associating jungles with uncontrolled desires. This being said, the awful conditions of the workers in Packingtown are the result of the uncontrollable human desire for money. The Jungle is about bringing to light human greed and the social damage it does. The images of "beasts" that live in the jungle also depicts violence and brutality – another huge theme of Sinclair's analysis of life in Packingtown. Sinclair describes capitalism as destructive because he shows it...
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...On February 26, 1906, Upton Sinclair released The Jungle, a novel written about the life of a Lithuanian family moving to America and the hardships they faced there. Sinclair, a Socialist and a muckraker reporter wrote the novel in hopes of gaining supporters of the Socialist party. What he ended up doing was single handily cause the formation of the Food and Drug Administration after he showed the nation what was really happening with their food. Yet looking at the work as what it’s meant to be, an exposure of the negative effects of a capitalist society on the impoverished citizens, was Sinclair’s indictment a fair assessment. The novel The Jungle, follows the story of Jurgis Rudkus and his new family as they move to America in search of...
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...Upton Sinclair, author of The Jungle, attempts to portray the corruption within capitalism in virtue of the American Dream. Due to Sinclair’s earlier years of childhood, he was together exposed to poverty as well as the upper-class. In result of being raised by an alcohol salesman and puritan mother, he could understand the glimpses of the upper-class lifestyle that were received from his mother’s wealthy family. Sinclair was very knowledgeable from a young age, thus leading him to college studying journalism in hopes of becoming a novelist. Though many of his books failed, Sinclair continued on to write a best-selling novel that changed the outlook on society. Originally, The Jungle was not accepted into newspapers as he wished, but was released...
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...which we the reader have not endured ourselves. His most notable work was The Jungle in which he exposed the American public to the inhumane and hazardous conditions of the meat packing industry and the injustices faced by immigrants. Upton Sinclair was born on September 20, 1878 in Baltimore, Maryland to an alcoholic father whom he was named after and his...
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...Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle and Eric Schlosser’s Fast Food Nation expose working conditions and animal slaughter in the food industry. Even though these texts were published years apart, they both share similar details and goals. Sinclair is a muckraker who exposed political and social problems during the Progressive Era, and Eric Schlosser is a journalist. Both of these excerpts express the problems that workers faced, mostly immigrants, and the gruesome details of animal slaughter in the food industry. Both publications share similarities and differences in their goals, details to prove their points, and effects of their publication when dealing with the hidden aspects of the food industry. Both excerpts’ goals are to produce outrage...
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...In The Jungle, by Upton Sinclair, the author depicts the story of a young and hardworking man, Jurgis Rudkus, and his family’s struggles in the American economic system of the early twentieth century. Coming from Lithuania with the hopes of a better life, Jurgis’ family lands in Chicago with the pursuit to prosper in the new and exciting land. From the start, the family encounters trouble: scammers in both Lithuania and America deplete the family’s savings, the saloon-keeper at Jurgis and Ona’s wedding overprices them for the amount of alcohol guests have consumed, and the conditions of Packingtown are not what they expected. In the ensuing chapters, the family’s luck changes from bad to worse when a multitude of family members die and jobs are repeatedly taken away from many of the group. Sinclair demonstrates through the optimistic and naive Rudkus-Lukoszaite family that American capitalism is destructive to the common worker and the immigrant class. In the proclaimed “wage slavery,” Sinclair describes how the immigrant population was "dependent for its opportunities of life, upon the whim of men every bit as brutal and unscrupulous as the old-time slave drivers” (Sinclair 126). In Chicago, the immigrant...
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...was not the only thing to change during this period. From the late-nineteenth century up to the 1920s average Americans experienced a dramatic expansion in wealth and prosperity. However, with the Wall Street Crash in 1929 the U.S.A. experienced an economic depression that destroyed millions of livelihoods. This eventful period of American history led many to question the American Dreams place in modern America. This research paper will examine the interpretation of the American Dream in literature between the Progressive Era at the start of the twentieth century and the 1950s economic and social boom. In order to do this the paper will examine the novels The Jungle, The Great Gatsby and Death of a Salesman. These three novels all examine the American Dream in different decades. Written in 1906 by Upton Sinclair The Jungle is a novel that portrayed the life of immigrants and the working class in early-twentieth century America. The novel was published during the muckraking decade and its depiction of poverty, unpleasant living and working conditions and the corruption of those in power led it to be called “the Uncle Tom’s Cabin of wage slavery.” A socialist Sinclair believed that by the start of the twentieth...
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...The Jungle In Upton Sinclair’s novel The Jungle, the main character Jurgis brings his Lithuanian family to America in order to seek prosperity. They take up residence in Chicago, where they find employment in Packingtown. There the family undertakes risky tasks under unstable conditions, giving them a troublesome realization that their ideal life in America was far from reality. Not long after, a bitter winter and sickness hits the family, showing them that sacrifices have to be made in order to make do. Through his novel, Sinclair aspires to connect with the readers in an emotional appeal, however his gruesome details of the meat-packing industry cause the readers to focus more on what could be on their own plates at home. Sinclair, aiming directly to the heart of his readers, successfully did so when Jokubas toured the family through Packingtown. Instead of being a thriving homeland full of assurance, Chicago proved to be a...
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...The cruel economic system in The Jungle led Jurgis and others to a life of oppression and injustice. The corruption of capitalism affects everyone around it and eventually leads every character to destruction. From Jurgis and Ona to the bad conditions of the city, the industry set up is detrimental in more ways than not. Upton Sinclair portrays the evils of capitalism throughout the book as the characters’ motives become distorted. The government system causes calamity to run all throughout Packingtown. Packingtown is a city filled with crime and lawlessness, caused by the inadequate system set up by the the people in authority. “That was their law, that was their justice! Jurgis stood upright, trembling with passion,” (167). For an example,...
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...The Horrors of Packingtown Living and Dying in Packingtown, Chicago is an expert from Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle, which told the story of Jurgis Rudkus, a Lithuanian immigrant trying to survive in Chicago. Sinclair wrote The Jungle with hopes to achieve better working conditions all around the United States, but also to show the corruption and evil that come with capitalism. His book was an instant best seller and caused massive reform of the meatpacking industry, however, this reform was focused on health concerns rather than concerns for the workers. “‘I aimed at the public's heart, and by accident I hit it in the stomach,’ he said.” (BLACKWELL) Living and Dying in Packingtown, Chicago opens into the struggles of life at home for immigrant family with the painful death of their child, Kristoforas, who had eaten some tubercular beef which was unfit for export. The family could not afford a grave so the mother, Elzbieta, went in tears to beg from their local neighbors for a proper burial. This opening brings the reader instantly into the situation this family is in and what dire state of poverty they faced. Jurgis, having no job and a family to feed, went to the dreaded fertilizer plants which were talked about mostly in feared rumor. “Few visitors ever saw them, and the few who did would come out looking like Dante, of whom the peasants declared that he had been into hell.” (p. 74) Only the desperate resort to working at the fertilizer plants which was where all the “tankage”...
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