by Andrea Gonzalez
The Jungle by Upton Sinclair is a
lengthy novel with a clear message: Capitalism only favors the rich, but destroys the lives of everyone else. It tells the painful story of Jurgis Rudkus, a naïve Lithuanian who, with his fiancée and her extended family, immigrate to America at the turn of the century. Most of the family members get menial jobs at “Packingtown”, the Chicago stockyards. At first, he is optimistic that he can give his new wife, Ona, a life filled with happiness, but Jurgis soon discovers that in Capitalist America, you are only considered a human if you have money. When I first heard of The Jungle in my 8th
grade social studies class, my teacher only mentioned that the book exposed how filthy and unsanitary the slaughterhouses were. As I later began to read this novel, I quickly realized that there was so much more to it than several health code violations. The Jungle is about how blind America
is to the brutal truth that this nation was meant to welcome foreigners so that they could have a better life. Jurgis is certain that the envied U. S. of A. will be welcoming, but he soon realizes that Americans only want to take advantage of immigrants by conning them out of their money. This phenomenal novel deals with the taboo issues of wage slavery, greed, racism, inhumanity, cons, drug addiction, and even prostitution. Soon after finding a house in the slums of Chicago for an unreasonable price, his family works extraordinarily hard for a combined total of a few dollars a week, while their gluttonous employers make money off of exploiting the naïve. The family is later plagued with debt and falls prey to
scams. After an odd series of events, Jurgis gives up all hope and becomes a drifter, but when he returns to Chicago, he finds that his feminist cousin has become a prostitute. As Marija casually tells Jurgis how several family members have died, he is shocked to see Marija emotionless. My favorite part is when Jurgis sees that Madame Polly treated her with more humanity than the businessmen did at the meatpacking district. Jurgis is speechless, but not entirely surprised. Aside from having a creative plotline, The Jungle is a true classic and an unforgettable novel since it shows us all how a novel has the power to create economical and political controversy. I give this masterpiece four out of four stars because I truly believe that it has the power to show every American how capitalism and conservatism is the easiest way, but also the most malicious.
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