Introduction
When the Industrial Revolution began in America, various people had different life experiences and changes. Through “The Jungle,” Upton Sinclair showed how capitalism made the poor feel disconnected from society. Robert Sessions and Jack Wortman in “Working in America” further explore the theme of alienation by showing the difficulties of workers in the hands of capitalists during the Industrial Revolution.
Although the severe consequences of capitalism have reduced over the years due to the implementation of workers’ regulations, the alienation of the poor in modern society has not changed. This essay analyzes how the capitalist system alienated workers like Jurgis. Although Jurgis successfully arrived in America, capitalism caused him to be exposed to adverse living conditions and inadequate financial resources.
The Expensive Wedding
In a foreign land, Jurgis had to pay the overwhelming bills for his wedding to Ona despite having an unstable source of living. Jurgis, a Ludhiana immigrant, hosted a wedding in Chicago but was shocked by the incurred expenses at the end of the event. When Ona’s father was alive, Jurgis could not afford to marry her. Indeed, her father had turned down Jurgis’s proposal to marry her, terming him too poor to afford her (Sinclair 21).
However, when her father died, Jurgis and his fiancée moved to Chicago and, alongside their family, performed a wedding. Even before the wedding bills could surprise him, Jurgis felt alienated by how fancy his guests were. Unlike his guests, who wore expensive suits, Jurgis felt underdressed, yet it was his wedding (Sinclair 6).
Ona mentioned a variety of bills that they could not afford to pay during the wedding. She counted, “Fifteen dollars for the hall, twenty-two dollars and a quarter for the ducks, twelve dollars for the musicians…” (Sinclair 17). Although Jurgis could access these services without money, he was expected to pay eventually. This is one of the financial pressures that made Jurgis feel disconnected from the Chicago community.
The variety of bills indicates unfair capitalism, where the rich ought to profit from the poor. Sinclair used the theme of alienation here to show how oppressive the capitalist system becomes for the poor. In this case, the capitalists are the service providers who set high prices for their services.
According to Sessions and Wortman, although people had different experiences with the Industrial Revolution, the unskilled labor in the factories had the worst experiences (102). Jurgis was one of the unskilled laborers who worked in poor conditions and were paid very little. Indeed, the small wages could not allow Jurgis to pay most of his family’s bills.
Coming to America
Sinclair shows Jurgis’s alienation through his unfair experiences as he entered America. Jurgis and his family had a hard time entering America because they got into a trap with some officials and had to pay lots of money to be free. In New York, corrupt officials also took Jurgis’s little money (Sinclair 22). Sinclair uses these incidents to show how capitalists use corruption to benefit the poor.
Jurgis felt even more disconnected from society when he arrived in Chicago but could not tell where he was. People would stare and laugh at them when Jurgis and his family asked to be shown where Chicago was (Sinclair 27). At this point, the protagonist felt that he was different from the capitalist community, which, unlike him, spoke English and was wealthy.
Sinclair employed the theme of alienation in Jurgis’s experience coming to America to show that the American dream is for the wealthy. Capitalism makes it impossible for low-class earners to rise to the high class through corruption. Indeed, the rich do not recognize the less privileged, no matter how hard the poor work toward success. In “Working in America,” Sessions and Wortman showed that alienation is complex and leads to dissatisfaction.
In the explanation, Sessions and Wortman give the story of Bartleby, an ironer who yearns for recognition from his boss (111). However, as the ironer dies of an unfortunate death, the boss’s wife only worries about his daughter being run over by an iron (Sessions & Wortman 112). Through the negative experiences with the capitalists when arriving in America, Jurgis realized that life in America was only easy for the wealthy.
Life in the Stockyards
When he arrived at Stockyards, Jurgis felt out of place and realized it was different from what he expected. When leaving Luthiana, Jurgis knew that Jona’s friend had moved to Chicago and had become rich. Therefore, as he approached Stockyards, Jurgis hoped to get married, find a well-paying job, and live in a good neighborhood.
However, the accurate picture of the Stockyard broke all the protagonists’ dreams. As the train they boarded traveled from Chicago to Stockyards, Jurgis started noticing the different and worsening conditions of the environment (Sinclair 23). The community had a dingier environment with dirty, bad, and sickening odors. The degrading conditions of the Stockyards made Jurgis unhappy and unfulfilled. He realized he did not fit in the community and was better off in Ludhiana.
Sinclair used Jurgis’s experience in the Stockyards to illustrate how the capitalist system causes unequal resource distribution, leading to poor and underdeveloped communities. Stockyards are different from Chicago in terms of development because while the rich live in Chicago, the less privileged live in Stockyards. When the Industrial Revolution began in America, urban areas experienced growth, while the rural regions were dumpsites for industry waste (Sessions & Wortman 134). Alienation becomes worse when individuals are distinguished from the community in which they live. Jurgis mainly felt disconnected from the Stockyards because he expected the region to have high living standards.
Changes from 1906 and What Remained the Same
A significant change in the modern capitalist system is government involvement through labor regulations to protect the workers. In 1906, the American government was not much involved in controlling the private business system (Sessions and Wortman 112). There were few to no laws protecting workers from private investors.
However, as it is today, there are labor and employment laws and policies that forbid the exploitation of workers by their employers. These laws equally guarantee employees safe working spaces, both in public and private entities. Indeed, US billionaires are worried about the capitalist system’s survival. The capitalists feel that government interference with private businesses is increasing, and capitalism will lose meaning with more regulations and taxes (Jaffe).
Government regulations for private entities focus on reducing workers’ alienation from their work. Indeed, the national control of business seeks to equalize wealth distribution, thus reducing the gap between the poor and the rich (Jaffe). However, although much of the workers’ exploitation through poor conditions has decreased significantly, capitalist employees are still paid low wages.
The capitalist system still exploits workers through unfavorable compensation. In 1906, the system greatly benefited workers by paying them low wages. Today, although the government establishes compensation laws demanding fair pay for all workers, private business owners still have the last say.
According to an opinion post by the New York Times, the wealthy continue to become richer while the poor live in poverty. A company might be handsomely paying its employees during its increased revenues, but when the business incurs losses, the workers pay a more significant price. When a company starts perishing, the executive team is the first to receive compensation. If the regular employees are considered for compensation, they will be the last to be paid (“Inequality and Our Capitalist System”).
Jaffe also indicates that even though modern capitalism is experiencing increased government interference, private employers still can pay low wages and put workers in poor working conditions. The existing rule of law only applies to the poor and powerless. Indeed, many popular companies are often sued for unsafe working conditions, but the cases are closed without justice for workers.
Conclusion
The consequences of the capitalist system, including insufficient financial resources and poor living conditions, make American workers more alienated. When Jurgis went to America, his dream of becoming a wealthy man was shattered by the effects of capitalism; the Stockyards, posing worse conditions than that Jurgis was used to, made him worse. While there was the industrial revolution in Chicago, the Stockyards were the dumping sites where low-income earners lived. The American government might have increased its intervention in private businesses, but the workers are still exposed to unfavorable compensation and working conditions.
Works Cited
Jaffe, Greg. “Capitalism in Crisis: US Billionaires Worry about the Survival of the System that Made Them Rich.” The Washington Post, Web.
“Inequality and Our Capitalist System.” The New York Times, Web.
Sessions, Robert, and Jack Wortman. Working in America: A Humanities Reader. University of Notre Dame Press, 1992.
Sinclair, Upton. The Jungle. ICON Group International, 2005.