The Jungle by Upton Sinclair was supposed to be a political statement advocating socialism to prevent atrocities towards the proletariats (McChesney and Scott). Written in the era of Progressive reforms, Sinclair′s novel presents the starting point which roughly lies at the turn of the century (1900) and if one insists on an ending point it would be the First World War. But as this time was an age of reform and rethinking in respect of various realms of society, it has had a long-lasting effect and some remnants of this progressive movement can still be observed today.
The main idea of the book lies in upholding the Marxist belief of the inevitable collapse of capitalism and the accession of the proletariat, or industrial working class (Sinclair). The Jungle may be considered one of Sinclair’s best works which successfully convinces the reader that “social facts” “make” people (Musteikis). It aims to unmask the social and economic evils spread by capitalist oligarchy that prevailed in the early twentieth century America and how it shattered the American Dream of so many people (McChesney and Scott). This paper aims at discussing the enumeration of the American dream and socialism in Sinclair’s penmanship through his book The Jungle. The essay provides a brief plot of the story and then shows how the story bears elements of ideas of socialism and American dream in the book.
The novel is set in the stockyards of Chicago with Lithuanians as the protagonists. The plot of the story is spun around Jurgis Rudkus and Ona Lukoszaite, a couple who had immigrated to Chicago from Lithuania. The story begins with the couple’s wedding feast being held at a bar in an area of Chicago known as Packingtown. Sinclair uses the protagonists as instrument to portray the central idea of the novel i.e. exploitation of the proletariat by capitalist forces and ultimate redemption by the socialists. Throughout the novel, Sinclair’s protagonists show the sorrowful fate of immigrants in America and depict their plight to find equal opportunity in a land of opportunities. The other prime character of the novel, Ona, is depicted by Sinclair as a delicate housewife. Ona is extremely young, and in the beginning of the novel is not even sixteen. She is portrayed as a wonderful picture of feminine characters that Sinclair believed his readers would find laudable: docility, loyalty, and trust in her husband and family. Throughout the novel Ona is shown as the woman for Jurgis to love and a wife to complete the family ideal that Sinclair repeatedly exposes to the destructive forces of capitalism. Another strong character portrayed by Sinclair in the novel is that of Ona’s stepmother, Teta Elzbieta. She is shown as a resilient, strong-willed old woman, is one of the strongest and most important characters in The Jungle. Sinclair uses her to represent the redemptive power of family, home, and tradition.
The main theme of The Jungle is the evil of capitalism and how it crushes the small dreams of poor immigrants in America. The novel portrays capitalism as a total evil, and how the bourgeoning capitalism and the capitalist greed. The Jungle is a simple novel accounting the degrading ethics and moral of corporate America and pursuing children to sell diseased meat to an unsuspecting public. Sinclair opts not to explore the psychology of capitalism; instead, he simply presents a long litany of the ugly effects of capitalism on the world. The plight of proletariats at the hands of American Bourgeois clan in the city of Chicago is mentioned in the very second chapter of the novel:
“Jurgis talked lightly about work, because he was young. They told him stories about the breaking down of men, there in the stockyards of Chicago, and of what had happened to them afterward – stories to make your flesh creep…” (Sinclair, p. 29).
The Progressive Era and the time before saw an outburst of immigrants in the United States from all parts of the world. The immigrants arrived in search of a ‘dream’, a dream of religious or political freedom, of work, in short of better opportunities. This dream is constantly reflected in the novel.
“”Tomorrow”, Jurgis said, when they were left alone, “tomorrow I will get a job, and perhaps Jonas will get one also; and then we can get a place of our own.”” (Sinclair, p. 39).
“They stood there while the sun went down upon this scene, and the sky in the west turned blood-red,…All the sordid suggestions of the place were gone…it seemed a dream of wonder, with its tale of human energy, of things being done, of employment for thousands of men, of opportunity and freedom, of life and love and joy.” (Sinclair, p. 42).
But the appeal to naturalization in the novel gets depleted with the descriptions of the harsh realities of Packingtown: the living conditions of the working class in Packingtown, the stinking streets full of filth and smell, the contaminated Chicago River with chemical wastes from the packing plants, etc. (Tavernier-Courbin). In a way Sinclair paints a completely gloomy and sordid picture of the existence of the workers with everything, from tea-coffee to spoilt meat, been adulterated. This according to many was one of the easiest measures to gain reader sympathy as well as spread awareness regarding the “unspeakable mixtures” American public was purchasing in name of “boneless ham” or “smoked sausages” (Tavernier-Courbin, p. 153).
With rapid industrialization, the country was in need of workers and so most of the immigrants went to the big cities in order to find a job there. Consequently, the cities grew and more and more people left the countryside. This rapid growth of urbanization and industrialization there evolved an unequal distribution of opportunities as well as wealth, and so, a few people benefited from the renewals and modernizations which industrialization had pushed forward, but on the other hand that for many, especially for the immigrants. The novel explores the plight of the immigrants who were lost in the “big black buildings” of Dearborn Street and could not find a way about in the jungle of the city (Sinclair 33). The immigrant family in Upton Sinclair′s novel headed for Chicago, where the big meatpacking industries were located, to find work. They experience what it meant to be an immigrant worker in need of money and without any knowledge of the language let alone of the rights, a person had at that time. Soon their experiences in Chicago made them realize the cruel fact that the poor always remained poor:
“A very few days of practical experience in this land of high wages had been sufficient to make clear to them the cruel fact that it [Chicago] was also a land of high prices, and that in it the poor man was almost as poor as in any other corner of the earth…What had made the discovery all the more painful was that they were spending, at American prices, money which they had earned at home rates of wages – and so were really being cheated by the world!” (Sinclair, p. 37).
This was a very aggressive assault towards the American Bourgeoise of the time as the novel has been acclaimed to provide aggressive assault against the capitalist class in America (McChesney and Scott). Sinclair uses the Lithuanian immigrant family to depict the plight of the working class under capitalism; the novel is also able to explore the plight of immigrants in America.
Sinclair first shows the dreams that the immigrant families have of America: a place of “high wages” and prosperity. But then he exposes the hypocrisy of the American Dream as the family members attempt to plug themselves into this nave equation: virtually every aspect of the family’s experience in Packingtown runs counter to the myth of America to which they subscribe. First is the depiction of the inhuman condition of livelihood through which these families stayed with ten to thirteen bundled in one single room. The pinnacle of their plight is shown through the following description go accommodation of immigrants in America: “Very frequently a lodging house keeper would rent the same beds to double shifts of men” (Sinclair, p. 38).
Sinclair also attempts to use symbols in his campaign against capitalism. Humans are portrayed as animals because of the way big business manipulates and demoralizes them in the novel. The name the “killing-beds” is given to the place where the men slaughter the animals which symbolizes the killing of the animals as the impending deaths of the men who work there (Tavernier-Courbin). Another connection between man and beast is established by the fact that to Jurgis life was “one colossal prison, which he paced like a pent-up tiger” (Sinclair 340). This simile vaguely reminds the reader of the imprisoned animals in the beginning of the novel and explains the state of thousands of immigrants. In order to fully demonstrate the plight of immigrants and the hopeless situation of their American existence, Sinclair very adeptly draws the plight of the “hogs” which actually turns out to be a metaphor for the immigrants:
“One could not stand and watch very long without becoming philosophical, without beginning to deal in symbols and similes, and to hear the hog squeal of the universe. Was it permitted to believe that there was nowhere upon the earth, or above the earth, a heaven for hogs, where they were requited for all this suffering? Each one of these hogs was a separate creature. Some were white hogs, some were black; some were brown, some were spotted…And each of them had an individuality of his own, a will of his own, a hope and a heart’s desire; each was full of self-confidence, of self-importance, and a sense of dignity.” (Sinclair, p. 51).
The significance of Sinclair symbolizing humans as animals is discovered when a socialist tells Jurgis that he had been “one of the packers’ hogs” and that they “wanted all the profits that could be got out of him” (Sinclair, p. 470). Capitalism and the packers who represent it in this novel place no value on human life, only on their precious money. To destroy human beings in the name of profit is unacceptable but capitalism takes no notice of this and allows it to continue. The fact the Jurgis is enlightened by a socialist allows Sinclair to convince the reader that socialism cares about the people while capitalism enjoys the money earned at their expense.
Capitalist institution in Sinclair’s novel is shown as the destroyer of the American Dream. He shows this through a metaphor about hogs in the slaughterhouse: “And trusting and strong in faith he had gone about his business, the while a black shadow hung over him and a horrid Fate waited in his pathway.” (Sinclair, p. 51) Here Sinclair talks of the black shadow of the capitalism waiting to slaughter the dreams of the unsuspected poor who were living the American Dream.
As the main purpose of Sinclair was to pose a vehement attack on capitalist institutions, he deliberately sketches the protagonist’s family is such a manner in order to generate sympathy among readers for them. In order to do so he describes Jurgis as “guileless” when he comes back happy to have become a part of the big capitalist establishment: “So guileless was he, and ignorant of the nature of business” (Sinclair 59) Sinclair ensures that this immigrant family does not seem alien or foreign to the American mind. Sinclair shows that the American Dream, capitalist creation, is a mirage. He shows this through the disintegration of the Immigrant family in the land of hopes and prosperity. He thus demonstrates that capitalism as the creator and the destroyer of the American Dream. The capitalist greed is portrayed with heightened pessimism when Sinclair describes Marija’s account of the brothel to Jurgis. The hopelessness and tragedy of the situation is illustrated though the accounts of Marija:
“”Save!” said Marija. “ Good Lord, no! I get enough, I suppose, but it all goes, I get a half share, two dollars and a half for each customer, and sometimes I make twenty-five or thirty dollars at night, and you’d think I ought to save something out of that! But then I am charged for my rooms and my meals – and such prices you never heard of; …for everything I get, and some I don’t.” (Sinclair, p. 440).
The tragedy in the lives of the immigrants and workers depicted in Sinclair’s novel was so acute that the slightest light of restoration from their dilapidated condition sparked a hope that was almost explosive. The socialist leader’s speech showed a new meaning to Jurgis. Even the mere mention of the word “comrade” lighted up a part of Jurgis, as he thinks, “Comrade! Who was it that called him “comrade”?” (Sinclair 447). He reacts by shouting with the crowd, cheering for the speaker who had caught him spellbound as the rest of the crowd. The American Dream dwindles as the protagonists become aware of their sorry state and are in position to fight it. This happens when Ona, who was pregnant, was attacked by a nervous disease which caused coughs and headaches, and would go into fits of tears:
“So she would lie and sob out her grief upon his shoulder, while he gazed at her, as helpless as a wounded animal, the target of unseen enemies.” (Sinclair, p. 198).
The novel is a symbol of capitalism and its institutions. Packingtown assumes the role of a Darwinian jungle, where the strong rule over the weakling and all living creatures are engaged in a brutal combat to survive. By adopting a group of poor, honest and hardworking immigrant laborers, Sinclair wanted to demonstrate that success goes to the people who exploit the weak for their own interest and implicitly gives out the message that success in a capitalist world is the fruit of the dishonest.
Further, in order to make the American readers, who believed in the American Dream, familiarize with the situation depicted in The Jungle and its protagonists, Sinclair had to make them sympathize with the very people whom many regarded with suspicion and hostility. To achieve this end, Sinclair opened the novel and introduced his characters in an extremely sympathetic setting – a wedding. Further, he used second person statements to aggravate the association with them: “…to spend such a sum, all in a single day of your life” (Sinclair 18). This heightens the readers’ sense of experiencing the life that Sinclair describes in full, gritty detail. He demonstrates the immigrants’ values in such a way that the readers associate with them. In one hand Sinclair wants the Americans to sympathize with his protagonists and on the other, he intends to pin point all the evil acts of the capitalists in order to make the readers crucify them as the villains in modern society.
Sinclair develops the evils of capitalism along with developing the character of the chief protagonist, Jurgis’s character in the novel. The wheel of capitalism was against the dream that Jurgis believed in and one it was shattered he submitted to complete debauchery. The description of the underworld once Jurgis becomes a part of it, relates stories of countless predation, thievery, and dishonesty. Sinclair ironically relates that these evil means that Jurgis adopted were far more lucrative than his honest way of life in the universe of The Jungle. Here too the irony lies in the combination of capitalist success and immorality which showed the path to the American Dream.
Throughout the novel, while details are carefully placed and symbols formed, Sinclair attempts to use the organization as his most powerful tool in the crusade against capitalism. The novel opens with the grandeur of Jurgis and Ona’s wedding where “it was one of the laws… that no one [went] hungry” (Sinclair 4). Starting with the wedding, which occurs later in the story, allows the reader to see how content the family really was and shows the traditions of their homeland that they will no longer be able to practice (Musteikis). The wedding and the happiness of that one event in their lives becomes the basis of comparison for the rest of the novel, allowing one to realize how terrible the hardships that befall them, due to the cruel nature of capitalism, really were. The novel continues with death and loss surrounding Jurgis until he vows, “to think of himself… [and] fight for himself, against the world that had baffled him and tortured him” (Sinclair 205). Sinclair has broken down his characters and the American dream that they clung to when they arrived in the stockyards. Jurgis has become the epitome of capitalist society, caring only for himself and believing in survival of the fittest. By the end of the novel, Jurgis becomes a socialist and through him, Sinclair preaches that “the socialist party [is] a real democratic political organization–controlled absolutely by its own membership” not the political bosses of the capitalist system (Sinclair 302). By placing the pure glorification of socialism at the end of the story, it can be compared to the corruption of capitalism. By having the in-depth depiction of Jurgis’s struggles, the reader is convinced that there is no hope for him. However, socialism miraculously appears, as if a gift sent from God, and saves Jurgis from the horrible life created by capitalism. Having socialism is Jurgis’ saving grace convinces the reader that it is the only way out of the tainted system. The delayed message praising socialism creates a focus on socialism’s glories but leaves a more permanent impression of the absurdity of capitalism.
Sinclair demonstrates the moral damages that capitalism gives birth. He believes that the vices and immoral acts that the poor commit are born out of capitalist misgivings as a means to escape the miseries in their lives. Here Sinclair describes the “scab workers” many of whom were black southerners. He says that the ancestors of the blacks were from Africa, and were forced into slavery. But with the regime of capitalism, they were “free” for the first time – “free to wreck themselves.” (Sinclair, p. 406). In order to demonstrate the capitalist as immoral, Sinclair produces some of the some of the most racial stereotypes against blacks: “The Negros…did not want to work, and every few minutes would feel obliged to retire and recuperate” (Sinclair, p. 400).
So as the first twenty seven chapters explore the woes of capitalism in the last few, Sinclair presents socialism as a solution to the atrocities and oppression of the working classes (McChesney and Scott). The solution is presented in the speech of the leader who calls the gathered mass “Comrades” and captures their attention. Sinclair paints the socialist communist meeting as a heaven for the oppressed and he shows this with the reaction he depicts through Jurgis’s reaction to the speech when Jurgis says to the orator, “Is it socialism? I didn’t know, I want to know about what you spoke of – I want to help. I have been through all that” (Sinclair, p. 462).
The final chapters of the novel make the appeal and importance of socialism in the novel more aggressive. He indicates the arrival of a mass movement to seize the power of the capitalist regime and make way for social equality (McChesney and Scott). To end the novel Sinclair abandons the narration of the novel and completely concentrates on explaining the functioning of and upholding an argument for socialism. Throughout the novel, Sinclair tried to make the American readers to associate with the protagonists but in the end, the tale forgot the story of Jurgis. The novel seems more of a collection of tales related to various social problems the root of which, according to Sinclair, was in capitalism. And in doing so, he uses Jurgis to consolidate all the narratives into one tale and provides a holistic view of the whole story: “When Jurgis had made himself more familiar with the Socialist literature, as he would very quickly, he would get glimpses of the Beef Trust from all sorts of aspects …” (Sinclair, p. 470).
Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle is a novel that depicts the atrocities on the poor primarily done by the capitalists. Like other American authors, Sinclair too depicts realism through fiction and has brought out social problems which help in crippling the society (Dreiser; Crane). Siclair describes an essence of American nationalism (Crane) and a movement towards the cleansing of the greatest vices that was bringing down the shining eagle (Dreiser). The novel described the fate of the protagonists and their dream to make a better life in America. This American Dream was shattered in the hands of the greedy capitalists. But in the end, the Socialists provide redemption to the poor and show them the light of revolution. Thus, The Jungle aimed to be a satire on the American Dream and an aggressive proponent of socialism.
Bibliography
- Crane, Stephen. The Red Badge of Courage. Prentice Hall, 2000.
- Dreiser, Theordore. An American Tragedy. London: Penguine, 1925.
- McChesney, Robert W. and Ben Scott. “Introduction.” Sinclair, Upton. Brass Check. California: University of Illinois Press, 1928. i-ix.
- Musteikis, Antanas. “THE LITHUANIAN HEROES OF THE JUNGLE.” LITHUANIAN QUARTERLY JOURNAL OF ARTS AND SCIENCES Volume 17, No.2 (1971): 1-5.
- Sinclair, Upton. The Jungle. California: Plain Label Books, 1906.
- Tavernier-Courbin, Jacqueline. “The Call of the Wild and The Jungle: Jack London’s and Upton Sinclair’s Animal and Human Jungles.” Pizer, Donald. The Cambridge Companion to American Realism and Naturalism. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1995. 236-262.