Summary
Jurgis Rudkus, a Lithuanian, seems to be optimistic and hardworking and is trying to find a new job in Chicago, where he has just recently moved. The excerpt tells about the background of these events and explains how and why Jurgis has got to Chicago in the first place. When Jurgis fell in love with a girl named Ona, her father made it very clear that he did not want to “sell her” to Jurgis because he was poorer than their family (Sinclair 26). However, things changed when Ona’s father died.
The family ran into debts, and it was decided to move to America for better job opportunities. America was chosen as a target since one of the family’s friends left for this country and became rich there. Jurgis decided to go with Ona. The excerpt ends when all of them get to New York and become deceived by “a man in a blue uniform,” what costs them “a good deal of money” (Sinclair 28).
At the end of the excerpt, after the family loses much money because of unreasonably high costs in the hotel, the author states, “The law says that the rate card shall be on the door of a hotel, but it does not say that is shall be in Lithuanian” (Sinclair 28). I think that this sentence speaks volumes about the book’s idea and the further development of events.
It implies that “a man in a blue uniform” can easily take advantage of the weakness of people from other countries, who do not understand the language and know nothing about local prices, rules and so on. Hence, it lets readers understand that the book is about the harsh living conditions for immigrants.
In this excerpt, readers should pay particular attention to the fact that Ona’s family and Jurgis leave their country and decide to immigrate to America, considering the fact that many of their friends have already done the same. So, this book describes the flow of emigrants to America.
Moreover, those immigrants are mainly from Eastern Europe (since the main characters in the book come from Lithuania), and they head to America for work. Such an active flow of immigrants from non-English speaking countries in Europe happened between 1870 and 1900, when the total number of immigrants was almost 11 million. Between 1900 and 1915, this number even increased. Considering the first experience of Ona’s family in America, there was no warm welcome for foreigners.
Discussion
The second excerpt continues the story of Jurgis Rudkus, Ona, and her relatives. All of them finally get to the city of Chicago, which they have wanted to reach from the very beginning. Although there is one bright moment when the family meets Jokubas Szedvilas (a family friend, who moved to America and became wealthy), we understand that nothing good awaits for this family in Chicago. Later, when they settle in the boarding house, the situation worsens.
The family faces terrible living conditions provided for the immigrants – Lithuanians, Slovaks, Poles, and others. In the rooms, where up to thirteen people live, there are only mattresses and some bedding. When Jurgis and Ona go for a walk, they find out that this place is a dumping ground, with flies “literally blackening the air” and lots of garbage everywhere (Sinclair 34). Additionally, there is “an odor for which there are no polite words” (Sinclair, 35).
While reading this excerpt, I was completely struck by the phrase, “It was by no means unusual for two men to own the same mattress in common, one working day by day and using it by night, and the other working at night and using it in the daytime” (Sinclair 32).
That describes an overall picture very vividly and lets readers know that life there is harsh for immigrants. Besides, there are also many other disgusting details, which describe the situation both in the boarding house and outside of it. Those are mainly about flies, city garbage, smoke, and unpleasant odor. Hence, people live in unsanitary conditions.
The book depicts a working-class made up of immigrants from the countries of Eastern Europe. The place they live in is characterized by harsh living conditions and unsanitary practices. Besides, people work both day and night, and all of this leaves no doubt that workers are exploited. The immigrants who entered America in 1987-1915 were mostly searching for jobs, and that is why they headed to cities where the jobs were located. At the same time, many native-born Americans lived in the cities as well.
Because of a huge number of newcomers, cities became too crowded and overpopulated. As statistics shows, approximately 40% of all American population lived in the cities by 1990. So, Chicago is a prime example. The immigrants were considered as the cheap labor force and provided with unpleasant conditions. Additionally, poverty vastly increased at that time. Moreover, the majority of all labor strikes (approximately 37,000) occurred in the US between 1881 and 1905.
Works Cited
Sinclair, Upton. The Jungle, Minneapolis, Minnesota: Filiquarian Publishing, 2008. Print.