The Broken American Dream Exposed in The Jungle by Upton...

Sinclairs novel is meant to entirely reject the capitalist system and to bring in its place a socialist system. In this novel, capitalism and its exploitation of the immigrants and other workers, are in fact shown to be tools of the capitalist bosses, used as another means to control and mislead them. In Sinclairs novel the broken dreams of Jurgis Rudkis and his fellow Lithuanian immigrants, unions are meant to be institutions which give false hope to the workers. They live in utterly dreadful circumstances and are exploited like animals by their capitalist bosses. The women are forced to work at an inhuman pace, lose money if they cannot, and then fired if the complain. (106). And the men in the packinghouses like slaves in hell. When†¦show more content†¦With respect to those inspectors, Sinclair is at times blatant in his disapproval, but is other tomes subtle as he shows life through the still-rose-colored glasses of Jurgis, If you were a social person, [the inspector] w as quite willing to enter into conversation with you, and to explain to you the deadly nature of the ptomaines which are in tubercular pork; and while he was talking with you, you could hardly be so ungrateful as to notice that a dozen carcasses were passing by untouched (41). Ofcourse, the inspectors were being paid off by the packers not to inspect. From politics to inspections to unions, Sinclair shows nothing but corruption and inhumane cruelty. With respect to the immigrants and their working and living conditions, the author shows nothing but suffering and exploitation. Coming from a socialist perspective, to show unions as anything but ineffective at best, and as manipulative tools of the capitalists at worst, would have been for Sinclair to have undercut his own goals. He did not seek with his book merely to reform the packinghouse, or to strengthen unions, or to bring about what he was as superficial improvements in the capitalist system. He sought instead to entirely replace capitalism with socialism. The unions in the book are meant to serve as a means whereby Jurgis can begin to believe that he can make a difference in his life and in his working conditions. At first he acceptsShow MoreRelatedThe American Of American History4245 Words   |  17 PagesLearning about American history is an extremely fascinating topic. It’s intriguing how our great nation developed and changed throughout history. From wars to treaties, it’s all essential in understanding how our nation has grown to be what it is now. In our ever growing society today, immigrants are migrating to this nation with hopes and dreams. Hopes and dreams that lead them to live a better and more prosperous life. The United States of America is known as big â€Å"melting pot†. This melting potRead MoreAnalysis Of Upton Sinclair s The Grapes Of Wrath 3839 Words   |  16 Pagesbetween social rankings, establishing an unbreakable cycle of poverty. The idyllic ethos of the American Dream, a belief that one will achieve success through hard work and opportunity, prove to be a fallacious, hollow and vague ambition that cannot be attained. Paradigms that exploit the plight of the â€Å"American worker† beginning in the early nineteen hundreds include muckraker Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle and John Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath. The quandaries that plague the characters of the aforementionedRead MoreFeminine Mystique12173 Words   |  49 Pageshappened? When did women decide to give up the world and go back home? Friedan asked herself. Questions like those have engaged historians since the 1970s, but they were not ones housewives of the 1950s were encouraged to ask. For a red-blooded American to doubt something as sacred as the role of housewife and mother was to show symptoms of mental disorder rather than a skeptical or inquiring mind. Whatever the label attached to such feelings — neurosis, anxiety, or depression — most people assumed