will work harder!” Have you heard this before? This phrase implies that no matter what one will persevere and keep on keeping on. Many people in the world today live by this phrase. It was also the motto held by the main character in the book by Upton Sinclair entitled: The Jungle. He lives this way because he thinks that if he works harder, he will live achieve the American dream. I think that this motto is a great motto to live by. In Jurgis’s life, however, it did not always prove to be his best bet. In this essay I will provide the some examples from the book that illustrate why this is so.
First, it went along with the idea that America (Chicago) was socially like Lithuania. In the land that Jurgis and his family came from, kindness, …show more content…
Jurgis was living his life for his wife Ona. She was his “why” and his reason for living. He started going about life with the “I will work harder” motto, but things started going downhill right off the bat. It started with being cheated and thrown into almost permanent debt due to the purchase of a house, and then through the rest of his life, tragedy upon tragedy occurred. He lost his father (due to the same work ethic), he lost his job and became blacklisted in packing town, his wife was raped and later died in childbirth, his children died, etc. All through this, Jurgis was living by this motto and it ended up making him depressed, miserable, confused, and lost because it still was not benefitting him. The society his environment was run by capitalism and since the motto opposed that view, Jurgis becoming successful was not the ideal outcome. Capitalism is a way of organizing an economy so that individual people own the things that are used to make and transport products and companies rather that by the government. In the case of packing town the whole city was corruptly run by a small group of greedy people and got more no matter if it was at the cost of another individual’s expense. In order to make it, you had to cheat and lie to get to the top. During the period of time that Jurgis was “successful,” it was because he went about it corruptly, not because he worked
First, it went along with the idea that America (Chicago) was socially like Lithuania. In the land that Jurgis and his family came from, kindness, …show more content…
Jurgis was living his life for his wife Ona. She was his “why” and his reason for living. He started going about life with the “I will work harder” motto, but things started going downhill right off the bat. It started with being cheated and thrown into almost permanent debt due to the purchase of a house, and then through the rest of his life, tragedy upon tragedy occurred. He lost his father (due to the same work ethic), he lost his job and became blacklisted in packing town, his wife was raped and later died in childbirth, his children died, etc. All through this, Jurgis was living by this motto and it ended up making him depressed, miserable, confused, and lost because it still was not benefitting him. The society his environment was run by capitalism and since the motto opposed that view, Jurgis becoming successful was not the ideal outcome. Capitalism is a way of organizing an economy so that individual people own the things that are used to make and transport products and companies rather that by the government. In the case of packing town the whole city was corruptly run by a small group of greedy people and got more no matter if it was at the cost of another individual’s expense. In order to make it, you had to cheat and lie to get to the top. During the period of time that Jurgis was “successful,” it was because he went about it corruptly, not because he worked