Upton Sinclair's The Jungle: The Evils Of Capitalism

Superior Essays
Quilt Square Theme: The Evils of Capitalism
How the Theme Applies to the Novel
Upton Sinclair’s novel The Jungle describes many horrors in early 20th century America. Revulsions that Sinclair thoroughly mentions include the dirtiness and filth that existed in American meatpacking industries, the political corruption and mafias that existed in major American cities, the huge homeless proletariat, and the evil misuses of capitalism. Of these horrors, the one that most surprised and appealed to me was how capitalism was abused by the American aristocracy to steal and feed off the less fortunate social affiliations such as immigrants and African Americans.
Sinclair describes the evils of capitalism in many ways. One way Sinclair demonstrates
…show more content…
Upton Sinclair spends an excess amount of time describing the political corruption in Chicago. Although at first capitalism may seem to have no connection with bought elections and political exploitation, it evidently does under more detailed scrutiny. Millionaire corporation owners like Phil Connors and Mike Scully are the ones described in The Jungle to be involved in shady political business. Correspondingly, the reason why persons like Mike Scully were able to buy elections and continue the favor of political policy is devoutly because of their massive economic gains through capitalism. Additionally, Jurgis expresses, when involved in political corruption, he was tired of fighting over interests that favored the wealthy, and it was not until Jurgis discovered socialism that he felt he was properly represented by a political party. Granted, the buying of city elections and exploiting politics is not capitalism’s fault but its operators. However, it is a clear way if how capitalism can be severely abused to violate the virtues of a country which takes democracy and civil rights extremely …show more content…
Continually across the novel, Sinclair displays the existence of only two social bodies in the American hierarchy: the poor proletariat and the opulent aristocracy. Furthermore, in such a social division the elite, since there were less of them, always teamed together to obtain their interests by consuming the will of the gigantic peasantry class. While the wealthy celebrated in their lucrative mansions, the common folk was subjected to squalid, claustrophobic tenements never fully clothed, fed, or washed. A great example Upton Sinclair supplements is when Jurgis meets Freddie Jones on the streets. In this altercation both of America’s social bodies meet. Jurgis, hardly surviving in his betrayed American dream, constantly moves employers, perpetually works for minimum wage, and begs time to time to get by. On the contrary, Mr. Freddie Jones casually invites poor strangers to his palace, serves them a meal comparative to a premium Thanksgiving feast, and without hesitation hands them $100. Another example of how 20th century capitalism divided the public into two distinctive groups can be explicitly seen through the labor and residential conditions each group experienced. Millions like Jurgis worked in major industry corporations like Brown’s and Durham’s only to be greeted with foul,

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    Sinclair was a true believer in socialism‘s basic idea of the nationalization of natural resources and utilities along with state ownership and an even distribution of wealth. More importantly, he believed in socialism’s classless society of people. His view of capitalism was…

    • 1628 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The Jungle, by Upton Sinclair, is a fictional literary work that illustrates the labor conditions in the Chicago stockyards, describing the harsh realities immigrants faced and exposing the callous side of human nature. The Jungle is a depressing realization of how unregulated capitalistic corporation and monopolies treated human beings as less than human, with complete disregard for the workers' well-being. Throughout the book, Sinclair displays the struggles of an immigrant family in order to expose the failings in American society. Upton Sinclair was a well-known author and “muckraker” journalists in the Progressive Era. The term muckraker is known today as “Investigative Reporting”.…

    • 1117 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    The interwar period between 1919 and 1939 was one of the most interesting and understudied periods for the American working-class in shaping America as we know it today. Lizabeth Cohen’s Making a New Deal draws our attention to workers in the city of Chicago during this period, and their interactions with the modern bastions of the American life, capitalism and democracy. This paper will aim to summarise Cohen’s story of the working-class within the communities of Chicago during this period. The working-class experience of American capitalism and democracy was a new one for many in 1919, particularly as the immigrant population made up the vast majority of the workforce.…

    • 1095 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    “The rich people not only had all the money, they had all the chance to get more; they had all the know-ledge and the power, and so the poor man was down, and he had to stay down.” One of the main characteristics of the jungle is that the powerful (the rich) is powerful thanks to the weak (the poor); the law of the jungle, the law of the strongest. Upton Sinclair calls “The Jungle” the socio-economic reality that the city of Chicago is going through at the beginning of the 20th century. In the jungle, Sinclair dismantles this myth by attacking the foundation of the American dream itself.…

    • 721 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    During the early 20th century, swarms of immigrants began coming to America, in hopes of a better life. They were soon exposed to several forms of corruption--although many did not know of this. This was because most immigrants came from poverty, and did not have a high end education. Many of them did not speak English, and therefore could not exactly comprehend the U.S. government laws, community rules, and the way businesses worked. In The Jungle, Upton Sinclair presents a wide range of corruption involving blacklisting, political scams, and the mishandling of meat.…

    • 377 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    During the 20th century, many groups across the nation were facing problems with the new urban-industrial order. Progressivism was defined as a broad-based response to industrialization and its social byproducts, which were immigration, urban growth, growing corporate power, and widening class divisions. Most progressives were reformers, who strived to make the new urban-industrial order more humane instead of overturning it and believed that most social problems could be solved through study and organized effort. While the reformers reoriented American social thought, novelists and journalists reported corporate wrongdoing, municipal corruption, slum conditions, and industrial abuses. Magazines like McClure’s and Collier’s stirred reform energies with articles exposing urban political corruption and corporate wrongdoing, some magazines later appeared as books.…

    • 702 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Upton Sinclair wrote The Jungle in 1906 during the Progressive Era (1890-1920). In the late nineteenth century and early twentieth century a vast rift between the upper and middle/working class began to develop. As a result of this growing division, a group of activists stood up for the voiceless society. These people were known as “progressives”. The progressives believed that Social Darwinism was immoral and that government should provide solutions to the social and economic problems of the lower class.…

    • 1177 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Upton Sinclair's’ book the Jungle, is based over the Gilded Age in history. In the Gilded Age things did not appear as it seemed. For example the meat packing industry was very disgusting and the bosses hid those types of things from the public. In the story Sinclair writes about a family that are immigrants who are trying to survive in the inner parts of Chicago. The family gets cheated out of everything and nothing rarely ever goes their way.…

    • 796 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    During the turn of the 20th century, the United States transitioned toward production by craftsmanship, to industrial machinery. Although the rate of production grew tremendously, issues between the citizens became observable. The Jungle, a powerful and eye-opening novel by Upton Sinclair, shows how the meat-packing industry ran off corruption and “modern” slave work. The upper class, politicians and factory managers, took charge of the hideous environment the working class labored in. Throughout the story, Jurgis Rudkus, a Lithuanian immigrant, experiences numerous obstacles with his family in the new country.…

    • 1294 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The turn of the 20th century marked the beginning of many opportunities for various types of people and corporations. It became a chance to start one’s life again from a fresh page; whether that be immigrating to a new country or starting a business from the ground. The industrial revolution had just begun in the United States, and it seemed to be a perfect time to get involved with the industrial business. It was almost as if one could easily “strike gold” while in the US. In fact, the blanket of perceived safety could not have been more false.…

    • 1124 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    The jeering crowd roars as they strike. The meat packing industry is appalling; poisoned rats and tuberculosis infected steer are thrown into the quality meat. People call to end these horrendous practices. Upton Sinclair wrote, The Jungle, in response to the alleged horrors and intriguing claims. To prepare himself for informing the world, studied, lived, and breathed in the meat packing industry for several weeks.…

    • 1806 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The Jungle by Upton Sinclair is a book about meat production, and so much more. The Jungle follows the fictional story of Jurgis Rudkus' family, who are Lithuanian immigrants trying to make a living in Chicago. Throughout the book they are exposed to the nauseating work conditions of the Chicago meatpacking industries, corrupt politicians, and many more challenges. Jurgis constantly faces the problems that the American capitalist society has brought upon him and at the end of the book he is convinced that socialism is the solution. The focus that Sinclair wrote for this book is the reveal of the meat packing industry.…

    • 1301 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    “And we shall organize them, we shall drill them, we shall marshal them for the victory! We shall bear down the opposition, we shall sweep if before us—and Chicago will be ours! Chicago will be ours! CHICAGO WILL BE OURS!” Persuading people to accept socialism was Upton Sinclair’s purpose when he wrote The Jungle, a third person narrative story written about a fictional family in the oh-so very realistic world of Chicago.…

    • 880 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Robber Barons Dbq

    • 994 Words
    • 4 Pages

    There has long been a debate no whether the capitalists of the late 19th century to early 20th century (such as Rockefeller, Carnegie, etc.) were “captains of industry” who looked to better the budding country or corrupt “robber barons” who only looked after themselves. One needs to take a good long look back into this time period to uncover the truth of the matter; however, once one does this, it becomes quite apparent that the later of the two is quite factual while the former falls flat on its face. It is quite easy to see that the capitalists who shaped post-civil War industrial America were corrupt robber barons who rode their success of the backs of the poor laborers under them, the robber barons would thrive in the areas of economics,…

    • 994 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    For instance, Roosevelt argued that the rise of industrial capitalism had engaged in illegal activities. Ever since, he was young, he had “a firm commitment to play fair in sports, in business, and in politics” (Shi…

    • 952 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays