The Jungle

The Rudkus family arrived from Lithuania to find Chicago as a city in which justice and

honor, women's bodies and men's souls, were for sale in the marketplace, and human beings

writhed and fought and fell upon each other like wolves in the pit, in which lusts were

raging fires, and men were fuel, and humanity was festering and stewing and wallowing in

its own corruption. (Pg.165) The city, during the time span of the novel, was truly a

jungle-like society in which Upton Sinclair found much fault and great room for

improvement. Sinclair perceived the problem in American society to be the reign of

capitalism. In The Jungle, he presented the reader with the Rudkus family; who

encountered a great deal of strife and anguish, through which the evils of American

capitalism were portrayed. Upton Sinclair strongly believed in the power of the Socialist

party as means of reform, so that the working class would finally have a fair chance of

survival against the harsh realms of society. By havocking America's supposed capitalist

induced problems upon Jurgis and his family, Upton Sinclair used The Jungle as means of

socialist promotional propaganda.

The Rudkus family met myriads of horrific occurrences during their struggle in Chicago.

The time when the family came to the United States was a period of appalling conditions

for the working class. At this phase of history there were practically no workplace

safety regulations at all. Employers were free to dictate work conditions as they saw fit

for their own personal welfare. Nor were there social safety nets such as workman's

compensation, welfare, or unemployment insurance. Also, if a person was seriously injured

on the job to the point that he was prevented from working, he was simply out of work

without any tolerance of the injured inquiring of his job being held during recovery.

Courts at this time were solidly pro-business, and not receptive to worker's claims of

employer responsibility for workplace accidents.

Jurgis and his family were faced with many predicaments related to these poor

surroundings and circumstances. The family hastily saw that they must enter the

competition forced upon them in a social Darwinist fashion. When he first arrived in

Packingtown, Jurgis found work quickly in the meat packing industry because of his

strong, young stature. As the years went by, however, and he grew plagued with injuries

and financial troubles, Jurgis found work to be evermore difficult to obtain and hold.

The social system cracked down on the family and offered nowhere for the Rudkus' to turn

for help.

Not only did the family stumble upon difficulties in their workplaces, but in basic

living conditions as well. Jurgis and his family witnessed such atrocities, as baby

Antanas tragically drowning in the unpaved roads, devastating financial loss through

misinformation concerning the purchase and custody of their house, and unsanitary meat

packed and sold for regular consumption.

Such incredible pandemonium was involved with virtually all of the Rudkus family's daily

activities and never ceased to cause anxiety and worry in their overburdened lives. This

desolation drove family members to radical attempts at survival and hope for some means

of liberation from their atrocious new lives in America. At first, Jurgis ran away from

it all, pursuing the life of a free man setting off cross-country. Marija turned to

prostitution, after Jurgis fled from them, as means of making end meat for the family.

Ona was convinced that she would cause the family's demise without her cooperation in

Conner's crude sexual demands. Children of the family set out to work instead of gaining

the vital education that they were so deserving and needy of. Also, the elderly Dede

Antanas set off to work despite his weak physical state.

Jurgis grew steadily more tired as he aged in experience and years. He once thought to

himself in a state of great misfortune and suffering, It is a case of us or the other

fellow. In these realms and others, nothing is counted but brutal might, an order devised

by those who possessed it for the subjugation of those who did not. (Pg.229) Luckily,

Jurgis found himself in the territory of a Socialist convention. He was delightfully

enlightened with the ideas the speaker conveyed to Jurgis in his energetic and compelling

presentation. The socialist movement seemed to provide answers for practically all of the

problems which Jurgis and his family had faced and struggled against in their strife for

survival in America.

The socialists saw two major problems forced upon humanity that were caused by capitalist

America. These were greed and ruthless competition. Because society had its base in money

and class, people did anything in their power to overcome another