Within American literature, certain works stand as classics not only for the story contained within their pages, but also for the deeper social and political commentary that they make. Such is the case in Upton Sinclair’s pivotal expose of the American meatpacking industry of the early 1900’s, “The Jungle”. Aside from telling a heart-rendering tale of immigrants trying desperately to patch together a semblance of the American Dream of which they heard so much before leaving their native lands, the work also, beneath the surface, tackles the weightier issues of why progressives and moderate socialists in the early twentieth century were concerned about the power and behavior of corporate of America and how they proposed to deal with the problems they identified and why they chose the solutions they did.
In this paper, an overview of “The Jungle” will be presented, as well as exploration into the underlying sociopolitical currents that drive the work and led to it’s recognition as a classic of American literature.
Overview of “The Jungle”
The major underlying themes of Sinclair’s “The Jungle” can only be fully understood and fairly evaluated after first knowing the plot of the work itself. The book clearly depicts the socio-economic strife and political turpitude that ushered America into the 20th century. While telling the story of Lithuanian immigrants struggling to survive in Chicago, Sinclair illustrates how avarice and ruthless competition were driving forces in the predatory capitalist “jungle” of America at the turn of the 19th century. This radical novel, described as muckraking by President Theodore Roosevelt, was a sounding board for pro-socialist politics (Miraldi).
As “The Jungle” unfolds, drama begins in the back room of a Chicago saloon. The guests are drunk and drained. The prospect of returning to the rigorous labors of the stockyards right after the ceremony leaves them demoralized. Jurgis Rudkus, however, the main character, refuses to succumb to the suffering of the multitudes in Packingtown, a predominantly immigrant community in Chicago. He promises to work harder; he wants to achieve the American dream.
After pooling the family resources, Jurgis is able to leave a dilapidated lodge-house for a modest home (which had hidden costs) where his family would reside. When Jurgis’ father, loses his job and is forced to kickback a third of his paltry salary in order to get a new job working in a dark, damp, “pickle room”, Jurgis begins to lose faith in America, witnesses the dark side of American society, and the resultant flaws in the workforce. Jurgis observes the butchery of pregnant cows and their unborn calves, which are illegally mixed with other carcasses, including those of sick animals dead on arrival to the stock yards, for consumption. He witnesses beatings, graft, and dirty deals.
As winter approaches, Jurgis’ relationship with his wife sours, the pressures of poverty and deprivation escalate, and his father dies. Vexed by the working conditions of Packingtown, Jurgis joins a labor union where he begins to learn English. He develops a cynical attitude towards democracy. Eventually, the deteriorating working conditions, sickness and despair make life too depressing for Jurgis. He discovers that his wife was pressured into sleeping with her boss, and that the second child she is carrying is not his. Jurgis attacks her boss, and lands in jail. His wife dies, his baby dies. He gets released from jail, only to get jailed again, injured. Released from jail a second time, Jurgis becomes a hobo, and then he turns to a life of crime. One day he wanders into a political rally seeking warmth. An evocative orator converts him to socialism and his life takes a turn for the better. Jurgis gets a job as a hotel porter, in a hotel owned by a socialist. The novel ends on election night in 1904 where Chicago learns that the Socialists are on the ascent.
Historical Context of Sinclair’s View of Socialism
During the late 1800’s and early 1900’s hundreds of thousands of European immigrants migrated to the United States of America. They had aspirations of success, prosperity and their own conception of the American Dream. The majority of the immigrants believed that their lives would completely change for the better and the new world would bring nothing but happiness. Advertisements that appeared in Europe offered a bright future and economic stability to these naive and hopeful people. Jobs with excellent wages and working conditions, prime safety, and other benefits seemed like a chance in a lifetime to these struggling foreigners. Little did these people know that what they would confront would be the complete antithesis of what they dreamed of. The enormous rush of European immigrants encountered a lack of jobs.
Those who were lucky enough to find employment wound up in factories, steel mills, or in the meat packing industry (Buhle). Jurgis Rudkus was one of the disappointed immigrants, experiencing the horrendous conditions which laborers encountered Along with these nightmarish working conditions, they worked for nominal wages, inflexible and long hours, in an atmosphere where worker safety had no persuasion. Early on, there was no one for these immigrants to turn to, so many suffered immensely. Jurgis would later learn of worker unions and other groups to support the labor force, but the early years of his Americanized life were filled, with sliced fingers, unemployment and overall a depressing and painful “new start”.
In his work, Sinclair has created Jurgis himself as the sort of malleable workhorse that the greedy capitalists needed to keep the money machine rolling, so to speak. Taking a passage from “The Jungle”, one can apparently see why Jurgis was, from the beginning, akin to a lamb, prime for slaughter:
“Jurgis was like a boy, a boy from the country. He was the sort of man the bosses like to get hold of, the sort they make it a grievance they cannot get hold of. When he was told to go to a certain place, he would go there on the run. When he had nothing to do for the moment, he would stand round fidgeting, dancing, with the overflow of energy that was in him. If he were working in a line of men, the line always moved too slowly for him, and you could pick him out by his impatience and restlessness” (Sinclair, 22).
Sinclair has shown in a dramatic style the hardships and obstacles which Jurgis and fellow workers had to endure. He made the workers sound so helpless and the conditions so gruesome, that the reader almost wants a way out for Jurgis. Sinclair’s The Jungle is a “subliminal” form of propaganda for socialism (Dorn). Sinclair’s portrayal of socialism in regards to the laborer is very appealing to a jobless, hungry, indigent man.
In fairness, however, one should not get the false impression that the socialism that was depicted in “The Jungle” was without flaws. Sinclair’s vision of socialism, wasn’t as flawless and beneficial as it seemed. Although it gave the workers some motivation to work, it was an attempt to marginalize the working class. One must not lose sight, in reading Sinclair’s words that in fact the Marxist theory of communism stemmed from the ideologies displayed by socialism. The masses of the population were controlled by a small elite. Sinclair was a believer in socialism, and Jurgis was a member of the party. But fortunately for today’s working force, the concept and potential threat of socialism was stifled before it could make a permanent mark of American society.
Progressives, Socialists, and the Behavior of Corporate America
Sinclair’s book, as was alluded to earlier, is as much about the sociopolitical climate of America and the misdeeds of corporate greed as it is about the struggles of the human spirit and a tale of the need for people to realize their own destiny.
At the dawn of the 20th century, America was in the face of economic downfall. Laissez Faire Industrialism had been in place and citizens were at the disposal of big business. Poor working conditions and poverty were the norm in a time where Socialism was an irrelevant ideology. Big business was making the government rich. But according to Sinclair, unsafe and repulsive sanitary conditions were at play, putting thousands of innocent Americans and factory workers in danger of death, disease and poverty. Although America had expanded to be the most rapidly industrious nation in the world, few agree that it was worth the expense of its populous’ health and well being.
Americans of the 19th century were supposedly granted freedoms to live and work to provide a family and live the American dream with prosperity and happiness. Yet there were several things missing in this dream, and that was prosperity, happiness and a supportive government. The government was created to assist and provide for the people of America in times of poverty and despair. Yet thousands of Americans went home each day broken and famished only to pay taxes to a government unwilling to compete with big business. As these laborers flocked to the slaughterhouse every morning they were just as susceptible to harm as the pigs themselves. They were used for the sole reason to generate immense profits with little or no care for their suffering, much like the squealing hogs thrown down the conveyor belts to be “capitalized” upon (Goode). Few people ever threatened to pursue going against the packing industries because not only would they risk losing their jobs, but they also feared never being hired anywhere else due to the overpowering unions. People in these jobs knew nothing more than their own trade, so leaving the union would mean unemployment. For the most part employees were unskilled workers with little or no chance of promotion or pay increase. So leaving the plants meant no money and homelessness rather than low money and a residence. In his writing, Sinclair shows how despite people’s best efforts, most found themselves leashed to the grinding poverty of the city slums. The evils of capitalism were brought to the surface and hopefully socialism would take its place. Workers in the slaughterhouses had little or no choice to make changes in their lives when faced by big business. The voices of workers were not often heard in the struggle towards socialism. Not because they agreed with the ways things were handled or how they were treated, but because they constantly lived in fear of losing their jobs. It took the ideas and intelligence of Sinclair to make the workers voices heard, so people would no longer have to worry about hazardous jobs and tainted food.
Conclusion
In retrospect, “The Jungle” was as much about the human spirit as it was a sweeping social and political commentary and cautionary tale. Upton Sinclair was among a swarm of so-called “muckrakers” that erupted during American industrialism. He was among many journalists to expose the wrongs of society and propose ways to fix it. But few muckrakers took their stories as deeply as Sinclair (Derrick). His depiction of the terrible sanitary conditions at one specific meat packing plant in Chicago touched the publics stomach rather that their heart (Klein). Although he certainly wanted to give the public a view from the inside, public uproar was his among lesser expectation. The details regarding the unsanitary and disgusting conditions in meat packing factories appear to be background details of a much larger picture.
The grotesque ways in which the meat was being processed in these plants also relates to the ways in which workers were being treated as well. People working in these plants were about as valuable to the owners as the individual pigs themselves. Although they were not necessarily slaves, they were often foreigners and unskilled workers who had no choice but to work for low wages under poor living conditions. In closing, it should be taken away from this research that the cautions against corporate greed and human deprivation that Sinclair depicts in “The Jungle” are as true today as they were a century ago. As an old adage goes, those who do not learn from history are condemned to repeat it-perhaps wiser words were never said.
Works Cited
Buhle, Paul. The Cultures of Socialism in the United States.” Monthly Review July-Aug. 2002: 1+.
Derrick, Scott. What a Beating Feels Like: Authorship, Dissolution, and Masculinity in Sinclair’s ‘The Jungle.” Studies in American Fiction 23.1 (1995): 85+.
Dorn, Jacob H., ed. Socialism and Christianity in Early 20th Century America. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1998.
Goode, Stephen. “Utopian Sinclair.” Insight on the News 31 July 2000: 24.
Klein, Julia M. “Sinclair Redux: The Jungle Is 100, and a Slew of Scholars Find the Old Radical as Relevant as Ever.”
Miraldi, Robert, ed. The Muckrakers: Evangelical Crusaders. Westport, CT: Praeger Publishers, 2000.
Sinclair, Upton. My Lifetime in Letters. Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 1960.
Sinclair, Upton. The Jungle. Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 1906
