Loren Jewkes
Myers Period 5 College Prep
Literary Analysis #4
29 February 2012
The Jungle: A Socialist’s Depiction of 1900 Chicago
The turn of the twentieth century is a time of corruption and greed. H. G. Wells illustrates the social and political climate when he writes, “The Social Contract is nothing more or less than a vast conspiracy of human beings to lie and humbug themselves and one another of the general Good. Lies are the mortar that bind the savage individual man into the social masonry.” Many political reformists emerge during the era, all trying to solve certain problems. Most reformists focus on one or two issues, women’s suffrage for instance, or larger goals such as African-American civil rights. A select few choose to focus on all problems in the country with a complete rewriting of the United States constitution. Upton Sinclair was one of these reformists. He strives to first reform the country, and then the fundamental writing of the constitution. Upton Sinclair’s realist approach and socialism based depiction of the meatpacking industry produces dreary, hopeless, cogent, and corrupt imagery.
Sinclair is a master of dreary imagery and depiction. He describes the conditions of the animals and the process of their holding when he writes:
Sinclair is a master of dreary imagery and depiction. He describes the conditions of the animals and the process of their holding when he writes:
The place where the cattle were driven to be weighed, upon a great scale that would weigh a hundred thousand pounds at once and record it automatically. It was near to the east entrance that they stood, and all along this east side of the yards ran the railroad tracks, into which the cars were run, loaded with cattle. All night long this had been going on, and now the pens were full; by tonight they would all be empty, and the same thing would be done again (Sinclair 37).
The unsanitary conditions and overwhelming size of the holding area is shocking. The enormous amount of cattle going through the stockyards every day greatly increases the risk of disease that can spread through the cattle until the yards are cleaned. The realistic picture Sinclair paints of the conditions cattle are put through in Chicago is frank and dreary. He projects a scene of lackluster suffering to readers of The Jungle. The cruelty to both animals and workers alike portrayed by Sinclair is shocking and negative. To arouse compassion and encourage social reform, Sinclair depicts the poor Lithuanian immigrants as excessively virtuous. He seems to have created such a dreary setting for the characters to contrast with the purity of the characters. Seemingly convinced that, if his readers would approve of their moral character, the stark contrasts would help them sympathize with their plight; the readers would then by extension approve of Sinclair’s socialist pressures.
The characters in The Jungle endure hopeless working conditions. “There are able-bodied men here who work from early morning until late at night, in ice-cold cellars with a quarter of an inch of water on the floor--men who for six or seven months in the year never see the sunlight from Sunday afternoon till the next Sunday morning -- and who cannot earn three hundred dollars in a year” (Sinclair 14). These terrible, soul-sucking conditions show the inhumanity and real dangers workers face. Jurgis is a hardworking man and his work ethic is admirable, but no man can overcome the hopeless position he has placed himself into. “There are little children here, scarce in their teens, who can hardly see the top of the work benches--whose parents have lied to get them their places--and who do not make the half of three hundred dollars a year, and perhaps not even the third of it” (Sinclair 14). Even children are working hard hours for little pay just to survive at the expense of their education and health. Without a good education they are unable to escape their situation, and thus reinforces the poverty cycle. This fact plays directly into Sinclair’s view of why socialism is necessary for the United States. Sinclair believes the government needs to step in to save those who are trapped in the cycle of industrial work. His socialist tenets and realistic portrayals of the meatpacking industry promote the hopelessness that his characters, and workers of the time, feel.
Sinclair’s cogent arguments are a vital part of The Jungle in that they allow for more than just an emotional plea. His use of realistic, clear, and logical points shows that he not only aims to please sympathetic individuals, but also the skeptics in the United States. When Sinclair writes “The workers were dependent upon a job to exist from day to day, and so they bid against each other, and no man could get more than the lowest man would consent to work for ” (356) he is showcasing the potential problems of competition in the free market. Fundamentally, he is saying that the people of Chicago are locked into a life-and-death struggle with poverty. Competition, as far as Sinclair is concerned, is the ability of the wage-earner to sell himself: his time, skills, and working potential. Those men on top that are exploiting the workers see things differently, namely as a tool for dominance; with the combination of their forces, those in power have an unbreakable hold on the working class. Thus, those poverty stricken characters are stuck in an inescapable cycle. Sinclair’s tact in presenting his case is admirable and well thought out as he presents both an emotional and cogent plea to his literary following.
Sinclair writes The Jungle to eliminate corruption; ‘upgrading’ the country from a capitalist system to a socialist government is able to solve the corruption problems of the day: including labor and human rights violations. Sinclair aims to convert the working class to socialism, but fails, instead hitting them “in the stomach” rather than his desired target, “the heart” (294). Sinclair’s socialist tenets play a large role in the writing of The Jungle; he describes “the physical hardships” and the “constant strain upon their minds” (Sinclair 113). He also states that they were “not living” and were “scarcely even existing” (Sinclair 114). He shows his socialist beliefs when he asks, “when people did their best, ought they not to be able to keep alive?" (Sinclair 114). Sinclair’s ideals come into play throughout the book, however, they are strongest when he describes the ultimate goal of the movement. “We shall bear down the opposition, we shall sweep it before us--and Chicago will be ours! Chicago will be ours! CHICAGO WILL BE OURS!" (Sinclair 396). The last few lines of The Jungle are powerful and convey a sense of inevitability. They show Sinclair’s true motivation for writing the book. His reasons for writing it - exposing corruption and promoting socialism - are misguided, but the power and skill he uses are masterfully and tastefully implemented.
The realistic and socialist foundation Upton Sinclair uses to depict the meatpacking industry produces dreary, hopeless, cogent, and corrupt imagery. He creates his characters to show that the free market and capitalist ideals of the United States is flawed and corrupt. By placing them into a real situation, which many factory workers face daily, he hopes to soften the hearts of the citizenry. He lays out many of the days problems focusing mostly upon “the physical hardships,” (Sinclair 114) but also spending an incredible amount of time on the soul-sucking emotional effects. His compassion toward those suffering is both a warmhearted and humane gesture. As Sinclair truly believes that socialism will solve all of the worlds problems, his choice to focus on the working class to promote socialism is both a logical and noble goal.
