The Jungle is a novel which depicts the unpleasant conditions within which workers had to work in meat packing plants in order to earn a living. It is a description, in the form of a story, of the experiences which Upton Sinclair had while working undercover for six months in an attempt to gather information on an article he was writing. These working conditions are described so vividly that anyone who reads them might become revolted by the conditions in these meatpacking plants. The novel is most realistic, as it follows the life of an immigrant, Jurgis, and his family who comes to America in an attempt to have a better life. In doing so, he ends up working in a meatpacking plant, where the exact opposite of his dreams come to take place. It must be noted that many of the people who ended up working in these plants under sometimes appalling conditions tended to be immigrants and these had no other choice other that to go on doing the same jobs because they had no education and had little knowledge of English. It was therefore difficult for them to recognize the injustices in their lives and in doing so work towards escaping such injustices. It can be said the The Jungle is an attempt by Sinclair to describe the working conditions of the United States according to his socialist views and a way to push the American public into taking action against such conditions, since they are the ones who are the largest beneficiaries of the labor of the immigrants.
The Jungle is basically a political novel whose main purpose is to propagate the socialist view of the ideal America. It is an attempt by Upton Sinclair to show how workers in the industries in the United States worked under bad conditions to earn a living. One of the main themes that can be found in this novel which are an obvious part of the socialist views of Sinclair is that of exploitation. The factory owners and managers exploit their workers in every way possible and treat them more like slaves than as free human beings. Among the most appalling things which the factory managers do is to sexually abuse some of their female workers. This can be seen when Ona, Jurgis’s wife, is raped by her employer, with the latter threatening that she would lose her job if she does not continue giving him sexual favors. Moreover, many of the factory workers have no job security because they can lose their jobs at any moment at the slightest pretext. An example of this sis when Jurgis ends up losing his job because of an injury sustained while working. While this would not, in normal circumstances, get him to lose his job, in Jurgis’ case, it is different because he is not aware of his rights. When it is seen that he will not be able to be as productive as before, he is fired, and this is done without his being provided with any compensation by his employer. While it is the employer’s responsibility to ensure that the workplace is safe for his employees, this is not the case in The Jungle. Although it is the employer’s fault when accidents take place in the workplace, the employer does not take steps to improve the working conditions. Instead, workers who get injured lose their jobs, and the families of those who lose their lives are not compensated.
One of the main themes that are dealt with in this novel is that of the evils brought about by capitalism and the idea that socialism is its cure. For most of his political life, Upton Sinclair was a dedicated socialist whose actions and works tended to upset many of the mainstream Americans who were dedicated capitalists. While Sinclair did not call out for the abolition of capitalism, he advocated for the inclusion of socialism into the American way of life. This would have ensured that there was a balance in the economy, with the people in the lower classes in society being provided with the opportunity for advancement. Throughout The Jungle, Sinclair shows how the family of Jurgis is destroyed by the cruelties that are brought about by capitalism. Most of the disastrous and tragic things that happen to his family are as a result of their lack of a stable financial base through which to support them. Their faith in the so called American Dream is tarnished as the realities of the capitalist ways that are prevalent in America are felt directly. They turn from a family that is full of hope for a better future, to one which gets involved in some of the most abhorrent practices in society. Sinclair’s narrative is one designed to show that capitalism is evil and that the best way to get rid of it is to adopt communism.
In the novel, the American Dream is considered to be just that, a dream and this is because of the fact that despite moving from Lithuania to America in anticipation of having a better life, this does not happen for Jurgis’ family and instead, they end up living in worse conditions than those in their home country. This can be considered to be a parallel of the life which Upton Sinclair’s family lived due to their relative poverty. While both his parents’ families were of aristocratic backgrounds, his father’s family had been ruined during the American Civil War and despite being in America, they had not managed to regain the wealth and prominence that had once been theirs. Instead, Sinclair’s father had to become a salesman in order to make ends meet, something he barely could because of his alcoholism. Sinclair therefore spent some of his childhood with his wealthy maternal family and because of this, experienced both poverty and wealth. In The Jungle, through the portrayal of the tragedies which are encountered by Jurgis and those around him, Sinclair comes to reveal the ugliness that is capitalism, and his belief that the lot of the poor in America has to be improved for the American Dream to finally come true. It is this theme which he used throughout his political career and despite not being able to gain any elective position; he ended up being influential in other matters.
In conclusion, it can be said that The Jungle is an influential novel whose main endeavor was to prove Sinclair’s view that capitalism was an evil practice. Instead, there is the recommendation for the adoption of socialism as the best way of improving the lives of those who have been deprived in society. Sinclair wanted the American public to see the evils which were brought about by the greed and inhumanity of those who practiced capitalism. The unfortunate working conditions that the poor had to undergo everyday of their lives to make their employers wealthier than they already were is a recurring theme in the novel. While this was the novel’s original intention, the public did not come to view it the way Sinclair did and instead, they came to look upon it as a revelation of the unclean environment through which the food they consumed was processed. In the end, The Jungle failed to represent the real intentions of its author and instead, it became a revelation of the food health issues that were prevalent in the United States. The novel was a representation of the political views of Upton Sinclair but it ended up coming into the service of the larger meat processing plants at the expense of the smaller ones.