Free Essays on Jungle

The Jungle Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle is the story of a Lithuanian family that immigrates from their home city in Lithuania to the city of Chicago. The novel begins with the strong description of a wedding in which Ona Lukoszaite and Jurgis Rudkus are united in Holy Matrimony. The two of them then move to Chicago, to live their American dream. Soon after the wedding, Ona and Jurgis have many great debts to pay due to both the wedding, and a large debt that Ona’s father left them after he died. Due to Jurgis’s large size and strong will he found a job in Chicago within only a half an hour of waiting in the unemployment line. Back in the newlywed’s hometown of Lithuania, Ona and Jurgis’ family anticipated a move to America. America uses the image of the â€Å"American Dream† to lure immigrants to this land of opportunity. The family desperately desires higher wages and true freedom. For months and months, Jurgis works very hard to pay for the families travel to Ona and Jurgis’ new hometown, Chicago. When the family finally makes it to America, their funds are very low. They met with a well off man named Jokubas Szedvilas who placed the family in a run down youth hostel. Jokubas takes the family to the meatpacking factory. He makes jokes about the sanitation of the operation (due only to the lack of quality of the meat). The family finds an advertisement for a housing complex that is very cheap. They talk to a real estate agent and they go see the housing complex. The houses aren’t as big and luxurious as they are pictured in the advertisement, but the price is right. The real estate agent swindles them, and they are pulled into the contract. Sinclair emphasizes the corruption of upper class society during this era. Jurgis’s father, Dede Antanas, is promised a job by a grubby worker, but only if he pays that worker one third of his wages. He takes the job despite the disgusting working co... Free Essays on Jungle Free Essays on Jungle THE JUNGLE A boss according to Webster’s Dictionary is one who has authority over another. Bosses exist and have existed throughout all of history. Bosses managed the slaves of America. In THE JUNGLE bosses directed the lives, work, and politics of Packingtown and bosses manage labor today. The behavior of bosses over time has varied and varies according to their own personal natures, the character of their own employers and the regulatory systems set in place to control them. Certainly today our ‘bosses‘ are controlled in behavior by multiple government regulations limiting hours, sexual interactions, hiring and firing practices, health care, wages etc. Throughout history bosses have been oppressive, indifferent, or, even sometimes humane. Upton Sinclair’s Packingtown bosses driven by wealthy industrialists evidenced some of the worst behaviors of men managing other men. It was felt that even the slaves of the South were often better treated than the ‘wage slaves’ of the North. Sadly abuse of the ‘wage slave’ was not limited to men but included women, the very few that lived to be elderly, and even young children. Bosses manipulated women in age old sexual harrassment forcing them to give in to demands against their moral standards. The goal, of course, for the boss was financial gain for his employer – the wealthy industrialist of Packingtown, Chicago. In Packingtown, the labor force was composed mainly of new immigrants who were struggling with language, culture, and poverty. These people were targeted for many of the abuses designed to exact the greatest financial rewards for the meat packing industry. In his book, Sinclair also details the horrifying abuse of processing the product which actually touched the sensitivities of the American people more than the abuses of the labor force. In any case, this paper addresses the treatment and effects of labor pr... Free Essays on Jungle The Jungle Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle is the story of a Lithuanian family that immigrates from their home city in Lithuania to the city of Chicago. The novel begins with the strong description of a wedding in which Ona Lukoszaite and Jurgis Rudkus are united in Holy Matrimony. The two of them then move to Chicago, to live their American dream. Soon after the wedding, Ona and Jurgis have many great debts to pay due to both the wedding, and a large debt that Ona’s father left them after he died. Due to Jurgis’s large size and strong will he found a job in Chicago within only a half an hour of waiting in the unemployment line. Back in the newlywed’s hometown of Lithuania, Ona and Jurgis’ family anticipated a move to America. America uses the image of the â€Å"American Dream† to lure immigrants to this land of opportunity. The family desperately desires higher wages and true freedom. For months and months, Jurgis works very hard to pay for the families travel to Ona and Jurgis’ new hometown, Chicago. When the family finally makes it to America, their funds are very low. They met with a well off man named Jokubas Szedvilas who placed the family in a run down youth hostel. Jokubas takes the family to the meatpacking factory. He makes jokes about the sanitation of the operation (due only to the lack of quality of the meat). The family finds an advertisement for a housing complex that is very cheap. They talk to a real estate agent and they go see the housing complex. The houses aren’t as big and luxurious as they are pictured in the advertisement, but the price is right. The real estate agent swindles them, and they are pulled into the contract. Sinclair emphasizes the corruption of upper class society during this era. Jurgis’s father, Dede Antanas, is promised a job by a grubby worker, but only if he pays that worker one third of his wages. He takes the job despite the disgusting working co...