Upton Sinclair

Though I enjoyed reading the novel The Jungle by Upton Sinclair, I wish it would not have been so long and depressing. Page after page revealed the pain and suffereing of the innocent immigrants at the hand of the system of American Capitalism. The novel could have not revealed all these details over and over again. However, there is something to be said about these details—they are probably not exaggerated. I liked the fact that most of the novel was based on true events of migrant workers in America. There are many themes in the novel that are worth discussing, especially promotion of Marxist ideals throughout. The workers have no rights; they work extensively and are not compensated well for their work. However, they continue to live in America because they would have a tough life in their native country as well. The ending of the novel is particularly Marxist since Jurgis eventually joins the commnunist party because that is the only way to get out of his struggle for life; this party has various rallies symbolizing the rising of the working class. Jurgis had tried to work as an honest man, but the system dehumanized and demoralized him. He finally went to become a part of organized crime. The varius stages of his life—his honest work, loss of Ona, loss of his child, and loss of family and finances are examples of critiques of capitalism.

The aspect I found most interesting is the fact atht people in the novel are just seen as machines—and sometimes even lower than machines. For example, repeatedly throughout the book, the language suggests that the people work for the machines, not even people. This symbolizes working classes working for the state apparatus in a capitalist economy and being completely destroyed—mind and body. The only time Jurgis was truly happy was when he lived as a nomad, not working for a machine. During this time, he also found happiness because he was cheating the system. As long as he obeyed the capitalist system, he was living in misery. Jurgis was not always the best husband/primary caregiver of the family as he abandoned Ona and the others, but it could be argued that his continual work in a capitalist society made him this way.