Capitalism and the American Dream: Analyzing Upton Sinclairs the Jungle - Essay Example

?Capitalism and the American Dream: Analyzing Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle The book, “The Jungle” written by Upton Sinclair has generated much controversy when it was first released in 1906. For many it was a shocking expose on the sordid world of the meatpacking industry and the abysmal working conditions of the meatpackers, who were composed mainly of immigrants desperate for livelihood opportunities in what for them was a completely new frontier. Few saw it for what it was meant to be: a compelling saga of the poverty and hopelessness that attended the lives of the working class immigrants of America from the period spanning the end of the Civil War to the beginning of the First World War. In analyzing the book, I would like to discuss the linkage between capitalism and the immigrant underclass of America during the turn of the century. I argue that the surplus value that sustained the capitalist enterprise of America had relied mainly on the immigrants that produced cheap desperate labor to make sure that the factories of the new world are kept running. I argue further that this situation is not far removed from the situation today, wherein immigrants are also being used to provide cheap agricultural labor in the farms and vineyards, so employers can avoid having to obey proper labor standard laws to citizens. The book is about an immigrant family from Lithuania who arrived in America in search of a better life. The protagonist of the story is Jurgis Rudkus, who came to America with his bride Ona, his father, her stepmother and the stepmother’s children, as well as the stepmother’s brother and Ona’s cousin. They had big dreams for themselves and had believed that they managed to successfully escape the poverty that bedeviled their lives in Lithuania. They soon found out however, that life was not easier in America. They fell into heavy debt and then put in money to buy a house, only to find out that the house is decrepit and run-down. They were also made to pay hidden costs. The father of Jurgis, an old man who was hoping to be able to live off the wages of Jurgis, had to find a job and obtained it through a con-man who siphoned off a third of his income in exchange for finding him the job. Other misfortunes befall the family – including sexual abuse by a predatory employer, prostitution, imprisonment, embezzlement, exposure to criminal elements until Jurgis becomes a criminal himself, alcoholism, political opportunism. Jurgis finds himself from being a loving husband and father, to a grief-ravaged and embittered man, to an exploited worker, to an unfairly imprisoned convict, to a hardened criminal, to an alcoholic, to a union member, to a vagabond, and finally to a socialist who believes that if people heed the call of socialism, “Chicago will be ours”. The most famous misfortune and the one oft-discussed is his experiences in the meatpacking plant, which was fraught with dangers and labor rights violations. The description of the meatpacking plant and its sorry conditions were very graphic and shed light on the plight of the workers whose rights were routinely and wantonly violated. There are two themes running within the text: the American dream and how it has failed scores of immigrants who come to the United States, and second, the evils of Capitalism. The failure or the hollowness of the American dream is apparent from the very start of the text, with the festive but overly-expensive wedding celebration being used as a metaphor to describe a dream that is ornate in appearance but is, upon closer look, empty and will only bring more problems in the future, such as debt. The Lithuanian family initially entered America brimming with hope and promise, believing that America will be their salvation from poverty. The series of unfortunate events and tragedies that befell them have proved this belief to be wrong. The other theme is the indictment of capitalism and it is apparent in the way that the author Sinclair describes how the workers are being abused and how their rights are being violated in the name of profit. What is interesting to explore is the connection between the two themes – how capitalism preys on the immigrant dream in order to sustain itself. The notion of surplus value propounded by Karl Marx, i.e., how the bourgeoisie enriches itself by taking advantage of the surplus value of the labor of the proletariat, can be seen here. The surplus value being spoken here is the value being milked off the immigrants who would be happy to settle for low-paying and hazardous jobs that citizens would not want to do. Hence, capitalism profits from and is enriched by the existence of a desperate mass of working class willing to work for less and for longer. This desperate mass is made up of immigrants who would do anything to be able to achieve the American dream. They believe that these hardships are just initial hardships that can be overcome, but Sinclair’s work shows us how that is not the case. One wrong decision, one decision motivated by decision, leads to another wrong decision. It becomes a series of wrong decisions that create an inextricable web that wounds itself around its prey. The more efficiently that capitalism is able to depress wages, the more it benefits the capitalist enterprise. Poverty therefore, has a functional value – it breeds the kind of desperation that forces people to take any kind of job that is offered, thereby increasing profit margins for the industry. It is interesting to see that this is sustained to this day, albeit no longer in ways as galling and as grotesque as in 1906. We see how despite the lack of jobs for American citizens, illegal immigrants are still being hired by companies that want to obtain extra profit by not having to pay the appropriate wages and not having to confer employee benefits. Despite the recession and the high unemployment rate, illegal immigrant hiring is still prevalent. Hence, problems abound for all parties: these illegal immigrants are exposed to dangers and hazards, the American citizens are kept out of jobs, the country find itself with a big debt problem. Indeed, the book “The Jungle” is a timeless tale with a moral lesson that is as relevant today as it was before. While socialism has its own problems and is not the best prescription, the problems and pitfalls of capitalism must likewise be exposed. It targets the vulnerable and enriches the already wealthy. BIBLIOGRAPHY Sinclair, Upton. (1906). The Jungle. United States: Doubleday, Jabber and Company. Read More