Cultural Transformations in The Jungle - Book Report/Review Example

Cultural Transformations in “The Jungle Compulsion of Circumstances Introduction Upton Sinclair’s novel “the Jungle” deals with such plot and contexts of American history that it necessarily draws a flux of changes and transformations which takes place in the socio-political and cultural background of the US society. The novel has a lot to do with the transformational concerns during the turbulent period which ranges from the end of the Reconstruction to around the year 1910. These are the changes that are contributed to by the rise of the metropolis, the development of a national economy and, to a crucial extent, by the industrial revolution-viewed as the feverish mechanization of human life- arousing deep tensions and turbulences in the sociopolitical culture of the American society around 1890s. In the context of the novel “the Jungle” one may ask the question whether the transformations in the culture of the Lithuanian Immigrant will suffice the cultural transformations of the US society. But while asking the question one has to bear in mind the fact that the novel presents a context of American culture where the socio-political variables of the US society allow the other culture to be assimilated and to be fused with various cultures of the globe to prepare more of a global culture. Consequently the trait of the transformation of the Jurgis family in particular and the Lithuanian culture in particular and its assimilations with the US culture serves the prototype of the cultural transformations in the US society. Transformations in the Immigrant Lithuanian Culture The cultural transformations, evident in the novel, have a crucial concern with the migration of a great number of Lithuanians together with the immigrants from the Southeastern Europe to America around the late 19th century. Sinclair is cautious enough not to violate the propriety of the interactions among the cultures while fictionalizing them in his novel. In the beginning chapters of the novel Sinclair depicts the adaptation process of the Lithuanian immigrants to the industrial environment of America. This process of adaptations is viewed through the struggle of the Jurgis family to preserve their cultures and the compulsion to assimilate their culture in new forms in the industrial context the lethargy of which is best characterized in Sinclair’s speech, “This is no fairy story and no joke; the meat would be shoveled into carts, and the man who did the shoveling would not trouble to lift out a rat even when he saw one--there were things that went into the sausage in comparison with which a poisoned rat was a tidbit” .1 Three Phases of the Transformation of Culture An in-depth analysis of the cultural transformations is bound to trace several variables and phases that are related with both of the cultural background of Lithuania and the stockyards of Chicago and America, in general. In the first place Lithuanian Culture is put into contrast with the harsh and hostile features of a mechanized Chicago society. Apparently the Lithuanian’s dodged attempts to preserve their cultures and values come in the next place and eventually face the adversity of their steps. Then finally they are forced to adapt themselves and their culture to the changed circumstances. These adaptations necessarily yield into new cultural forms that are capable of surviving in the hostile environment of Industrialization. Transformations in the Wedding Culture The attempts of the Lithuanians to preserve their culture are evident through out the whole novel. But in the beginning of the novel the marital culture and other cultural values that are observed in an exuberant environment, are livelier than any other part of the novel. These wedding customs of the Lithuanians have had to go through the inevitable transformations and have to adapt themselves to the changed circumstances of Chicago. Throughout the first six chapters the Lithuanian marital customs such as the matchmaker episode, wedding ceremony, wedding feast, very often accompanied by music, wedding songs, dances etc seem to exist in more or less modified forms. As Suk Bong Suh says, “Lithuanians seem to have preserved much of these traditional wedding customs in America, though in somewhat modified form. Among others, the detailed descriptions of the wedding feast, veselija, show graphically to what extent they tried to preserve their old customs in a new environment”.2 Being the members of the agrarian society the Lithuanian wedding tradition includes serving abundant foods and drinks during the marriage ceremony. As Sinclair remarks, “It was one of the laws of the veselija that no one goes hungry, and, while a rule made in the forests of Lithuania is hard to apply in the stockyards district of Chicago, with its quarter of a million inhabitants, still they did their best, and the children who ran in from the street, and even the dogs, went out again happier"3. But this tradition soon proves to be extravagance in the different circumstances of Chicago. In order to maintain the tradition the Jurgis family has to run into debt of one hundred dollar. One thing is remarkable that the new Lithuanian generation is more prone to embrace and adapt to the adversary of the novel circumstances of Chicago. For example Jurgis and Ona decide to cut the costly wedding feast. But the response of Ona’s stepmother is: “What! She would cry. To be married on the roadside like a parcel of beggars! No! No!" 4. Though the wedding is performed with the feast, it finally turns into a struggle for the old to defend the remnant of their culture, as the narrator notes, “Bit by bit these poor people have given up everything else; but to this day they cling with all their power of their souls — they cannot give up the veselija. To do that would mean, not merely to be defeated, but to acknowledge defeat — and the difference between these two things is what keeps the world going"5. Cultural Bias of Young Lithuanian Generation to Americanism Another transformation that takes place in immigrant Lithuanian culture is the trend of the young generation to the new fashion of America. There is a significant rift between the reactions of the Old and the young generations. The young generation is more embracive to the latest American fashion and sentiments. But the aged generation plays a reactionary role to any change in the existing traditional culture. Especially the young girls put an extra “importance upon the possession of a fashionable hat that brings girls of all classes and all nations to one level." 6 They are very cautious about their dress and speech while their parents adhere to their old tone and fashion. These conflicts between the old and the new ones are vivid in the following line, “Of these older people many wear clothing reminiscent in some detail of home — an embroidered waistcoat or stomacher, or a gaily…… the young….to speak English and to affect the latest style of clothing. The girls wear ready-made dresses or shirtwaist …… some move with grave dignity” 7. Changes in Traditional Funeral System The trend of change within the old Lithuanian traditions in most cases is forced to adapt to the financial crunches that the family faces in the context of industry based society of Chicago. At the death of Kristoforas the Elzbieta adheres to the traditional funeral customs. She manages the traditional funerals for every family at their death in spite of the great financial difficulties. In this regard the younger ones are more practical to take their decisions. This practicality is evident in Jurgis’s decision to their child by the city as they cannot afford money for the funeral. Elzbieta urgently begs money from her neighbors for the dead to have “a mass and a hearse with white plumes on it, and a tiny plot in a graveyard with a wooden cross to mark the place” 8 (Sinclair 151). Her adherences to the traditional customs do not necessarily mean that she is ignorant of the financial crisis of the family. She tries to solve any difficult situation which the family is caught in. Conclusion Indeed the conflicts between the past cultural values of the Jurgis family and the circumstance-driven cultural transformations make the best part of the novel. The main stream of transformations of culture in the novel lies in the thread how the exuberant and exotic spirit of Lithuanian culture yields to the lethargy of concrete jungle of an industrial society. As Suh says, “Probably the most striking historical touch is the opening chapter in which he describes the veselija, the wedding celebration, of the main hero, Jurgis Rudkus, and his bride, Ona Lukoszaite” 9. The exuberant starting of the people of a particular culture in the lifeless trend in the industrialized society and the process of its tragic dying out appears to bewilder one who is unaware of the pressing impacts of the cultural transformations in the society. Works Cited Sinclair, Upton. The Jungle. New York: Doubleday, Page & Co., 1906. Suh, S. Bong. “Lithunian Wedding Traditions in Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle”. Lituanus. 33 (1), 1987. 18 Feb, 2008. Read More