Upton Sinclairs The Jungle - Socialism :: Upton Sinclair The Jungle

The Jungle Socialism During the late 1800s and early 1900s hundreds of thousands of European immigrants migrated to the United States of America. They had aspirations of success, prosperity and their make conception of the American Dream. The majority of the immigrants believed that their lives would completely change for the better and the new world would bring nothing simply happiness. Advertisements that appeared in Europe offered a capable future and economic stability to these naive and hopeful people. Jobs with excellent wages and working conditions, prime sanctuary, and other benefits seemed like a chance in a lifetime to these struggling foreigners. Little did these people know that what they would confront would be the complete antithesis of what they dreamed of. The enormous rush of European immigrants encountered a lack of jobs. Those who were aureate enough to find employment wound up in factories, steel mills, or in the meat packing industry. Jurgis Rudkus was one of these disappointed immigrants. A sweeper in slaughter house, he experienced the horrendous conditions which laborers encountered. Along with these nightmarish working conditions, they worked for nominal wages, inflexible and long hours, in an atmosphere where worker safety had no persuasion. Early on, there was no one for these immigrants to turn to, so many suffered immensely. Jurgis would later learn of worker unions and other groups to support the labor force, but the early years of his Americanized life were filled, with sliced fingers, unemployment and overall a depressing and painful "new start." Sinclair, has shown in a dramatic style the hardships and obstacles which Jurgis and fellow workers had to endure. He made the workers sound so helpless and the conditions so gruesome, that the reader almost wants a way out for Jurgis. Sinclairs The Jungle is a "subliminal" form of propaganda for Socialism. At a time in our nations history where the ric h were very wealthy, and the poor were penniless, Sinclairs portrayal of socialism in regards to the laborer is very appealing to a jobless, hungry, destitute man. Sinclairs vision of socialism, wasnt as flawless and beneficial as it seemed.