The Jungle: the Appeal of Socialism
The Jungle: The Appeal of Socialism
During the late 1800's and early 1900's hundreds of thousands of
European immigrants migrated to the United States of America. They had aspirations of success, prosperity and their own 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 but happiness. Advertisements that appeared in Europe offered a bright future and economic stability to these naive and hopeful people. Jobs with excellent wages and working conditions, prime safety, 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 lucky enough to find employment wound up in factories, steel mills, or in the meat packing industry. Jurgis Rudkus was one fo these dissapointed 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 obastacles which Jurgis and fellow workers had to endure. He made the workers sound so helpless and the condtions so greusome, that the reader almost wants a way out for Jurgis. Sinclair's The Jungle is a "subliminal" form of propaganda for
Socialism. At a time in our nations history
During the late 1800's and early 1900's hundreds of thousands of
European immigrants migrated to the United States of America. They had aspirations of success, prosperity and their own 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 but happiness. Advertisements that appeared in Europe offered a bright future and economic stability to these naive and hopeful people. Jobs with excellent wages and working conditions, prime safety, 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 lucky enough to find employment wound up in factories, steel mills, or in the meat packing industry. Jurgis Rudkus was one fo these dissapointed 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 obastacles which Jurgis and fellow workers had to endure. He made the workers sound so helpless and the condtions so greusome, that the reader almost wants a way out for Jurgis. Sinclair's The Jungle is a "subliminal" form of propaganda for
Socialism. At a time in our nations history