Life of an Immigrant Explored

Life of an Immigrant Explored in Upton Sinclair's The Jungle

The Jungle provides us with a portrait of the immigrant experience and how it contrasts sharply with the hope of the American Dream. The American Dream is something that inspires millions because the very thought of it inspires within people to do their best and live a good life. This dream is presented to us in a different circumstance in the Jungle with the life of Jurgis and his family. The American Dream is shattered because of the very reasons that make it attractive. In other words, the idea of America being a land where outsiders are welcome and are allowed every opportunity is crushed when Jurgis and his family experience prejudice and exploitation. The notion of finding good, hard work and making a decent living is shattered when poor working conditions are revealed. The dream of living happily ever after is broken with almost every experience Jurgis and his family experience. The idea that being a good person is worth something is destroyed with the overt corruption that exists in Chicago. Finally, the introduction of socialism in the novel destroys the American Dream. The immigrant life is full of strife and hardship and Sinclair illustrates this in the life of Jurgis Rudkus.

Jurgis represents the other immigrants that were drawn to America for the purpose of obtaining a better job, increase their standard of life, own a home, and live a relatively good life. His is guided by a deep sense that hard work and being a good person will lead to money and a certain amount of wealth. However, the land of opportunity for people from all walks of life is one of the biggest hypocrisy that Jurgis and his family experience. Jurgis' initial thoughts that his employer had "taken him under its protection, and had become responsible for his welfare" (Sinclair) fade into reality. Jurgis realizes that extra work was "growing more savage all the time; they were continually inventing new devices to crowd the work on -- it was for all the world like the thumbscrew of the medieval torture chamber" (Sinclair). Here we see that the American Dram is losing its luster. When he injures himself at work, he is offered no compensation because the company doctor established that the "injury was not one that Durham and Company could be held responsible for, and so that was all there was to it" (Sinclair). Jurgis learns that if something sounds too good to be true than it probably is. He soon comes to realize "they were tied to the great packing machine, and tied to it for life" (Sinclair). He wanted to believe in the American Dream but one primary component to that is working and Jurgis experiences trouble at jobs and with jobs to the point that he is drawn to a seedier type of life.

The dream of living happily ever after is plagued with bad luck. Aside from the difficult working conditions that Sinclair lays out for us, Jurgis and his family are still hit with overwhelming situations that take more out of them and farther away from their idea of the dream. Jurgis' repeated prison stays compound the situation in that it always leads to little or no money for the family. When Jurgis discovers that his family could not afford their home and lost it while he was locked up, he thinks of the "sacrifices in the beginning, their three hundred dollars that they had scraped together, all they owned in the world, all that stood between them and starvation!" (Sinclair). Jurgis is filled with grief and despair when thinks of how "they had put their very souls into their payments on that house, they had paid for it with their sweat and tears -- yes, more, with their very lifeblood. " (Sinclair). Perhaps the most dreadful of all things is Ona's death. Her death marks a brand new low for Jurgis. Personal hardship is the backdrop for Jurgis' dream. He is learning that things do not always turn out the way we expect them to turn out. Jurgis is realizing that hard work and a good heart do not always lead toward wealth and a better life.

Jurgis also sees his American Dream die to the ways of socialism. As he begins to learn more about socialism, he gains a different sense of self. He is not shy about it and, in fact, he is very vocal about his beliefs. He becomes more enmeshed with the movement and believes "The whole balance of what the people produced went to heap up the fortunes of these capitalists, to heap, and heap again, and yet again -- and that in spite of the fact that they, and every one about them, lived in unthinkable luxury!" (Sinclair). This mindset sets Jurgis on the way to becoming a socialist through and through. He begins to blame capitalism for everything that is wrong with his life and everyone else's and the sense of belonging empowered him. He reads books, attends lectures, and exposes himself to the warm embrace of socialism. What he does not understand is that the individuality that gave him a sense of purpose and a desire to live is wasted on socialist ideals that tend to make everything equal for everyone thus destroying the will be individual and the desire to achieve.