...In The Jungle, Jurgis Rudkis is a man who leaves his homeland of Lithuania to pursue the American Dream and all it might offer him, his fiancé Ona and her family. Along the way he and his immigrant family face horrendous living and working conditions, cruelty and unimaginable heartache. Jurgis values and morals are in direct opposition with the capitalist society he encounters. These oppositions and the harsh living and working conditions change him and cloud his judgment, but the cruelest irony is that life in America robs him of his most treasured possession: Ona’s love. To better understand why Jurgis is challenged by living in America, we need to look at his past and history with his intended bride, Ona. He was a big, strong country boy with broad shoulders and giant hands. Jurgis was raised in “the midst of the wilderness” (Sinclair 30) in Lithuania, a decedent from generations of peasant class. When he saw tiny,...
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...very different standards and expectations when they read a novel. One character from a modern novel may not be very compelling to someone from one hundred years ago, but Jurgis, the main character of The Jungle, has characteristics that appeal to such a reader. His virtues and beliefs are examples of what Americans back then admired, and those admirable and relatable qualities help Sinclair to persuade the reader into considering socialism. The first and most relatable trait of Jurgis is his place in society. “...they had come to be unskilled laborers in Packingtown.” His status as just another common and poor laborer makes him more appealing to the average reader since the likelihood of the reader being a commoner is much higher than that of a wealthy person. Relatable characters tend to stand out...
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...Jungle by Upton Sinclair. Jurgis Rudkus, the main character of the novel, has this particular trait. He is not entirely bad or good and this is known as being ambiguous. The Jungle is largely based on Jurgis and his struggles through life and how he changed to fit the situations as they arrised. He is a kind loving man but as he learns the hardships of his new life he faces his fair share of demons and struggles to remain the caring man he came to America as. Throughout the story, Jurgis is seen as hard-working, honest and proud man which are all desirable traits. In the beginning of the story Jurgis and his family come to America in hopes of getting rich. Jurgis is an honest working man willing to give everything he has to support his family. For...
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...Judicial, legislation, and executive, all branches of government, congress and the senate, all able to send people to jail, hurt them, yet also save them. To pass a law helping healthcare or the homeless only takes majority vote and an “OK” from the president. To stop a construction of a pipeline that could damage large amounts of water only takes one man… but it does not happen. Rich people contain convenience that the poor may never be able to acquire. They use their power as a tool, but not for the right reasons, they seek to benefit themselves. The Jungle, by Upton Sinclair tells the story of Jurgis, a Lithuanian man, and his experiences after moving to America. He came to the country to find hope and happiness among wealth in order to...
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...Megan McQuade US History 2 Summer Packet August 25 2017 Jurgis Rudkus and Ona Lukoszaite recently have immigrated from lithuania to chicago. They held their wedding feast in packingtown chicago because they want to have a better life, but where they move to is dangerous and filthy place to live and it's hard to find work there. The married couple discover that they are more than one hundred dollars in debt with a saloon keeper. Where they're from they have a custom that wedding guests leave money to cover the cost but in america that is not how weddings are done. Therefore believing in the american dream Jurgens dedicates himself to work harder and to make more money....
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...The cruel economic system in The Jungle led Jurgis and others to a life of oppression and injustice. The corruption of capitalism affects everyone around it and eventually leads every character to destruction. From Jurgis and Ona to the bad conditions of the city, the industry set up is detrimental in more ways than not. Upton Sinclair portrays the evils of capitalism throughout the book as the characters’ motives become distorted. The government system causes calamity to run all throughout Packingtown. Packingtown is a city filled with crime and lawlessness, caused by the inadequate system set up by the the people in authority. “That was their law, that was their justice! Jurgis stood upright, trembling with passion,” (167). For an example,...
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...immigrants hailed from Eastern European countries such as Russia, Hungary, Italy, and Lithuania. Unlike the immigrants of the past who came to America educated and with financial resources, this new group of immigrants came to America in search of jobs, political freedom, and to escape the mass poverty in Europe. This new group of immigrants were often poor and uneducated and were likely considered peasants in their own countries. Jurgis Rudkus, a fictionalized character in Upton Sinclair's novel, The Jungle is an example of such a person. Jurgis is from Lithuania and comes to America in search of the American dream. At the beginning of the novel Jurgis comes to America as any other typical European immigrant. He dreams of America as being a land where a man with little can rise through the ranks and ultimately become a man with wealth and prosperity. Jurgis quickly realizes that industrial America is a land of heartache, where a willing man is exploited and used as energy to fuel the never ending industrial machine. At the end of the novel Jurgis learns that the great land of America has its limitations, but at a cost as he loses his wife and child and spends stints in jail for trying to defy the machine. Thus, the novel, The Jungle exemplifies how immigrants from Southern and Eastern Europe in the early 1900s could not fully realize and achieve the American dream no matter how hard they toiled and worked in the brutal American factories of the time. A jungle is an area...
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...retailer in existence. Or you could work in a factory, earning a living with your hands. In many ways capitalism is seen as a great system. The people who work hard, usually reap the rewards of their labor. In the novel The Jungle by Upton Sinclair we follow the story of a Lithuanian immigrant Jurgis, and his family, on their struggles in the early nineteenth century America. Jurgis starts to feel like an outcast in this strange new place. The economic system of capitalism makes Jurgis feel...
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...of processing plant, where just the solid survive and individuals act and get treated like creatures. The principle character Jurgis Rudkus is Lithuanian and gets pushed around by the framework. He begins off at a low point and goes into an existence of wrongdoing. At that point he is spared by turning into a communist. this novel exhibit how organizations controlled individuals' lives and how heaps of men were voracious. Upton Sinclair utilizes the life...
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...The Jungle The story begins with the traditional Lithuanian wedding of Jurgis and his sixteen year old bride, Ona. The wedding is one that they can barely afford, and sets the backdrop for the changes that they are just beginning to encounter in their new country. Immigrants with peasant backgrounds had begun to arrive in the United States during the late 1890's from places such as Ireland, Poland, Italy, and Lithuania . These people were ill equipped to deal with the harsh realities of urban living in America at the time. In his book Sinclair shows how capitalism creates pressures that undermine the traditional family life, cultural ties, and moral values that these immigrants had brought with them. With "literally not a month's wages between them and starvation" workingmen are under pressure to abandon their families, woman must sometimes choose between starvation and prostitution. Children are forced to work rather then attend school, just to keep starvation away for one more day. The Socialist Party of America was founded in 1901, and for over a decade after that saw enormous growth, by 1912 they had over 1,200 elected public officials in the country, and during the election of that year had very good election results by their candidate Eugene Debs for President (Dickstein). The growth of the Socialist movement primarily took place in the vast heartland of the United States, as it was undergoing the strains of industrialization. The roots of this movement were based...
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...to them, when there are those with the power who are unwilling to change it? The flaws of the system caused a domino effect that would take much effort to put a halt on. Upton Sinclair’s book, The Jungle, describes how alcoholism, poverty, and people in positions of authority had a negative impact on the lives of immigrants. Alcoholism is an addiction to the consumption of alcoholic liquor or the mental illness and compulsive behavior resulting from alcohol dependency. This type of behavior and dependency is observed throughout The Jungle and three examples will be given for each of the three main characters, Ona, Jurgis, and Marija, that shows the negative impact of alcoholism on each individual. Many examples of alcoholism were shown to the reader, that had a bad effect; on Jurgis in particular. One good example of the effects of alcohol, occurs when Jurgis runs off to the saloons, with the children’s hard earned money, after the death of Ona. He spends every penny on alcoholic beverages. The...
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...Marija is courted by Tamoszius, a likable violinist, but the couple is never able to marry because they never have enough money to hold a wedding. Marija’s factory closes down and she loses her job. Distressed about the terrible conditions of his family members’ lives, Jurgis joins a union and slowly begins to understand the web of political corruption and bribery that makes Packingtown run. Hoping to improve his lot, Jurgis begins trying to learn English. Marija regains her job, but she is fired when she complains about being cheated out of some of her pay. Ona is now pregnant, and her job has become increasingly difficult for her. Her supervisor, Miss Henderson, oversees a prostitution ring, and most of the other girls at the factory are made to be prostitutes. Ona gives birth to a healthy boy, whom she and Jurgis name Antanas after Jurgis’s late father, but she is forced to return to work only seven days...
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...The American Dream If you were about to lose everything you ever owned or had what would you do? Upton Sinclair wrote the Jungle, it shows the struggles of Jurgis and his family that moved from Lithuanian to America to live the American dream. Ron Howard wrote the Cinderella Man, it shows James Braddock a boxer that struggles to make it in the depression. It shows the similar struggles between these two titans. A Lithuanian man named Jurgis Rudkus a tall, strong and very well completed man came to Chicago with a family of five looking to live the American dream (Sinclair 8). He had no problem with finding jobs because he was young and energetic with lots of enthusiasm (Sinclair 8). He believed hard work and determination would gain his boss’s attention. A similar story happened with James Brakkock but he was not an immigrant, he was a boxer that lived in New Jersey with two kids and a wife. He also believed that working hard would lead him to success. Jurgis and James are alike in many different ways because they were both tall, naïve, and enthusiastic. Then everything changes for them both....
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...All that day and night the family was half-crazed with fear that Ona and the boy had lost their places; and in the morning they set out earlier than ever, after the little fellow had been beaten with a stick by Jurgis.” Jurgis’s treatment towards Stanislovas is much different from his affection toward Ona. Although the family needs as much money as possible, Stanislovas is still pretty young and should be able to heal...
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...follows a young Lithuanian, Jurgis, his newly wed wife, Ona, and the rest of his Slavic family. They immigrate to Chicago and a place called Packingtown, where the only work to be found there is in the cruel, merciless machinery inside the meat and canning factories. Jurgis finds himself quickly in debt without the pay he needs for his family and him; his deprivation of money coming from the lack of pay he’s getting from the painful factories he works in. After losing some of his loved ones to the diseases and terrible treatment of the workers, and the citizens no less, Jurgis and Ona find themselves struggling for survival, and Jurgis finds himself in jail after assaulting his wife’s boss (for raping Ona). The agony eats at him in his thirty days of imprisonment, only to find that his family has lost the house and is living deeply in poverty. What’s worse- his second son is stillborn to his wife who dies giving birth. With the loss of Ona, Jurgis goes into a dark depression, especially with him fighting to find another job. His only joy in his world is his baby son, Antanas, who dies from drowning about a year later. Having lost his only son and desperately trying to find a job, for he was blacklisted, Jurgis gives up and decides to “hobo it” as he hitches a ride and travels the rest of the city. From there, he finds himself begging and stealing to survive, and again falls behind bars for assaulting a bartender. This being the hardest part of his life, Jurgis comes to the conclusion...
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