The Role Of Immigrants In The Jungle
The immigration experience in the early 20th century was much different than any of the immigrants expected. Many immigrants expected America to be very nice and clean, with extremely kind people and exceptional job opportunities. When they arrived, they found America to be completely different from what they had envisioned. In The Jungle, Lithuanian immigrants One and Jurgis travel to America with their families to havfe their wedding and find work. At their wedding they encounter the first of many unpleasant U.S. citizens. The saloon owner gives them a keg of beer from a different night that is only half full although he claims it is full and fresh. People took every opportunity they could to take advantage of innocent immigrants who did not know any better. Immigrants are taken advantage of in numerous ways. The most common way is being given much lower wages than the average American citizen. Immigrants today make up eleven percent of all United States residents, and fourteen percent of all workers in
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the country(urban.org). Since there is sucha small amount of them, they are easy to target. They make up twenty percent of all low-wage workers; in addition, half of all immigrant workers in the U.S. make less than 200 percent of minimum wage compared to only one-third of American workers who earn less than that(urban.org). Although it might seem the most significant, wages are merely one of the multiple ways that immigrants are treated unfairly in the United States. They come to the country with an idea of how life in America is, and they are always disappointed in what they find. Besides their low wages, the dangerous and unsanitary working conditions are also unfair for immigrants. In The Jungle, Jurgis gets a job sweeping the entrails (remains) of slaughtered cattle in a meat packing factory. At first he is very optimistic about the job and completes it with enthusiasm, but does not understand why the other workers are so angry about the conditions. He is not yet aware of the dangerous situation he puts himself in every day by working there. It is unhealthy for a person to get the slaughtered cattle parts on their skin because most of them have diseases and infections. In addition, most of the meat went past the health inspectors unnoticed because they do not even care, so half of the meat leaving the factory is unfit for human consumption. When winter comes and the conditions get even more dangerous Jurgis finally realizes why the people he works with have nothing but negative remarks to say about the job. However, Jurgis knows he can not say anything because it is the only job he has. Gallup Rights and Relation recently conducted a poll that showed only 43 percent of Americans being satisfied with the treatment of immigrants(gallup.com). That number has been steadily decreasing since 2001, when 54 percent of Americans were satisfied with the poor treatment of innocent immigrants (gallup.com). This proves that although it may be expected for immigrants to be treated better as time passes, there has been no noticeable change in the behavior of others towards immigrants. In particular, one of the most difficult aspects of American life that the immigrants were not expecting was acquiring a job. Immigrants come to America expecting there to be job opportunities for themselves and everyone the know. However, they son found out upon entering the country that it is not that simple. Many people were left standing outside factories for hours, days and sometimes months; they would not even be compensated for their patience and adamancy with a job. Instead, they would be forced to find work elsewhere or turn to thievery to survive. They most likely could not get work because they were not big or strong-looking enough to stand out to the person scanning the crowds looking for workers. All they were interested in were big, strong men who were willful and could do the job correctly and efficiently. If you did not have most of these qualities, then you are considered worthless to the company, and would therefore never receive work. This makes it very unfair and difficult for the immigrants who were not big enough to be noticed or considered strong enough to sustain a job that would help the company. In The Jungle, jurgis was lucky because he is tall and noticeable in a crowd, and for that reason he was selected to be hired on his first day waiting. Another example of unfair treatment of immigrants in America occurred in New York in 2006.
A Chinese immigrant named Jiang Zhenxing was pregnant and awaiting deportation so she could give birth in her home country with her family. Her requests were ignored daily by the immigration center until they discovered she was three months pregnant. After that, she was moved to the top of the list and was separated from her husband. He was not given any information about what was happening to her or even that they had taken her to the airport to be deported. Reports claim that she was pushed around and hit in the stomach twice by ICE officials. The woman then reported severe stomach pains and requested medical attention, but once again, her requests were denied. Eventually she was given medical attention, but at that point it was too late and the woman had miscarried. It was only after all of that had happened that the officials decided to contact her husband
(pww.org). That is merely one of the numerous stories of harsh and inhumane treatment of immigrants. Simply because they come from a different country, they are treated like they are worthless. What people should realize is that we are all people with one common goal, to live a safe and happy life. Unless this treatment is changed, that goal will never be achieved. It is because of the attitude of everyone else that causes ideas like communism. The Jungle is an earlier example of the treatment that immigrants have to deal with, however it has not changes much since then. If everyone in America had the ideals that the immigrants have when first entering America, our country would be a happier and safer place.
Works Cited
“A Profile of Low Wage Immigrant Workers.” Urban Institute. 15 July 2012 http://www.urban.org/publications/310880,html.
“Inhumane Immigrant Treated Protested.” Peoples Weekly World. 16 July 2012 http://www.pww.org/article/articelview/8594/
“Only 4 in 10 Americans Satisfied With Immigrant Treatment.: Gallup. 16 July 2012 http://www.gallup.com/poll/28405/only-americans-satisfied-treatment-immigrants.aspx
Sinclair, Upton. The Jungle. Mineola, NY: Dover Publications, 2001.
the country(urban.org). Since there is sucha small amount of them, they are easy to target. They make up twenty percent of all low-wage workers; in addition, half of all immigrant workers in the U.S. make less than 200 percent of minimum wage compared to only one-third of American workers who earn less than that(urban.org). Although it might seem the most significant, wages are merely one of the multiple ways that immigrants are treated unfairly in the United States. They come to the country with an idea of how life in America is, and they are always disappointed in what they find. Besides their low wages, the dangerous and unsanitary working conditions are also unfair for immigrants. In The Jungle, Jurgis gets a job sweeping the entrails (remains) of slaughtered cattle in a meat packing factory. At first he is very optimistic about the job and completes it with enthusiasm, but does not understand why the other workers are so angry about the conditions. He is not yet aware of the dangerous situation he puts himself in every day by working there. It is unhealthy for a person to get the slaughtered cattle parts on their skin because most of them have diseases and infections. In addition, most of the meat went past the health inspectors unnoticed because they do not even care, so half of the meat leaving the factory is unfit for human consumption. When winter comes and the conditions get even more dangerous Jurgis finally realizes why the people he works with have nothing but negative remarks to say about the job. However, Jurgis knows he can not say anything because it is the only job he has. Gallup Rights and Relation recently conducted a poll that showed only 43 percent of Americans being satisfied with the treatment of immigrants(gallup.com). That number has been steadily decreasing since 2001, when 54 percent of Americans were satisfied with the poor treatment of innocent immigrants (gallup.com). This proves that although it may be expected for immigrants to be treated better as time passes, there has been no noticeable change in the behavior of others towards immigrants. In particular, one of the most difficult aspects of American life that the immigrants were not expecting was acquiring a job. Immigrants come to America expecting there to be job opportunities for themselves and everyone the know. However, they son found out upon entering the country that it is not that simple. Many people were left standing outside factories for hours, days and sometimes months; they would not even be compensated for their patience and adamancy with a job. Instead, they would be forced to find work elsewhere or turn to thievery to survive. They most likely could not get work because they were not big or strong-looking enough to stand out to the person scanning the crowds looking for workers. All they were interested in were big, strong men who were willful and could do the job correctly and efficiently. If you did not have most of these qualities, then you are considered worthless to the company, and would therefore never receive work. This makes it very unfair and difficult for the immigrants who were not big enough to be noticed or considered strong enough to sustain a job that would help the company. In The Jungle, jurgis was lucky because he is tall and noticeable in a crowd, and for that reason he was selected to be hired on his first day waiting. Another example of unfair treatment of immigrants in America occurred in New York in 2006.
A Chinese immigrant named Jiang Zhenxing was pregnant and awaiting deportation so she could give birth in her home country with her family. Her requests were ignored daily by the immigration center until they discovered she was three months pregnant. After that, she was moved to the top of the list and was separated from her husband. He was not given any information about what was happening to her or even that they had taken her to the airport to be deported. Reports claim that she was pushed around and hit in the stomach twice by ICE officials. The woman then reported severe stomach pains and requested medical attention, but once again, her requests were denied. Eventually she was given medical attention, but at that point it was too late and the woman had miscarried. It was only after all of that had happened that the officials decided to contact her husband
(pww.org). That is merely one of the numerous stories of harsh and inhumane treatment of immigrants. Simply because they come from a different country, they are treated like they are worthless. What people should realize is that we are all people with one common goal, to live a safe and happy life. Unless this treatment is changed, that goal will never be achieved. It is because of the attitude of everyone else that causes ideas like communism. The Jungle is an earlier example of the treatment that immigrants have to deal with, however it has not changes much since then. If everyone in America had the ideals that the immigrants have when first entering America, our country would be a happier and safer place.
Works Cited
“A Profile of Low Wage Immigrant Workers.” Urban Institute. 15 July 2012 http://www.urban.org/publications/310880,html.
“Inhumane Immigrant Treated Protested.” Peoples Weekly World. 16 July 2012 http://www.pww.org/article/articelview/8594/
“Only 4 in 10 Americans Satisfied With Immigrant Treatment.: Gallup. 16 July 2012 http://www.gallup.com/poll/28405/only-americans-satisfied-treatment-immigrants.aspx
Sinclair, Upton. The Jungle. Mineola, NY: Dover Publications, 2001.