The Role Of Socialism In Upton Sinclair's The Jungle

The Jungle is written by the author Upton Sinclair in the era of Industrial Revolution, where many immigrants are moving to the United States with the expectation of living “American Dream”. The novel is situated in Chicago in the area of largest slaughtering and meat packaging industries. Even though this book touched hearts of many people, it was not meant to be just a story for one to read and feel compassion, but Sinclair wanted to open eyes of many people to show the greed of capitalism and how it gives politicians and businessman the power to crush immigrant lives. So ultimately wanted to refine the political system from capitalism to socialism. “The Socialists were organized in every civilized nation.” (315) The novel starts with the wedding of a young man, Jurgis, a
The ingredients were full of lies and sold without considering the public health. Within weeks of the novel’ s publication, the sale of meat dropped intensely and this led to the passage of the 1906 Food and Drug Act. However, Upton Sinclair main focus was the conflicts of socialism versus capitalism. “To Jurgis the packers had been equivalent to fate; Ostrinski showed him that they were the Beef Trust.” (384) In fact, throughout the novel, Jurgis and his family is slowly getting apart cause of corrupted economic and social system that America has. Every incident in the novel represents a specific disappointment of capitalism and shows that working class is victim to “the whim of every bit as brutal and unscrupulous as the old-time slave drivers."(126) The Jungle represents the era of the 20th century when the US economic system was rapidly growing and millions of immigrants were moving to America to live the American dream. What most of the immigrants found was instead low paying jobs, horrible working conditions, and the realization that the American dream was not meant to be for