The Jungle Identity Theme

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Sinclair novel, The Jungle Upton Sinclair's muckraking novel The Jungle deals a number of intersecting themes regarding immigration, assimilation, and labor rights, and only through considering the interaction between these themes can one come to appreciate the multiple layers of the novel. The Rudkus family buys into an ideal of the American identity which suggests that as immigrants, they will be able to integrate smoothly and successfully so that with hard work, they will undoubtedly succeed, but this belief ultimately proves fatal, as a number of family members eventually succumb to the harsh realities of the city, whether it be backbreaking work, unsafe living conditions, or unscrupulous lenders. However, all is not lost, because…show more content…
The immigrant identity is clearly portrayed as inviting exploitation and prohibiting the family from succeeding, but the family fails to realize that the American identity is similarly problematic and offers just as little opportunity for freedom and success, but for different reasons. In short, the poison in the air is the effect of American capitalism, which implicitly pits the poor against each other in the search for work and the need to maintain that work regardless of how denigrating or dangerous it is. However, the family does not realize this at first, and fails to recognize that buying into the idea that hard work alone will bring human rights and success is just as naive and makes them just as exploitable as relying upon the goodwill of the wedding guests to help pay for the cost. When Jurgis is still naively invested in this notion, he asks “do you want me to believe that with these arms […] people will ever let me starve?” (Sinclair 23-24). Jurgis believes that his physical ability for labor will be enough to ensure his and his family's success, but this is just as foolhardy as the belief that holding on to their Lithuanian wedding tradition could shield the family from the ravages of American capitalism. Thus, the novel demonstrates how both the immigrant…show more content…
By looking at the wedding celebration at the beginning of the novel, one may see how the immigrant identity invites exploitation through its reliance on an unspoken code of conduct. The American identity is shown to be similarly problematic, because it encourages self-interest that ultimately only serves to further disempower the poor. The novel presents the socialist identity as the only sustainable identity out of these three, because it is the only one with the ability to directly and explicitly confront the ways in which capitalism is inherently stacked against the interests of the
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