Topic > "The Jungle" by Upton Sinclair

The novel The Jungle by Upton Sinclair tells the story of Jurgis' life and the tortures he endures since his arrival in Chicago with his family. Throughout the story, Sinclair describes the hardships that Jurgis and the face of his family in this capitalist country, Sinclair, thoroughly shows the disadvantages of capitalism through the lives of Jurgis and others who work in Packingtown. Then, towards the end of the novel, he introduces socialism as a solution to capitalism and to his wickedness to persuade his readers to his views that “capitalism is immoral” and “socialism is the only solution to capitalism”. He actually supports his argument with acceptable evidence and strives to demonstrate the goodness of socialism it is better than capitalism and can help workers with their problems because it eliminates competition among the working class, promotes gender equality and provides a fair and equitable justice system. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay The main reason why socialism works better than capitalism is because it eliminates competition between people for survival. Sinclair mentions this key point as an advantage for socialism. Otrinski describes the increasing competition between people as “Workers depended on one job to exist day to day, and therefore competed against each other.” We got to see this competition in depth in Packingtown and within the story. Just as Sinclair states, socialism can break these rivalries between people and bring back cooperation and unity between people. It can happen when socialism exists, where properties are communal or common within society rather than under the control of capitalists; when wages will be higher for the common working class rather than decreased to increase the profits of the capitalists. In a capitalist country, due to the low wages that common people receive, most of them indulge in crimes such as theft, murder, prostitution etc. While socialism diminishes such situations and promotes community well-being by increasing wages. Therefore, in a socialist country, “an average man can work as little as two hours a day” and survive by dedicating the rest of his time to personal interests. Again and again, socialism also decreases gender inequality in the workplace. Promotes women's involvement and earning a living. In the story, Marija and Ona have trouble finding jobs when they lose one due to the fact that women get far fewer jobs in Packingtown than men. In a capitalist country, most private sectors do not hire women for work because they are not as productive as men since they cannot do arduous jobs like men in Packingtown factories and plants. For capitalists, hiring women does not bring profit and therefore they do not hire them. We can see in Marija's case that she turned to prostitution because she was not offered many jobs and she lost her job more frequently. She turned to prostitution as the only way to survive. In a socialist country like Denmark, people, regardless of gender, are offered jobs with higher wages and are treated equally. Furthermore, socialism also promotes a fair and equitable justice system. In the novel we could see that when Jurgis was on trial and in court, the judge did not listen to what he had to say because he was a poor person and had no money. The judge gave a verdict in Conor's favor because he had a lot of money and power. Conor easily persuaded the judge and so he sent Jurgis.