Essay About Rudkus Family And Upton Sinclair

The Jungle
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The Rudkus family arrived from Lithuania to find Chicago as a city in which justice and
honor, womens bodies and mens souls, were for sale in the marketplace, and human beings
writhed and fought and fell upon each other like wolves in the pit, in which lusts were
raging fires, and men were fuel, and humanity was festering and stewing and wallowing in
its own corruption. (Pg.165) The city, during the time span of the novel, was truly a
jungle-like society in which Upton Sinclair found much fault and great room for
improvement. Sinclair perceived the problem in American society to be the reign of
capitalism. In The Jungle, he presented the reader with the Rudkus family; who
encountered a great deal of strife and anguish, through which the evils of American
capitalism were portrayed. Upton Sinclair strongly believed in the power of the Socialist
party as means of reform, so that the working class would finally have a fair chance of
survival against the harsh realms of society. By havocking Americas supposed capitalist
induced problems upon Jurgis and his family, Upton Sinclair used The Jungle as means of
socialist promotional propaganda.
The Rudkus family met myriads of horrific occurrences during their struggle in Chicago.
The time when the family came to the United States was a period of appalling conditions
for the working class. At this phase of history there were practically no workplace
safety regulations at all. Employers were free to dictate work conditions as they saw fit
for their own personal welfare. Nor were there social safety nets such as workmans
compensation, welfare, or unemployment insurance. Also, if a person was seriously injured
on the job to the point that he was prevented from working, he was simply out of work
without any tolerance of the injured inquiring of his job being held during recovery.
Courts at this time were solidly pro-business, and not receptive to workers claims of
employer responsibility for workplace accidents.
Jurgis and his family were faced with many predicaments related to these poor
surroundings and circumstances. The family hastily saw that they must enter the
competition forced upon them in a social Darwinist fashion. When he first arrived in
Packingtown, Jurgis found work quickly in the meat packing industry because of his
strong, young stature. As the years went by, however, and he grew plagued with injuries
and financial troubles, Jurgis found work to be evermore difficult to obtain and hold.
The social system cracked down on the family and offered nowhere for the Rudkus to turn
for help.
Not only did the family stumble upon difficulties in their workplaces, but in basic
living conditions as well. Jurgis and his family witnessed such atrocities, as baby
Antanas tragically drowning in the unpaved roads, devastating financial loss through
misinformation concerning the purchase and custody of their house, and unsanitary meat
packed and sold for regular consumption.
Such incredible pandemonium was involved with virtually all of the Rudkus familys daily
activities and never ceased to cause anxiety and worry in their overburdened lives. This
desolation drove family members to radical attempts at survival and hope for some means
of liberation from their atrocious new lives in America. At first, Jurgis ran away from
it all, pursuing the life of a free man setting off cross-country. Marija turned to
prostitution, after Jurgis fled from them, as means of making end meat for the family.
Ona was convinced that she would cause the familys demise without her cooperation in
Conners crude sexual demands. Children of the family set out to work instead of gaining
the vital education that they were so deserving and needy of. Also, the elderly Dede
Antanas set off to work despite his weak physical state.
Jurgis grew steadily more tired as he aged in experience and years. He once thought to
himself in a state of great misfortune and suffering, It is a case of us or the other
fellow. In these realms and others, nothing is counted but brutal might, an order devised
by those who possessed it for the subjugation of those who did not. (Pg.229) Luckily,
Jurgis found himself in the territory of a Socialist convention. He was delightfully
enlightened with the ideas the speaker conveyed to Jurgis in his energetic and compelling
presentation. The socialist movement seemed to provide answers for practically all of the
problems which Jurgis and his family had faced and struggled against in their strife for
survival in America.
The socialists saw two major problems forced upon humanity that were caused by capitalist
America. These were greed and ruthless competition. Because society had its base in money
and class, people did anything in their power to overcome another