The Jungle Essay
Upton Sinclair’s novel The Jungle contains a few key themes and ideological views that are connected to the novel’s title. These themes include the savagery of human beings, the influence of greed on common life, and how oppression leads to annihilation. The ideological views in The Jungle include the deprecation of capitalism and the persuasion of socialism onto the reader. Upton Sinclair’s use of these themes and ideological views are related to the title, The Jungle in many prominent ways. Sinclair also uses specific, symbolic examples throughout the novel to enforce his themes and ideological views, this in turn reinforces the connection between the title and the themes in the novel.
Many writers have focused in on the savagery of human nature and how mankind can be reverted back to primitive ways when exposed to harsh conditions. Sinclair continues on with this trend in his novel, The Jungle. Sinclair does this by examining the situations of characters in Packingtown and how they react to certain conditions and treatment. Sinclair exemplifies how humanity can be so rapidly changed into beasts early in the novel. “He had only been there four months, and he was young, and a giant besides. There was too much health in him.” (Sinclair, 25). This passage occurs just as Jurgis is recalling stories of men being broken down in the stockyards. Jurgis does not see how he could ever possibly be deteriorated into a savage, beast-like state as the men he hears about have. Sinclair exposes the reader to the nature of how humanity thinks in this moment. He reveals how humans will reject even the most compelling evidence if it does not fit their motive. Even with the denial of direct evidence Sinclair explains that the human mind will always find a way to revert to primordial behaviours. “All this while that he was seeking for work, there was a dark shadow hanging over Jurgis; as if a savage beast were lurking somewhere in the pathway of his life.” (128). By showing that a confident young man, such as Jurgis, was broken so easily by the horrors of life in Packingtown Sinclair paints a picture of just how easily the human mind can change from stable to beast-like. This savage like behaviour relates to the title of the novel because it shows how Packingtown was turned into a figurative jungle. In a jungle environment there are many forms of life all looking for ways to live and thrive. This is similar to how in Packingtown each individual person and family is trying their hardest to simply survive. The jungle is a savage place full of competition and only the beasts willing to do anything are able to survive and thrive. In Packingtown the people create the competition for themselves which in turn turns them into beasts who will do anything to sustain life.
Greed has a large part to play in the common life of people in Packingtown. The methods that business owners use to make profits and expand their companies are often unethical and involve the dehumanization of their employees. The way that these owners conduct their business then passes down to the common people. This creates a culture throughout the town and forces people to act in certain ways to obtain jobs so that they may survive. “As poor as they were, and making all the sacrifices that they were, would he dare to refuse any sort of work that was offered to him, be it as horrible as ever” (129). Business owners in this time period were aware that people were desperate for any sort of jobs and used this to their advantage. Owners knew they could get a nearly unlimited amount of workers and that they would work in any conditions for any amount of pay. This abuse forced common people to behave like animals to get jobs and to work in the worst conditions possible. All of this pain and suffering was due to the greed of business owners. The influence of greed on people relates to the novel’s title, The Jungle, because greed forced the people of Packingtown to behave like animals in a food chain. The top of the food chain being the business owners dictated how the bottom of the food chain, the common people, lived their lives.
Another prominent theme Sinclair writes of is how oppression leads to annihilation. Jurgis and his fellow Lithuanian immigrants encounter many oppressing people and systems while in Packingtown and this leads to most of them dying or resorting to horrible ways of life in order to survive. Examples of the oppression the immigrants face range from being swindled by lawyers and real estate agents to being forced into prostitution by business owners. “To press the matter would have seemed to be doubting his word, and never in their lives had any one of them ever spoken to a person of the class called gentleman except with deference and humility” (51). While in the process of buying the house, Jurgis and his family are scared to ask questions because they feel as though they should be grateful to be in a situation where they can buy a house. This thought process leads to real estate agents taking advantage of Jurgis and his family and persuading them into a rental deal that sounds great but has many loopholes. Due to this situation, the family is forced to look for more jobs in order to keep the house which leads to more oppressive conditions. “He told me – we would all of us lose our places. We could never get anything to do – here- again. He – he meant it – he would have ruined us” (151). Ona being afraid of her family losing their jobs and therefore losing the ability to survive gave into her boss, Connor, and resorted to prostitution to keep the family alive. This event later led to Jurgis being arrested and losing his job which spiraled a wave of events that led to the death of Ona, Antanas, and their premature child. The theme of oppression leading to annihilation ties into the title of The Jungle because there is so much adversity that leads to death in the environment of a jungle. In a jungle environment, there are millions of different species all competing for resources and ways to live much like how many different types of people in Packingtown are all competing for jobs to live. Both the people in Packingtown and the organisms in the jungle face oppression and adversity every day which forces them to do whatever is necessary to survive.
Sinclair relates his novel’s title, The Jungle, to the themes in his novel by giving the reader examples of how life can change so drastically based on living conditions, job markets, and the class system making Packingtown feel like a jungle. When humanity is forced into horrible, animal-like living conditions it changes the way they think and interact with others. Business owners manipulating workers and paying indecent wages makes people resort to primordial ways of life. The class system in Packingtown which immigrants feel obligated to follow only further adds to the oppression they face in this jungle-like environment in Packingtown. By analyzing Sinclair’s themes and views in his novel The Jungle it is apparent why he chose the title The Jungle for this ideological tale of immigrants in Packingtown.
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