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Analysis of capitalism
Capitalism introduction for essay
Capitalism introduction for essay
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“The Jungle” novel was written by an American journalist/ novelist name Upton Sinclair in 1906. “The Jungle” made a big hit and became his best-selling novel because it revealed so well about the economical and social reality during that time. The book mainly described about how unsanitary the meat packing industry was operated in Chicago and the miserable life of the immigrants going along with the industry. Through the story around the life and family of Jurgis Rudjus, a Lithuanian immigrant who comes to America with the belief to change their life and live in a better condition, Sinclair expresses that “The Jungle” is a symbol of capitalism. Sinclair’s contempt for capitalist society is present throughout the novel, demonstrated in the eagerness of Jurgis to work, the constant struggle for survival of the workers in Packing town and the corruption of the man at all levels of the society. Also, the author promotes socialism as a standard political society to replace capitalism. First, what is capitalism? And why it is good and why it is bad. Capitalism is all about efficiency and get things done. “Capital” by itself means own, operation and trade for making benefits with the most efficient way. Capitalism focuses more on emphasizing on individual profits rather than on workers or society as a whole. Capitalism provides free-market that produces the best economic outcome for society. Furthermore, capitalism is not friendly for lazy and laid back people because in order to live in the capitalist society, people need to work very hard in order to survive. However, capitalism will compensate well for people who are working hard and give contributions to the society. That is its good side. Capitalism is a form of political society ... ... middle of paper ... ...before, destroys the wholesome values previously exhibited by the family. Jurgis and Ona drift further and further apart as times get worse, and when this is culminated by Jurgis' discover of Ona's rape and his consequent beating of her boss, Jurgis goes to jail. There is constant events happened one after each other to this family because of the struggle of getting more money in order to keep life sustainable. There is indeede no mercy given to this family. Sinclair shows this family suffering as much as possible in order to show the complete negligence of capitalist society toward the people that it controls. Money has so much powerful that makes human’s value turns down to the level of animal. The pressure of life makes them destroy the hope and happiness from each other; take advantage to each other In order to gain their own benefit and to protect themselves.
In The Jungle, Sinclair deeply understands his subjects and can make the plots real for the reader. Even in a small section of the book, Sinclair makes me feel, imagine and contemplate his words. Chapters 18 through 23, were chapters that Sinclair took time and effort to write and make it to perfection. In my own perspective, I think he achieved this accomplishment and made these chapters a realistic event.
The Jungle, the 1906 exposé of the Chicago meatpacking industry. The novel focuses on an immigrant family and sympathetically and realistically describes their struggles with loan sharks and others who take advantage of their innocence. More importantly, Sinclair graphically describes the brutal working conditions of those who find work in the stockyards. Sinclair's description of the main character's
The Jungle, by Upton Sinclair, emphasizes the importance in changing to become a thriving society through socialism. Sinclair writes his novel to show the corruption that occurs as a result of capitalism. Jurgis’ family is in search for a better life in America where he believes he will make enough pay to support his family. The novel shows that poverty is in control over the working class, but the working class still has a desperation for money. In The Jungle, Upton Sinclair pushes for Socialism by showing Jurgis’ struggle to find work, the hardships of the packingtown workers, and the inequality of all men in this capitalistic society.
While The Jungle was by far Sinclair’s most famous work, what many are not aware of is the fact that The Jungle was initially written as an expose for a well-known socialist newspaper in the country, Appeal to Reason. Although Sinclair once said he were to write the “Uncle Tom’s Cabin of the labor movement”, he did so not by merely speculating what the meat packing industry was like, but by actually experiencing the lifestyle firsthand. Upton Sinclair went to the packing plants himself in order to truly gain the experience of what it was like to work in the stockyards as well as communicating directly with employees, laborers, social workers, and locals to truly grasp what life was like in a place like Packingtown. It was not until Sinclair was able to take all of his experiences in that he was able to sit down and write an accurate and to some, frightful expose of what the meat packing industry
Sinclair, has shown in a dramatic style the hardships and obstacles which Jurgis and fellow workers had to endure. He made the workers sound so helpless and the conditions so gruesome, that the reader almost wants a way out for Jurgis. Sinclair's The Jungle is a "subliminal" form of propaganda for
Discuss how Upton Sinclair portrays the economic tensions and historical processes at hand in the late 19th and early 20th centuries
Employment is hard to find and hard to keep and a job isn’t always what one hoped for. Sometimes jobs do not sufficiently support our lifestyles, and all too frequently we’re convinced that our boss’s real job is to make us miserable. However, every now and then there are reprieves such as company holiday parties or bonuses, raises, promotions and even a half hour or hour to eat lunch that allows escape from monotonous workloads. Aside from our complaints, employment today for majority of American’s isn’t totally dreadful, and there always lies opportunity for promotion. American’s did not always experience this reality in their work places though, and not long past are days of abysmal and disgusting work conditions. In 1906 Upton Sinclair’s “The Jungle” was published. His novel drastically transformed the way Americans felt about the unmitigated power corporations wielded in the ‘free’ market economy that was heavily propagandized at the turn of the century. Corporations do not have the same unscrupulous practices today because of actions taken by former President Theodore Roosevelt who felt deeply impacted by Sinclair’s famous novel. Back in early 1900’s in the meatpacking plants of Chicago the incarnation of greed ruled over the working man and dictated his role as a simple cog within an enormous insatiable industrial machine. Executives of the 1900’s meatpacking industry in Chicago, IL, conspired to work men to death, obliterate worker’s unions and lie to American citizens about what they were actually consuming in order to simply acquire more money.
Upton Sinclair had always insisted that The Jungle was misread but did he ever think it could have been miswritten? The style of writing is not effective when addressing issues in a capitalistic society but proves to be very effective when exposing the secrets of the meatpacking industry. The novel is not remembered for being a classic work in literature but rather an important book in history in that it changed the way America looked at food in the early part of the century.
The bluntness in which The Jungle tells its woes is its strength, yet also its weakness. To sum up in a single word, this book is depressing; it shows the selfishness of mankind, the racial discrimination, and the willingness to benefit at the expense of others. These ethical issues, and many others, run rampant through The Jungle. Because of the selfish nature so common in all people, only a few of the characters survive in their tragic life. Jurgis, Teta Elzbeita, Marija, and a few children are the only survivors of a once-large and happy family. In poverty, possession of any food was difficult, especially possession of healthy food. Antanas, Jurgis' son, died in a freak-drowning accident, and his mother died in her second childbirth. Two of Teta Elzbeita's children died from eating contaminated meat, another from being eaten by rats. Dede Antanas, Jurgis' father, died because the chemicals he worked with ate away his clothing, and worked their way into his shoes, eventually destroying his feet. “Then, too, a still more dreadful thing happened to him; he worked in a place where his feet were soaked with chemicals, and it was not long before they had eaten through his new boots. Then sores began to break out on his feet ... he learned that it was a regular thing-- it was the saltpeter."
Upton Sinclair’s classic The Jungle analyzes a variety of concerns varying from politics to working conditions in America's capitalist economy. Sinclair highlights key issues for the Progressive Era reform, while he uncovers significant corruption taking place with the country’s rapid industrialization. He was labeled a “muckraker” for exposing the system that privileges the powerful. Upton Sinclair states that the paramount goal for writing his book was to improve worker conditions, increase wages, and put democratic socialism as a major political party. The book shocked the public nation by uncovering the unhealthy standards in the meatpacking industry it also resulted in a congressional investigation.
In 1906, Upton Sinclair's Book The Jungle was published in book form; it had previously been published as a newspaper serial in 1905. Few works of literature have changed history in the United States so much as The Jungle did when it was published. It has been said that the book led to the direct passage of the "Pure Food and Drug Act" of 1906 (Dickstein) and that it lead to a decades long decline in meat consumption is the United States.
In the early 1900's life for America's new Chicago immigrant workers in the meat packing industry was explored by Upton Sinclair's novel The Jungle. Originally published in 1904 as a serial piece in the socialist newspaper Appeal to Reason, Sinclair's novel was initially found too graphic and shocking by publishing firms and therefore was not published in its complete form until 1906. In this paper, I will focus on the challenges faced by a newly immigrated worker and on what I feel Sinclair's purpose was for this novel.
It is true that capitalism is associated with various benefits, nonetheless, its disadvantages outweigh advantages. Firstly, it is perceived that capitalism is mostly based on free production and distribution indulgent. Economists argue that this kind of economy is based on individual rights and freedom. Also, it embraces economic and social advancement. Contrary, this perception is quite misleading. Capitalism is a piece of cake to a few especially the powerful and the privileged elites in the society. Capitalism serves to benefit the interest of upper-class individuals while oppresses the desires of the low earning people. In most cases, capitalists gain profit and revenue by oppressing workers, who form the largest part of the community. I really have a strong negative attitude towards capitalism since it only promotes the development of a small group of elites while it damages the interest of the entire
The American author, Upton Sinclair, popular for his muckraking of the Industrial Revolution, led a life that prepared him to publicize social issues. He was born September 20, 1878, in Baltimore, Maryland to Upton Sr. and Priscilla Sinclair. While both his parents and grandparents were socially prominent, he observed financial strain in his parents’ marriage. “Whether in Baltimore or later in New York City, his parents often lived in squalor, moving from one cheap boardinghouse or hotel to another and sharing rooms with rats and bedbugs. Compared to the homeless children he saw everyday, Sinclair felt fortunate but also angry. During most summers he lived luxuriously in the country with his mother’s wealthy
Capitalism is an economic system in which the production and distribution are privately owned, the government involvement is minimal,and there is free enterprise. In Capitalism, the means of production are privately owned and operated for profit in a competitive market. Also the economic investment, ownership and profits are all owned by individuals. Under capitalism the state is separated from the economy, which means that the government has no role in business. In other words, everyone works for themselves. The market forces in a capitalist country runs by supply and demand which it determines the price and later on it turns into profits. Supply is the quantity of goods and services a business is willing to sell, while Demand is the quantity of goods and services consumers are willing to buy. Therefore, Capitalism is the best economic system because it rewards the ones that work hard and since the government does not control trade, there is a large variety of goods and creates options for consumers to fit their personal needs.