Theme Of Capitalism In The Jungle

The Jungle portrays the many injustices that result from capitalism; including terrible working conditions, child labor, political corruption, prostitution, drinking, cheating, and crime. The title, The Jungle, acts as a symbol for Upton Sinclair’s views of capitalism as a system in which only the most corrupt can thrive in. In more depth, the novel’s title symbolizes the competitive and cutthroat nature of capitalism. In the case of the novel, Packingtown is like a jungle, where the strong prey on the weak and all living things are forced to engage in a brutal fight for survival. By relating the story of a family of honest, hardworking immigrants who are destroyed by corruption and evil and can only survive in this way, Sinclair implies

In the case of the working class and people overall, capitalism forces even the well-intentioned people to become emotionless and cutthroat and to prey on others in order to survive. As Jurgis and his family members experience worse and worse times in Packingtown, they find themselves surrounded with signs and cases of immorality and corruption; such as laws that are not enforced, politicians out for their own gain, and salesmen who lie about their wares. In other words, a whole community of people trying desperately to get ahead by taking advantage of one another. The family itself is subject to many types of corruption like swindles, grafts, manipulation, and rape. For example, when Jurgis first arrives in America, he tries to succeed as an honest worker at the meatpacking plant. After being continually beaten down and tossed aside, he begins drinking, leaves his remaining family, turns to crime, and later returns to the meatpacking plants where he works for corrupt politicians and as a scab during a strike. This shows the overall effect of capitalism on a hard working man, and shows the only conditions in which Jurgis really survived in was when he was subject to

These predators are why families such as Jurgis’ could not survive because these predators make Jurgis “the victim of ravenous vultures that had torn into his vitals and devoured him…He and his family, helpless women and children, struggling to live, ignorant and defenseless and forlorn as they were—and the enemies that had been lurking for them, crouching upon their trail and thirsting for their blood!”(Chapter 18). These predators include the owners or managers of large factories or businesses, members of the law, and government officials. These predators do a variety of things to utilize their power and prey on the working class. One way in which this utilization of power is seen in the novel is when Ona is being sexually harassed and raped by her boss, Phil Conner. “It was all—it was their plot—Miss Henderson 's plot. She hated me. And—he wanted me...Then he began to—to make love to me...Then he threatened me. He knew all about us, he knew we would starve. He knew your boss—he knew Marija 's. He would hound us to death, he said—then he said if I would—if I —we would all of us be sure of work—always”(Chapter 15). Phil Conner uses his levirage on Ona in order to have his way with her with no consequences. Even when taken to court with Jurgis he gets out of