The conditions highlighted in the book have many causes. The public was responsible for some of the things that were happening to them. It is their greed that led to unscrupulous behavior where people had to take things from an individual before the same was done to them. The public helped form this culture. During the wedding of the immigrants, people take their beer and food without paying, yet nobody does anything to stop it (Sinclair, 2). In the factories, they are paid poorly and treated unfairly but they still wake up to go to work. The public is subjected to long working hours with very little pay. What these poor people did not realize is that they held the power to change things.
The industries and slaughter houses were highly dependent on the destitute that they oppressed. The problem was that the society was marked by foolish competition and a hunger for resources. Therefore, they did not have what it took to stand in solidarity. Everybody took the small chance they could get to steal. Aspects of capitalism had created a society where business came first. It was, therefore, difficult to incorporate socialism aspects that required togetherness. The situation was that every person took care of himself and tried to get ahead of the rest. A society cannot be saved from aspects of exploitation when individuals in it exploit each other. The family of Jurgis welcomed into the American system by con artists, who took advantage of them. Their ignorance is also highlighted when they go to buy a house, but later discover they were lied to since it is a rental.
People have knowledge of the conditions in the meat industry, but it is still placed on the market for sell, and the same people buy the meat. They are ignorant of their part in ensuring that the meat is in good conditions. Some of the members of the public worked in the slaughter houses. The underlying problem was that the public saw such things as being the duty of the government. Ignorance and lazy thinking, crowned with self-absorption hindered the public from trying to resolve the situation. The public did not think of the slaughterhouse conditions to be their problem yet they were the consumers of the meat. The conditions are spotted by Jurgis on the second day while touring the town, which highlights that the incompetence of officers was a well-known affair. People were either too timid or unbothered to find ways of addressing the situation. Most of the meat sold was contaminated.
The laziness in the society is depicted by workers who refuse to work hard in the slaughterhouses and in turn blame their bosses. The town harbored people who were used to getting easy money through questionable ways such as conning people like Jurgis. They reside in a society that is extremely corrupt that people pay to get jobs. A person offers Dede job on condition that he will get three-quarters of his salary. The writer showcases how lazy people in the society preferred to make a living. As a result, the society has embraced the notion that corruption and theft is the only way out of the miserable lives. How then can they blame factory owners? The change needs to start in society before it becomes radical.
The issue of exploitation in urban areas is caused by the minimal opportunities available for people to live a decent life. The people have no option but to feed off each other, with lying and stealing being the only way to better situations. Industrial capitalization has left people without hope for the future. They work all the time, but because of the pay and working conditions, they do not gain much from.
Industry owners have turned the workers into nothing more than money making machines. People in packing town were not cruel; they were forced into barbarism by the situations in their workplaces. The lazy ones who couldn’t stand the nature of their work quit, and had to look for other means to earn a living. The need for people in power, who could bring change to stay in power, makes them exploit voters. Those who want things to change like Jurgis are exploited when their votes are bought without their knowledge. Others sell their votes because they do not see any hope for change and would rather have the two dollars given for their vote.
The government, therefore, is also to blame for the bad conditions. Politicians have taken advantage of the situation they helped create to buy them into a never ending power. Such power leaves people at their mercy. Those who are well off evidently live better lives and, therefore, the poor who work for them are at their mercy. The means that they acquired such wealth and power is the same as what was happening in society at the time. People who want to be like them continue the legacy, thus creating a certain circle of life in the society. Those with power violate it and use it to get anything they want. The evil that power brings is highlighted through Phil Connor, who rapes Ona and prevents her family to get work through his political connections.
The society portrayed in this book possesses the traits of animals that belong to the jungle. In this case, the writer uses the jungle to depict that humans in society have become wild and merciless, with their hunger clouding their judgment. The immigrants are compared to hogs that flock a place in search of food. They are a bunch of optimistic individuals in search of fortune and good life, only to be met by hard situations.
In this case, human beings are given animalistic comparison because of their rugged individualism. They do not care if the meat they are serving kills people, but continue to sell large amounts of adulterated meat for their profit. Only animals are not given the ability to care except for their hunger that makes them wild and ruthless in hunting. The same is highlighted in the book through the exploitation of the poor. In capitalism, the rich continue to flourish while the poor suffer in their poverty.
The animalistic nature is displayed by a society that is crippled with an unjust legal system, which would have been the only avenue for the less privileged to get justice. When the law enforcement tool id discriminatory, it gives rise to a society that spins out of control. Jurgin is denied Justice because of his social class and ethnicity. The law is a representation of the government. If the government cannot protect its citizens, it causes chaos in society. Such means result to them acquiring animal traits of ruthlessness in taking what is not theirs.
The men in this book have been hardened by their misfortunes, making them furious and heartless like wild animals. Frustration is highlighted as being the main cause of animal like behavior as exhibited by Jurgin in his fight with Connor. Most people in Packingtown were frustrated by the living conditions. They resorted to crime to ease their frustrations and were involved in conning people. However, others were simply cruel individuals. Cruelty was shown by owners of the industries who fired people any time they felt like hence leaving their children starving. Those who controlled law enforcement and the voting system were evil. The ones who sold bad meat to the public were greedy and selfish. They all possessed animalistic characters hence; we cannot entirely justify all these behaviors on frustration. The rich were not frustrated in any way, but they still tormented the poor. Such acts belonged to the jungle with the rest of the animals as highlighted by the writer.
Therefore, the caused to the adverse living conditions emanate from the government, those in power and the people in society. Everybody had a part to play in getting the society to where it was. Even though, industrial capitalism is the author of all these problems, society as a whole contributed. From this works of art among others, the author is on record to have bagged various presents not forgetting the prominence and stature associated with such accomplishments. Most importantly, it was through his works that the Pure Food and Drug Act of the 1906 was formulated and implemented to law. To the society, his works of art had resulted to the deepest reform that would for years ensure their health within the society was upheld. Moreover, it was as a result of that the author was in a position to establish as well as support the socialist commune Helicon Home Colony. Without a doubt, the author played an imperative role both in politics and economics through his works something that in most cases resulted to the betterment of the society.
Work cited
Sinclair, Upton. The Jungle. New York, N.Y: Signet Classic, 2001. Print.
