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Being American, most of us don't really know what it's like to be pushed away from home into a different situation. We may move from block to block or city to city but, how many of us has been forced to find life in a new country. This is a process that would make one feel alienatated daily, as if one didn't belong. You would have to change the way you live and the way you saw things to the view of the sheltering country. Though one might find perks like scenery, or not having to deal with gang violence, it would be a time of hardship that would be hard to overcome. This is what Jurgis went through in Upton Sinclair's "The Jungle".
Due to terrible conditions in his homeland of Lithuiania, after he married the love of his life Ona, they decided to exile to the Melting Pot. Ona brought her cousin and her sister along on the trip and plus two children which made six. They settled in the windy city of Chicago, which was home to many immigrants in the early twentieth century. Coming from Lithuiania, America was everything they dreamed of; they would have their own rights with no one breathing down there necks, they could start there own business' and get to work like they knew people had down and the country was beautiful to them. The green grass, warm sun and nice town was very appealing. They had made it to America safely and would now be able to live the famous "American Dream".
They move to a town called Packingtown where reality begins to hit. Jurgis lands a job sweeping the remains of slaughtered cattle through trap doors making two dollars a hour for twelve hours of work. Ona's cousin Teta finds a job too making two dollars a day putting labels on cans so now they have two incomes in the border room they lived in. This was not merely enough for a family of six so when they saw an ad for a four-room house for fifteen hundred (three hundred down payment) they jumped on it. They worked and saved until they could make the down payment and made it happen! They had achieved the American Dream. They had a family with a house and jobs, what more could they ask for?
Trouble. The house didn't look like it did in the ad and there was work needed to be done. There were hidden unfair clauses in the house deed, that the agent was sure to leave out. They had jobs with horrible working conditions/hours, and had to keep up with house payments every month now. Plus bills, repair work, food, and clothing for everybody since a cold Chicago winter was coming. Then behind all of this, they wearn't citizens. So nobody in this capatalist country cared for them. They didn't know laws or so much about rights so people stepped over them sometimes. They got tooken advantage of by boss's and businessmen because everybody is chasing there own dollars to pay what they owe. After months of with this burden on there shoulders daily, they began to feel as if it was just them out there. Working hard hours everyday just to make a little change to put towards the monthly dues. How would they make it pass to the next house payment. With such a long way to go, so much could go wrong in so little time.
And it did. Jurgis and his family had the most heart wrenching experience melting in this pot to where noone noticed them. At the begginning, it was the best thing that had happened to their Lithunian lives. But slowly, society made them feel like they are seen to the country; aliens. By the end of their odyssey, Jurgis had been to jail twice and was by himself with his wife and other family members dead from struggle. Maybe his life would have been different if he wouldn't have left home.
Due to terrible conditions in his homeland of Lithuiania, after he married the love of his life Ona, they decided to exile to the Melting Pot. Ona brought her cousin and her sister along on the trip and plus two children which made six. They settled in the windy city of Chicago, which was home to many immigrants in the early twentieth century. Coming from Lithuiania, America was everything they dreamed of; they would have their own rights with no one breathing down there necks, they could start there own business' and get to work like they knew people had down and the country was beautiful to them. The green grass, warm sun and nice town was very appealing. They had made it to America safely and would now be able to live the famous "American Dream".
They move to a town called Packingtown where reality begins to hit. Jurgis lands a job sweeping the remains of slaughtered cattle through trap doors making two dollars a hour for twelve hours of work. Ona's cousin Teta finds a job too making two dollars a day putting labels on cans so now they have two incomes in the border room they lived in. This was not merely enough for a family of six so when they saw an ad for a four-room house for fifteen hundred (three hundred down payment) they jumped on it. They worked and saved until they could make the down payment and made it happen! They had achieved the American Dream. They had a family with a house and jobs, what more could they ask for?
Trouble. The house didn't look like it did in the ad and there was work needed to be done. There were hidden unfair clauses in the house deed, that the agent was sure to leave out. They had jobs with horrible working conditions/hours, and had to keep up with house payments every month now. Plus bills, repair work, food, and clothing for everybody since a cold Chicago winter was coming. Then behind all of this, they wearn't citizens. So nobody in this capatalist country cared for them. They didn't know laws or so much about rights so people stepped over them sometimes. They got tooken advantage of by boss's and businessmen because everybody is chasing there own dollars to pay what they owe. After months of with this burden on there shoulders daily, they began to feel as if it was just them out there. Working hard hours everyday just to make a little change to put towards the monthly dues. How would they make it pass to the next house payment. With such a long way to go, so much could go wrong in so little time.
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