The Junge

Alienation

Caitlin Elijah

Working In America: HUM-105-ATW12

Dr. R. Eric Colvard

October 19, 2014

“’Alienation’ is the general term most often used by critics to describe a widespread negative dimension of work and life in industrial societies”. When people feel alienated, they feel like they are no longer a part of something, therefore feeling disconnected. This is a big issue in America still today but was extreme in Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle. When Jurgis, an immigrant from Lithuaniam comes to America with high hopes of living the “American Dream”, he is soon to find out that America is not at all as wonderful as he initially thought it would be. Because of the capitalist system, Jurgis goes through many hardships during his time in America. The system leads to alienation which eventually plays a big part of Jurgis’ everyday life in many different situations like not feeling respected by the higher ups in the work place, getting scammed on their house, and being betrayed by his own family. This results in Jurgis evolving into a person he never thought he would be. Cheating, stealing and drinking eventually become a big part of who Jurgis has become.

One of the first main ways Jurgis felt alienated was by not feeling respected by the higher ups of the plants. When Jurgis’ father, Antanas Rudkus, who was anxiously looking for a job but was turned down because of old age, was approached by a man who offered to get him a job in return for a fraction of his wages, Jurgis realized that something was not right. “After Jurgis had been there awhile he would know that the plants were simply honeycombed with rottenness of that sort—the bosses grafted off the men, and they grafted off each other; and someday the superintendent would find out about the boss, and then he would graft off the boss.”

Jurgis came to realize that there were a lot of people out there that were only looking out for themselves. They would take advantage of others and do many ‘immoral’...