Week Three - The Rise of the City and the Battle for Reform
Share an idea or two from this week's reading. What was most interesting to you? What was most strange? How does the reading this week fit into issues and discussions we have had in this class?
After reading the excerpts from Upton Sinclair's "The Jungle," I realized that I never truly understood how drastic the situations of that time were. I found it odd how easily people and businesses could take advantage of each other and how little people could do to fight it. That seemed to be a very corrupt time.
ReplyDeleteUpton Sinclair uses the Jungle to successfully illustrate life of the low class of the early 1900s. It really helped me understand that this group of people were truly in a hole they had no hopes of ever getting out of. It showed how men of better wealth, political influence, and business could keep the poor man stagnant, never moving in a positive direction, while genuinely reaping all benefits for themselves. It also illustrates, however, a time when the low class finally learned to band together to wield some power over the controlling one-percent of society. Through Jurgis' toils and troubles, it has become apparent that with corruption like this, the lower classes numbers will never allow them to truly run this world.
ReplyDeleteThe Jungle shed light on what was going on in the meatpacking industry, and all the terrible things that went into packing the meat and killing the animals. Without the Upton Sinclair exposing the meat packing industry, there would not be the Pure Food and Drug Act. This makes sure that all drugs and food is inspected and is safe to distribute all around the U.S. Upton Sinclair exposed many problems, but one that changed peoples’ mindset was the experiences that Jurgis and his family went through. The muckraking on the meat packing industry will continue to impact people’s lives throughout generations to come.
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ReplyDeleteI would like to start out commenting about the lecture because my peers before me have all gave feedback regarding "The Jungle". I found it interesting that the flood of immigrants had outnumbered the rest of the population in big cities in the north. America must have really been a serious destination around the world. I wonder how the word got out. Also, due to this massive wave of newcomers, it came with a lot of hate, resulting in them to live within their own communities and unite. This reminds me of segregation in America later in the 1900's. This lecture fit perfectly with "The Jungle". I am glad I got to experienced reading the excerpts because it opened my eyes to how privileged we are today in America. We have a minimum wage, fair wages, and very comfortable working conditions. I drew the connection that we still outsource today and can get away with paying immigrants (illegal ones) less and expect them to work in below-par conditions. I guess some things will never change. I enjoyed this weeks readings the most
ReplyDeleteMany immigrants believed that moving to the United States during the early 20th century could mean fortune and better opportunities. However, this clearly was not the case for many people. The Jungle depicts what a low class family actually lived like during these times. It showed the terrible conditions of the housing most lived in and the unsafe and unsanitary workspace they participated in. This all went to show that the poor only got poorer and the rich only got richer, and how the rich were able to take advantage of those who had almost no money to their name. The gap between the wealthy and the needy was as big as ever, and Sinclair exposing this truth resulted in a great deal of controversy in America.
ReplyDeleteDuring this time immigrants looked at America as a great place to move to, but after arrival was in for a rude awakening. This book tells the story of an immigrant family who has recently moved to America in search for a home and work. They are hit with so many trails throughout this process causing things to result into death, imprisonment, and prostitution . From my point of view, people in high authority and the wealthy controlled these people's happiness and how their life progressed over time.
ReplyDeleteI found it interesting how immigrants saw the US as the dream, like a start over. When they got to the US they found work in factories were terrible, with terrible pay. The jungle is a great example of how immagrants lived in that time. i found it interesting that the Asian immigrants could not own land, or pretty much anything at all.
ReplyDeleteI think that it was both interesting and sad to see how easily the immigrants were influenced by the word of strangers. They bought the house only after being told that it was okay by lawyers and the realtor, Jurgis leaves the strike that the union is having to go back to work when the man who got him his job told him that he was being irresponsible, and they lined up at the doors of the meat-packing plants for work even though they knew how awful the jobs were because they believed that their only option was to try to get a job there. Those jobs sounded foul and disturbing and the workers were terribly mistreated without even enough pay to get by on. It was very hard to read the scenes that described these workplaces.
ReplyDeleteSuch a different time to imagine. Working in such horrible environments for incredibly long hours all for a dollar and seventy-five cents a day. To some it would seem a nightmare, to others it seems like a dream when considering the different economy and dollar value. Dirty workplaces, stressful financial circumstances, language barriers, and lack of education are overwhelming.
ReplyDeleteAnneliese Kilpatrick
When I read the jungle, it made me realize how hard times were back in the day. Jobs were scarce so the jobs that seamed to always be hiring was the meat packing industry. Many of the new workers were immigrants trying to find work. People described the meat packing industry and cruel, bloody, and almost inhumane. Workers were extremely mistreated and also made very little money. It showed how immigrants and low class people with very little or no education struggled with their living conditions, especially compared to the upper class citizens.
ReplyDelete-Patton Lutz
The Jungle seems to show how the world was for immigrants in the beginning. The working conditions for these people were extremely poor, they made almost unlivable wages, and worked an ungodly number of hours.
ReplyDeleteJargis in the beginning saw these working conditions as necessary, he was just happy to have a job.
- Sydni Ashley
The working conditions for Jurgis and other members of his family in Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle are undebatablely awful. He shows how the immigrants in the 1900s in Chicago came to America hoping for a better life and jobs but came to discover it was not what they expected. The jobs were not better and they had to work in the worse enviroments. They were very dangerous and unsanitary.Immigrants would work so many hours in nasty facilities and risking their life sometimes, to only be taking home a low amount of many each week. Even after laws were put into place to help employees, people found ways around them to still exploit the workers to get more money.
ReplyDelete"The Jungle" made me sad, but also made me appreciate the US today. The immigrants came to
ReplyDeleteAmerica to have a better life. To get a home and find work. They got lied to about everything.
Instead of a better life, they got long work hours, low work pay and awful working conditions. To
add insult to injury they were told the packers did not keep the grown old workers and surely were
not taking new old workers. This was a rule everywhere in America. The rich got richer and the poor
got poorer.
Jurgis Rudkus came to America in pursuit of a better life and was willing to work for it. He believed that America would give him an opportunity to work hard and get ahead, but he found that the dream he had been promised was pure fiction. Even working numerous hours in horrible conditions, Jurgis and his family could never get ahead in life because of the sheer amount of corrupt businesses and officials who used and manipulated people for their own benefit.
ReplyDeleteAfter reading The Jungle, I found it interesting how Jurgis and his family were hard working people who didn't give up easy. But it was very strange to me how everyone in the house were working, and still they couldn't get their house together. Even if they had to eat somebody could have at least bought a heater so they could stay warm in the winter. In class we discuss some labor laws and how laws were made so everyone could have far working conditions. But yet in the reading Jurgis and his family are working in poor, unfair conditions everyday. Especially in the winter, that just goes to show you have some business owners who don't care for laws and they know these people will work in any conditions just to support their family.
ReplyDeleteThe Jungle really opened my eyes to how hard life was for immigrants seeking new opportunity and a better life in the U.S. They were put under poor working conditions, hard work, and low pay. This in turn spilled over into their living conditions because they were mostly already poor, and couldn't make enough money in their new jobs to live in good homes in good areas. A lot of these immigrants joined labor unions to get things changed in their jobs, but businesses couldn't have cared about the labor laws or unions, so nothing was accomplished. Businesses were very corrupt and only cared about the work getting done and making themselves more money, not caring about their workers.
ReplyDeleteThe reading, The Jungle, shows how people came to America in hopes of a better life, but realized that it's not all it's cracked up to be. It taught me to appreciate that i do not have to work exhausting work days only to make a dollar and fifty cents. Immigrants in the past were just glad to have jobs.
ReplyDeleteThe Jungle tells a story of Lithuanian immigrants who came to America in search for better lives. What interests me about the story of this family is their determination. Poor working conditions, low wages, and inadequate living conditions were all reasons Jurgis and his family could have gave in. The most strange part about this reading to me was the fact that Jurgis was optimistic even though nothing seemed to be going their way. Being an immigrant at this time in America was almost always extremely difficult. Labor unions only offered extended knowledge about working conditions and wages for immigrants in the beginning. I believe that this reading really ties in to how we have been learning about freedom and how certain groups of people gained their's. These people were basically enslaved to the labor system in Chicago at this time. "Were they really free?" This is something I began to ask myself.
ReplyDeleteIn the Jungle, it showed us how immigrants wanted to come to the United States to get a better life. They worked while receiving poor working conditions, poor pay, and terrible living conditions. They were treated like slaves but where getting paid poorly. Lots of immigrants including Jurgis joined the union to try to find better jobs, but he still ended up getting back-breaking jobs. That story made me grateful about my life that I never had to go through any of that growing up.
ReplyDeleteI found it very interesting that even though life was difficult for Jurgis Rudkus he still continued to work hard for his family. I found it strange that it didn't matter how hard immigrants worked they never got a fair shake at life. This reading relates back to the discussion we had on share cropping how the slaves were free but still wasn't presented a fair shake at life.
ReplyDeleteAfter reading "The Jungle", my eyes were opened to how devastating the lives of those in the working-class were during this time. I can't imagine so many people barely scraping by to feed themselves and their families. I also cannot comprehend how those of the capitol/owning class oversaw how horrible the lives of those in the working class were, and did nothing to help change their conditions. This was an age of greed and selfishness for America at its deepest level. It is also ridiculous to me how America had to hit rock bottom before realizing that we needed some type of rules and regulations for safety and health.
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