In the book “The Jungle” written by Upton Sinclair is greatly expressed upon immigration. because of immigration Jurgis and Ona and all affected can’t live an exact normal life for the same reason that they are not citizens. They can’t stand for themselves at work because they have a fear that because they they have no right, their bosses will tell on them and they will get deported. They don’t have any medical or any kind of insurance because they simply can’t. All of this greatly impacts their life and how live and do stuff in the United States. Ona and Jurgis came from Lithuania after they got married because they got encouraged by a friend because according to that friend there was a promise of high wages and a happy, good life. They came as immigrants and do not have citizenship here. Instead of a land where they can be accepted and filled with opportunities they find a place of prejudice and where people get exploited everywhere and anywhere; instead of a country where hard work and morals lead to success, they find a place where only moral corruption and crime allow one to succeed with material needs. In my article, “Immigration and Meatpacking in the Midwest” written by Georgeanne M. Artz, she explains that from the census data in 2010 it shows that roughly ⅓ of the working industry are from foreign countries. She also says that by the year 2000 more than 60% of most jobs in the meatpacking and processing jobs were in rural areas. In the book, Sinclair focuses mostly in urban industries. Which are much more populated. Artz also researched that perceptions say that immigrant workers associate with a lot of problems. These include, higher levels of crime, increased welfare loads, heavier burdens on public services like schools, health care providers and low-income housing and the inconvenience of bilingual commerce. On the other hand in the book Ona and Jurgis and their family have a very hard time because they don’t get any welfare at all and they don’t get any medicare or any type of help at all. They have to pay their house on their own and how they are able to. They also have to bring food to the table for the kids and everyone else, the people that work pitch in as well but its barely enough to get them through. They try and live on their own with the jobs they can afford to get. This
