The Role Of Immigrants In Upton Sinclair's The Jungle

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In the early 1900s industrialization began. Industrialization increased the production of manufactured goods and decreased job opportunities. Industrialization is when society transfers from man-made products to factory made products. Towns decreased and changed into cities due to urbanization. Urbanization is the change from an agricultural society into a more modern city. The novel, The Jungle, by Upton Sinclair, is known as a good example of the societal problems caused by immigration.
Due to immigration, opportunities for jobs became hard to find. In the early 1900s bosses hired a large number of immigrants, because they were so desperate for money that they would work for any amount of money. They ignored the dangers, paygrade, and no benefits, just to keep their jobs and earn a few cents. In The Jungle, Jurgis’s family move to America to find a better life (Sinclair 25-26). In the process, they go through financial challenges, such as job opportunities and pay due to all the immigrants. As time went on immigrants wanted more money, so they created …show more content…
In Sinclair’s novel, The Jungle, Sinclair talked about how Ona’s boss did not like her because she was married and had a family (Sinclair 77-78). Another example is when Jurgis goes to Freddie Jones house, Freddie is drunk, and Jurgis goes to Freddie’s house. Minutes later Freddie passes out in Freddie’s father’s study and Jurgis gets kicked out by Freddie's butler (Sinclair 240). A few Americans welcomed immigrants, and a few of them were xenophobic, a fear or hatred of strangers or foreigners. In 1917, Americans passed the Literacy test Act. The Literacy test Act is when immigrants have to be able to read thirty to forty words. The immigrants didn’t respond well to assimilation when cultures begin to resemble each other because it was forced on them by the Americans. In The Jungle, Sinclair did not show much of how Americans tried to reduce
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