Analysis: Chapters 25–26
Jurgis’s entrance into the underworld of crime demonstrates
that merciless predation, thievery, and dishonesty are far better rewarded
in the universe of The Jungle than commitment to
fundamental American values. It also provides a look into the corruption of
the justice system and the democratic political process. Jurgis makes
far more money by mugging, rigging elections, and working as a scab
than he did as a regular wage earner. Sinclair again ironically
positions capitalism, which is generally considered to be the forum
of the American Dream, as a threat to the American way. Whereas
Jurgis earlier fails to achieve this dream when he submits himself
wholeheartedly to the process that he believes will garner him that life
for which he longs, he now succeeds by means of tactics antithetical to
the values of hard work and honesty. The profits that he makes from these
practices assuages his conscience, so that he cares only about himself
and can completely ignore the suffering of his victims, just as
the real estate agent and various foremen earlier ignore his suffering.
Jurgis heads down the road of corruption and dishonesty,
and Sinclair uses the encounter with Phil Connor to illustrate that
any remaining vestige of morality or desire to achieve the American Dream
by honest means is pointless for Jurgis. His instinctive attack on
Connor evidences a lingering sense of injustice at Connor’s rape of
Ona. But though this sentiment may be somewhat noble, it only lands
him in prison again, which inevitably leads to his losing all of his
money again. Sinclair, thus, reasserts the worthlessness of moral values
in the face of capitalism, as one cannot gain ground by clinging
to such idealistic values when corruption abounds.
In particular, Sinclair focuses on the moral depredations
of capitalism, especially the corrupting influence of vice among
the laborers as a means of escaping the miseries of their lives.
He describes the depravity and immorality that run unchecked among
the scab workers in order to charge the meat packers with encouraging
sinful behavior. Gambling, fighting, and prostitution run rampant
in the population of scab workers. He describes how these prostitutes, criminals,
and gamblers handle the meat that is sold to the American public.
Sinclair equates the moral “dirtiness” of the scab workers with
the literal dirtiness of the meat itself.
Sinclair’s representation of the scab workers attacks
the meat packers by association. The filth and immorality of the
scabs rubs off on their employers. However, the racism prevalent
in turn-of-the-century white America begins to creep into Sinclair’s
narrative at this stage. Many of the scab workers are black southerners,
to whom Sinclair often refers as “big buck Negroes.” The black scab workers
are continually described as lazy, ignorant, criminal, and self-destructive.
Furthermore, he conjures images of these “big buck Negroes” rubbing
elbows with white country girls, knowing that the idea of black
men cavorting with white women would raise the ire of white readers.
Sinclair states that their ancestors were once African savages forced
into slavery; now, however, they are really “free” for the first
time—“free to wreck themselves.” In his fervent attempt to rouse
the reading public’s moral outrage against big capitalists, Sinclair
reproduces, unfortunately, some of the most racist stereotypes against
blacks.
