The United States during the Period 1865 To 1910
Late 19th century and early 20th century periods between 1865 and 1910, United States was undergoing extensive and rapid changes. These changes were both economic, political, and social aspects in the western and northern parts of the United States. It is during this time that the US became one of the world’s dominant countries in terms of economic, industrial, and economic development. Addressing the economic activities that were in progress this time and major reforms that took place in this time. Also, the common economic production was meat-packing companies, actively engaging the American citizens. This period is marked with immigrations from the European, who increased the population in America, thus a need for expansion of the agricultural and industrial activities. During this time Jurgis Rudkus, was among the group of Immigrants from Lithuania, with the entire family including his wife, children, father, and cousin. They settled in America hoping for more opportunities in life. This essay discusses the changes that took place during the American rapid change in conjunction with the life story of Jurgis Rudkus as presented in “The Jungle,” by Upton Sinclair.
During the 19th century, especially, in 1876 July, the United States experienced a period of relief. It is this time when the Americans were enjoying democracy, capitalism, and Christianity. Additionally, many policies were introduced to fight against slavery and encourage settlement for free men and women. Every individual was expected to fight for freedom and justice across the whole population, natives started creating relations between the governments. The set preconditions attracted people to move to America to seek a better life with their families however, the situation was not as they entirely expected (Morris 50). A good example is that of Jurgis Rudkus who decided to leave his Lithuania native home to America, accompanied by the entire family to seek better conditions in the United States.
Before embarking on the journey they were aware of the Industrial activity that was taking place in America. The native Americas were innovative and initiated much change in the production industry, and lives were really doing well thus attracting external people, which is the reason for immigration rates. New cities were established and people were also getting much concentrated in the Urban Centers. However, upon arrival, Jurgis was thrown into a chaotic environment that they think totally different from their expectation (Sinclair 240). Although they thought that life in the developed world would be sweet with little or no obligation, the expectations were deemed null and void and thus they were entitled to toil and constantly struggle in order to earn a living. The reason why this article is named “The Jungle” since the life of Jurgis in Packingtown was an urban jungle, with a lot of savages, unrelenting, and unforgiving people.
The stay in the US was not sweet at all. Jurgis was conned in the attempt to get housing within American. He faced many challenges during the winters, to an extent that his father died, which forced him to join the labor union. The union gave him a ticket to enter the factory systems which he deemed very corrupt, the managers of the company tell him to pursue English classes so that he might get a promotion at the work but do not work (Sinclair 302). One day he develops an injury on an accident where he is deprived of pay for the three months. He is coupled with a chain of struggles, torture, and poverty, which makes him abandon his family and relatives and decides to stay in Chicago. Through this story, we get the ideal picture of America in this time, where despite the industrialization, there were a lot of challenges that were faced by the immigrants to the US, which is evidence of racism based on ethnicity.
Work Cited
Morris, Matthew J. "The Two Lives of Jurgis Rudkus." American Literary Realism, 1870-1910 29.2 (1997): 50-67.
Sinclair, Upton. The Jungle:( 1906). CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, 2014.
