The Jungle by Upton Sinclair 9 out of 10

 The Jungle by Upton Sinclair

9 out of 10

You can find this extraordinary, grim, fundamental, somewhat socialist, alas, novel on at least two cardinal lists…The Guardian 1,000 Novels Everyone Must Read - https://www.theguardian.com/books/2009/jan/23/bestbooks-fiction - and The 150 English Language Novels of the 20^th Century - http://www.friendswood.lib.tx.us/bookinfo/frpubtop150.htm

The story of the hero, Jurgis Rudkus, a Lithuanian immigrant, of his family, their community and the workers of Chicago is more than compelling, it can cause nightmares, for the traumas, tragedies they experience could well haunt the reader for a long time, especially if we add to the description of the suffering of people, that of the animals killed in the meatpacking district, in the first part of the last century.

To judge from the rather cheerful debut of the narrative, the reader might think that he or she is in for a joy ride – with this particular segment reminding the under signed of the Godfather wedding – but precipitously, the atmosphere becomes depressed, only to reach incredible depth of human suffering and debasement.

Even at the wedding, we soon learn how much the families involved have had to deprive themselves in order to arrange for a festivity that would burden them for months, perhaps years to come, for everything is too expensive for the working man, most of the capitalist entrepreneurs are swindlers, crooks, criminals bent on selling food that is no good, killing animals that are sick and dangerous to eat – with the complicity of corrupt authorities that allow for illegal licensing for public transport, meat to go on sale without the proper inspection and all sorts of horrible abuses of human basic rights.

Indeed, the radicalism of the writing can be perceived as excessive, for this reader it seemed from one stage on to promote the glory of socialism – and as one who had had to live under a form of socialism for twenty five years, I strongly reject it, although it must be said that German SDP, the socialist party they have today is not as repugnant as the one in Venezuela say.

The conditions in the slaughterhouse where Jurgis and others have to work are so terrible as to make Upton Sinclair seem one of the first people to make advertising for a vegan way of life – my daughter and spouse have embraced that lifestyle – for the description of the killing of cattle is so terrible as to make for some rather difficult reading and the impact has been some needed reform of the industry, with the imposition of the Meat Inspection Act.

If we look at what the ultimate capitalist society has produced – the depraved, ridiculous, contemptuous, idiotic Trump – we may say that Upton Sinclair has had a point, although those who have experienced the “blessing” of the socialist – communist alternative know that the market forces, for all their flaws, are much better than those of the George Orwell Animal Farm are.

When they arrive in America, the hero, his wife, Ona, their families and so most of the other immigrants hope that their troubles are, if not over, at least manageable, but they find multitudes of swindlers, ready to take full advantage of their good nature, naiveté, trustfulness, as in the case of those who sell them a house, under the pretense that it is new and solid, without disclosing the various hidden payments they cannot possibly afford – if they were to know about the small print – reminding one of the Subprime Housing emergency, which eventually led to the Depression of 2008.

After one accident, Jurgis has to work in a fertilizer plant, toxic and impregnating a smell that would never come out, and then members of the family die, one by one, from food poisoning, inhumane working conditions, the vileness of the circumstances in which they live, the fact that they cannot afford enough food, the pitiable amount they have is altered and the food makers use the discarded potato peels to make sausages that have no nutritional value.

When they are faced with job loss, eviction for they cannot pay their debts, Ona is forced to accept to be raped – it was in no way consensual – and when Jurgis finds out about the boss who had forced himself upon his spouse, promising to keep him employed and thus saving the family, Jurgis is bling with rage, attacks the loathsome rapist and beats him as much as he can, taking flesh with his teeth from the monster and is then sent to prison.

This tragedy is similar on some levels with the Grapes of Wrath – John Steinbeck is another writer with communist sympathies, alas – for the excruciating pain, the destitution experienced by the Lithuanian family and more tragically, millions like them are heartbreaking and hard to learn about.

A little luck seems to come the way of the protagonist – if we can call it that, after his wife dies, he is arrested, has to suffer trauma in the meatpacking, fertilizer factories, becomes a hobo and loses everything – when he meets a rich, drunk man who takes him to his mansion, where he has servants and one hundred dollar bill – a fortune for Jurgis and the equivalent of many thousands in the currency of this day – reaches the hands of the poor Rudkus.

However, when he tries to change the money for smaller change in a bar, the bar owner steals it from him, attacks the vagrant, calls the police, pretends he is the victim attacked by a lunatic that unfortunately ends up again in a prison, which seems to be the fate of any innocent individual – albeit he had stolen the hundred dollars – in an America that belongs to crooks and robbers – and if we are to look at what they have elected recently, tens of millions are happy to be ruled by the Ultimate Crook – about 82% of republicans still approve of the paradigm of a Scoundrel.

After drifting in the countryside, where some famers offer food in exchange for money, while others show the same meanness as factory owners in Chicago, the hero returns to his family home only to find it repossessed – repainted, it was used to cheat on other, new buyers – and Marija, his late wife’s cousin, forced into prostitution and drug addiction, the only one who can still support her family and keep them alive, although Stanislovas has died, eaten by rats.

As for the conclusion, this former citizen of a communist country rejects it strongly, for if Jurgis Rudkus finds socialism to be the Supreme Liberation, this is yet another trick played on him.