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Example research essay topic: Socialism And Communism Union Movement - 1,670 words

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The Jungle by Upton Sinclair (1) Since the time it was being published in 1906, Sinclair's novel The Jungle used to attract a lot of criticism. Most of literary critics were pointing out to the fact that author uses novels plot as the vehicle of popularizing his political ideas. Sinclair never made a secret of his affiliation with Socialist movement, nevertheless, in The Jungle; he adopts a posture of neutral observers. This, of course, cannot be considered as very honest attitude, towards the readers.

Sinclair is clearly trying to push his political agenda, while striving to convince people in his objectivity. Madeleine Doty in her critical 1906 critical review of American literature The Socialist in Recent Fiction suggests that the author of The Jungle is excessively engaged in politics: The book should have ended on page 355. It is there that the tirade on socialism begins. Up to that point it is thrilling and horribly fascinating. Once having started it, it is impossible to put it down (Doty). Literary Digest of May 5, 1906 contains article Latest Phase of the Socialistic Novel by anonymous author, who make excellent point by suggesting that, in order to remain effective, any political doctrine cannot be based on sentimentalism: Few social results are likely to follow the socialistic novel.

There is not enough genuine compassion in it to make it persuasive The mere accumulation of horrors has never been an argument for anything but for the restraint of morbid curiosity (Literary Digest). We can only agree with it. Despite the fact that Sinclair's concern for workers was genuine, he wrongly considered the class struggle to be imminent, in capitalist society. This is nothing but pure Marxism, which proved itself as absolutely ineffective political doctrine. As the example of Germany, before Second World War showed, it is quite possible to combine socialism and capitalism, which leads to elimination of class struggle. Therefore, Sinclair's approach to the issue of class relations within a society is very naive.

What makes his political stance even less valid is the fact that, when Sinclair was writing his novel, America was racially homogeneous society, yet he still considered a class struggle as something inevitable. Another subject of Jungles literary criticism was the fact that most of novels characters are one-dimensional. The psychological complexity is almost non-existent, throughout Sinclair's book. The characters are being born and die in static manner.

Even their sufferings are described by author mechanically, as if he was trying to use them for making a political statement. It is not by pure accident that the political significance of Sinclair's The Jungle was being often compared to Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Toms Cabin. Both authors were wealthy aristocrats, who used to criticize social inequalities, while enjoying leisurely living. Sinclair was able to observe social injustice, but he could never take it close to his heart, because he has never been subjected to such injustice.

This significantly undermines the literary value of his book. (2) The Jungle is written in third person. This was being done, in order to maintain the aura of objectivity over the novel. Authors role appears to be simply descriptive, but this is a wrong impression. In fact, Sinclair actively strives to make readers to adopt his point of view. There are no many literary devices are being used in the novel, to make it sound more pleasurable to the ear. It is being read like some sort of chronicle.

Almost every chapter begins with Jurgis getting off bed, and going about his business. The description of nature settings is also almost non-existent. Nevertheless, it appears that it was a Sinclair's intention to make his novel more mechanistic, in order to emphasize the anti-human essence of capitalist society. At the beginning, Jurgis is represented to us as sensitive and hard-working young man, while at the end; he grows to become a cynic. In Chapter 17, Sinclair even cites poetry as the mean to prove his point that Jurgis was simply the victim of social injustice: I know not whether Laws be right, Or whether Laws be wrong; All that we know who lie in gaol Is that the wall is strong. And they do well to hide their hell, For in it things are done That Son of God nor son of Man Ever should look upon! (Sinclair) Sinclair also uses metaphors in his novel, but only to make the picture of surrounding reality even darker.

Workers are often being compared to rats that would not hesitate to bite into each other throats, when it would come to physical survival. While describing people in jail authors says: They could tell the whole hateful story of it, set forth the inner soul of a city in which justice and honor, women's bodies and men's souls, were for sale in the marketplace, and human beings writhed and fought and fell upon each other like wolves in a pit; in which lusts were raging fires, and men were fuel, and humanity was festering and stewing and wallowing in its own corruption (Sinclair). Nevertheless, comparing to other fictional novels of the time, The Jungle does not use much of figurative language. There are a lot of dialogues can be found, throughout the novel, but the topics of conversations between the characters are downed to Earth. At the same time, this makes Sinclair's novel more realistic, because readers would have a hard time believing that Lithuanian immigrants, who are not even fluent in English, could discuss abstract matters. (3) The Jungle consists of 31 Chapters, without Prologue or Epilogue. This structure fits the best for telling the story, where there is no unifying event, around which the storyline would revolve.

Novel tells us about the lives of Lithuanian immigrants in America, at the turn of the century. Every character in it pursues its own destiny, without being depended much on the members of his family or friends. Jurgis, Ona, Total and Maria are only related to each other in social context, even though that they are the members of the same family. It is the social circumstances that make them to break up with each other or to form alliances. Jurgis is undeniably the most important character of Sinclair's novel. Throughout the novel he transforms from naive immigrant to union activist.

The other characters undergo similar transformation, but they are never able to achieve a social awareness. Becoming a member of union, at the end of the novel, transfigures Jurgis into completely being. Just as Jesus Christ, he went through a lot of suffering, to become an inspirational figure for generations of Communists to come. The Jungle was meant to serve as Socialist Bible, this is why its structure is comparable to the one of holy book. The main similarity between two books is their liner composition. Just like in Bible, the main characters in The Jungle are related by blood.

Also, both books apogees come at their very end. It has been suggested by many historians that Socialism and Communism are nothing but logical developments of Christianity. Therefore, it is quite explainable why motives of Bible and The Jungle result in structural similarity between two books. Sinclair had written numerous novels, but only The Jungle is still being remembered, because people are able to subconsciously associate it with good news. The structural unity in Sinclair's book is achieved by ideological factor, rather then by the consistency of storyline. The idea of the whole book is contained in each chapter individually.

This is why, novel chapters can be considered as tales of preparatory stages of Jurgis life, before his transfiguration. (4) As we have mentioned earlier, The Jungle glorifies class struggle. This relates Sinclair's book to Communist Manifesto, where the main goal of Communist revolution is openly proclaimed to be physical liquidation of bourgeoisie. Communist experiment resulted in murder of hundreds of millions of people. We have also shown the spiritual relation of The Jungle to Christianity.

This religion of tolerance has also resulted in deaths of millions of heretics. Therefore, it is quite impossible to think of Sinclair's novel, outside of the context of two most degenerative doctrines that humanity had ever produced. At the same time, it is quite obvious that Sinclair's concern for workers is distinguished by authors naivete. Thus, it would be wrong to suggest that Sinclair had any malicious intentions, while writing his book. He simply strived to gain a fame of talented writer, while exploiting the topic of class struggle, which was very fashionable at the time. This is why he continued to write his masterpieces, before realizing that the history itself proved the sheer absurdity of Communist ideas.

Nevertheless, we cannot suggest that the achieving of social justice is impossible in principle. Also, author was absolutely correct suggesting the civil rights and privileges are not being asked for, but simply taken. The theme of union movement is very important in Sinclair's work. The union movement had not lost its actuality nowadays.

In fact, it starting to gain even more momentum, as the gap between rich and poor becomes wider. Sinclair's book, just as Bible, allows people to interpret it in any way they want. In fact, it could serve as both the spiritual foundation for National-Socialism and Communism, because union movement was being exploited by both ideologies. Sinclair leaves much uncertainty, in regards to his own political affiliation in The Jungle. His left-wing leanings only became apparent later in time.

There is no doubt that many ideas in Sinclair's novel did not lose their actuality up until now, but today we have much better understanding of their essence. Bibliography: Doty, Madeleine The Socialist in Recent Fiction. 15. Dec. 1906. Charities and the Commons 17. 2007.

Boondocks Net Editions. 20 Mar. 2007. web Latest Phase of the Socialistic Novel. 5 May, 1906. Literary Digest 32. 2007. Boondocks Net Editions. 20 Mar. 2007. web Sinclair, Upton The Jungle 1906. 2007. The Project Gutenberg EBook. 20.

Mar. 2007. web Outline: Criticism Style and Technique Structure Conclusion


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