FREE ESSAY ON THE GRAPES OF WRATH AND THE JUNGLE: A COMPARISON

THE GRAPES OF WRATH AND THE JUNGLE: A COMPARISON

The Jungle and The Grapes of Wrath appear to be two very different books. One tells the
story of immigrants working amidst the horrors of the meat packing plants of Chicago at
the turn of the century. The other is placed in California during the Great Depression,
depicting one family's struggle to survive. However, they are more alike than they seem
to be. This essay will outline some of their points in common, and what makes these
novels classics to this day.
The Jungle, written by Upton Sinclair is a very vivid book, but at the same time, it is
very depressing. The daily struggle of the people living in the Chicago stockyards is
heartbreaking. Jurgis Rudkus and his family come to America trying to find freedom, hope,
and a better life. Instead, they fall into a trap from which there is no escaping.
Cheated at almost every corner, the family tries its hardest to maintain its ideals and
still survive. The graphic images show us the conditions that people were forced to toil
amidst simply in order to survive. The horrors of the packing plants are many and varied.
The meat produced there that goes out to the world is incredibly contaminated, as rats
and rat poison are mixed into meat and men fall into giant vats full of lard and are
boiled to death until nothing is left of them but their bones. Women, besides being paid
less for the same work, are propositioned and harassed; many of them turn to prostitution
before they die. Child workers have it especially hard, having to face the bitter cold
and dangers that adults are not as vulnerable to.
As the book progresses, one begins to see the comparison between the workers and the
cattle that they butcher. The workers are put through the vicious speeding up, forcing
them to become more and more like machines. The packers exploit every last reserve of
strength these people have. If one is hurt or disabled, then he is likely to starve to
death on the streets from lack of money. If the workers try to improve their standard of
living by striking, then they will probably be blacklisted and never be able to get work
in Packingtown again. One of the few ways to survive is to become part of the corrupt
system itself. By being a strike-breaker and having political alliances with Scully,
Jurgis quickly rose to the position of foreman. The problem with doing this is that one
begins to lose one's morals.
Unfortunately, the end of the novel was disappointing. The story of Jurgis's life almost
entirely disappears, and the last few chapters seem to be devoted to promoting Socialism
and its ideals. Socialism in itself is a wonderful idea, but as so many things do, this
wonderful dream of an idea turned into a terrible nightmare. The leaders of this movement
began to exploit its ideals and people. However, the book did not make the impact at the
time of its publication that the author intended it to have. Indeed, the public seemed
much more concerned about what went into their meat than the plights of the destitute
workers. Sinclair himself stated that, I aimed at the public's heart and by accident hit
it in the stomach. (America Past and Present, page 722)
The Grapes of Wrath is John Steinbeck's protest against the discrimination that opposed
the efforts of the migrant workers to find jobs. John Steinbeck was well known for
writing protest novels, and this was his masterpiece. It relates the story of the journey
of the Joad family from the farm where they have lived for generations to California,
where they hope to find work and prosperity. This takes place during the Great
Depression, when many people were forced off their land by banks. Orchard owners from
California printed fliers advertising jobs for many more workers than were needed, just
so they would not have to pay the higher wages. Thus, thousands of families fled across
the United States, packing all their most precious belongings in a car. The car itself
actually becomes one of the most important parts of the family, for if the car breaks
down, the family is stranded without much hope of deliverance.
The migrants have a distinctive way of life, moving from place to place in their car by
day and camping in their tents with other migrants at night. Indeed, these people have
their own laws within their little community forbidding rudeness, stealing, rape, and not
sharing your food with other people. The punishment for these laws, if broken, is
ostracism from the camps, a harsh sentence in these tiny communities.
When they finally reached their destination, they found extreme prejudice and hatred for
the Okies. The police in particular seemed especially severe. One would lock a person up
simply for looking cross-eyed at him, under false charges trying to organize a union.
Since they were exiles, the migrants bound together in little communities, all of which
were called Hooverville. Even here they were not safe. The police would come late at
night and open fire or burn the place down altogether. One of the worst things about all
this was the flagrant disregard for land, wealth, and people's lives. Men owned hundreds
of thousands of acres on which they grew nothing; or, if they grew a crop, let it rot in
the fields because there is no market for it at that time.
Relief was found in few places, one of which was the government camp. It provided a place
to live where the inhabitants could be clean, relatively safe, and with their own kind of
people. Police were not allowed inside the gates, which accounts for some of this. People
did well in these camps and began to prosper. The police couldn't stand this and tried
their hardest to break it up by causing fights and riots. However, despite all this
adversity, the Joad family manages to continue on.
There are many similarities between the two books. Depression and hardship seem to be a
constant theme throughout both. Both contain stories of strong people who have emigrated
from their homes to a place that they believe holds a better life in store for them. Both
were written as a means of revealing the state in which these people lived to the public,
to try to stop it. However, The Jungle deals more with unfettered capitalism than The
Grapes of Wrath, which concentrates more on the human story. Also, the styles in which
they are written are very different from each other. Sinclair tends to tell his story
with simplicity, not dealing with emotions very much. Steinbeck has two completely
different styles within one book, which may at times become a little frustrating. The
first style is a normal third person limited point of view. The second style is very
unique because it stays distant from any specific person or emotion, and oftentimes tells
its story completely in dialogue. 
Historically, both books were fairly accurate. They told of the ways that people lived
during those times. 
Bibliography
Benjamin, Jules R. A Student's Guide to History. Boston: Bedford Books,
1998.
Sinclair, Upton. The Jungle. New York: Airmont Publishing Co., Inc., 1965.
Steinbeck, John. The Grapes of Wrath. New York: Bantam Books, 1972.
Breen, T.H.; Divine, Robert A.; Frederickson, George M.; Williams, R. Hal. 
America Past and Present. New York: Addison Wesley Education Publishers Inc., 1999