Jurgis, Sabino and the American Dream

Reading about Jurgis and listening to our guest in class got me thinking about the American Dream and what it means. It seems that the response to the question, What does the American Dream mean to you? reveals a lot about people's background and worldview. Comparing the story of Jurgis in the Jungle with our guest in class with Sabino's seems to give two sides to the American story. Jurgis failed to achieve his dream while Sabino really improved his economic well-being and is confident that his children will have even more economic opportunity. If we were to judge the American economic experience just by listening to both Jurgis's and Sabino's stories it would be easy to get the impression that the ability climb in socioeconomic class is easier now than the past, but is this true?

I started doing some research to find if Sabino's success and Jurgis's failure represented American society as a whole during their respective times. One of the most balanced and nuanced articles I came across was entitled "The Mobility Myth" in the New Yorker. The "Mobility Myth" points out that in virtually any society that has ever existed economic mobility has never been the norm, yet America in late nineteenth century had greater economic mobility than Europe. Stories like Andrew Carnegie starting out as a boy factory worker and later becoming the worlds' richest man made a deep impression on the American psyche, as those rags to riches stories were unique to America. When Upton Sinclair published the Jungle, sociologist Werner Sombart noted that most U.S workers felt they had a good chance of rising out of their class, according to the article.

Things changed in the second half of the 20th century. Americans are no longer more economically mobile than Europeans and there are certain parts of America that are the least economically mobile in all of the devolved world. Despite the lack of class mobility in comparison to Europe take home pay doubled from the late forties to the early seventies in America. People who didn't move up in economic class still saw their wages increase.

ch.14-20

In the first part of the reading Jurgis and his family are still functioning. Slowly Jurgis becomes more and more disillusioned with his life in America and starts drinking heavily. Jurgis's despair is worsened by Ona not coming home one night. Ona eventually admits to Jurgis that she has been forced into prostitution by Connor her boss at the factory and has been raped by him. Jurgis in a fury attacks Connor and is sent to prison. Jurgis finds himself in prison during Christmas eve and recalls the joy had had with his family during the previous Christmas. The judge at Jurgis's trail does not believe his story and he is sentenced to 30 thirty days in prison. Once Jurgis gets out of prison he suffers a tragedy of events, he finds that the family has been evicted, Ona dies in childbirth and he loses his new job.

In chapter 14 through 20 it becomes obvious that the American dream is not working out as planned for Jurgis and the family. These chapters really how the dark underbelly of America's economic system at the dawn of the new century. It's obvious why Sinclair choose the title of "The Jungle", as life in Chicago during this time is like that of a Jungle, with Jungle law. Sinclair portrays Chicago urban life as a situation where the poor have no power and little, everybody must fight for them-self or perish. Sinclair indirectly ask's the reader to put themselves in Jurgis's shoes and probes the question, what would you do? As the book progresses it becomes obvious Jurgis has few options, he does what he can but overall he can't really change his hard life. It becomes more obvious to the reader in these chapters that Sinclair really detests the American economic system of his time and is advocating real and substantial change. Sinclair was a socialist, and saw that as a correction to the problems Jurgis and his family faced.

I think these reading is extremely relevant to the economic issues of today, as many today are questioning the validity of the American dream. To me the American Dream has meant fluid class lines and social mobility, but I think it means many different things to different people. Historical America did have more fluid class lines than Europe but things have changed.

The Jungle ch.2 to 5

I have read the Jungle before but I think it will be good to go back and read it again. I forgot that in the beginning of the book the tone is so optimistic. Jurgis represents everything that is great about America. He wants to do honest work and make his way in the new world. The think the beginning of the book really starts off like a Horatio Alger story that is very much ingrained in the American consciousness. Perhaps Upton Sinclair wants the reader to think of Jurgis as a soon to be rags to riches figure climbing the social ladder to wealth and predominance, which I guess is the American Dream. The part when Jurgis and his family are offered a loan for a house reminds me of the whole recent sub-prime mess. Optimistic immigrants coming to this country only to be stuck in dirty low paying jobs still occurs. So far reading the Jungle has illuminated many present day social conditions by giving the similarity to those conditions in the early part of the 20th century. I am excited the read more of the Jungle and figure out how this story all plays out as I have forgotten much of it. I happened to come across a book review the other about the history of the meatpacking industry which was very interesting that goes along with our reading, although coming to somewhat different conclusions.

Cajas de carton

The hardship of the migrants workers face is troubling. One of the most disheartening parts of the selections was the description of his acid dried hands. We have been studying in class a lot about the practices of the food and agricultural industry and the things they do to maximize profit. I am sure labor safety and protection is done haphazardly or not at all. Laws are one the books, but I doubt they are enforced all that well. I am not exactly sure why the family has to pack up their things, but I suspect they fear deportation. While reading the passage I was reminded of the movie "A Day Without a Mexican" Immigrants like so many other immigrant groups before them do a lot of societies grunt work.

The passage while being narrated by a child has a lucid simplicity that really drew me in to their seemingly rootless lives as migrant workers. Even though they are forced to move around just to eat it seems the people in the story try hard to give themselves a sense of place and of family in a life full of brutally hard work. 

A Modest Proposal for Solving Food Insecurity

A Modest Proposal for Solving Food Insecurity.

by Franklin Eastcote Forbes III, Ph.D’s

Unfortunately food insecurity is a massive problem in the world today. While it might not be obvious to the average person living in developed Western countries there are still many people who go to bed hungry every night especially in the global South. As a man of immense compassion and expertise the government of Zambia recently hired me to study their problem of food insecurity. I accepted Zambia’s offer to give my advice on the issue, pro-bono of course.

In the course of studying the issue I have come up with solution to the problem of food insecurity not only in Zambia but also in the world. We should approach the problem of food insecurity though the lens of promoting the greatest good for the greatest number. We must understand that there are objective clear cut answers to the problem of global food insecurity and that we have a moral duty to solve this problem. Elites have a special responsibility to communicate solutions to the masses about how they are to be feed. In all my humility I recognize the fact that there will be resistance to my plan for ending food insecurity yet the plan must go forward despite the resistance and whatever the costs. I remind the reader that in order to break an omelet you must crack a few eggs. Here is my plan in two easy steps.

1.      Increased population control

The virtues of population control have been lauded but it has not lived up to its potential. I propose that the legal rights of personhood start at the age of eight, thereby giving parents the right of infanticide for the first seven years of their offspring’s lives. Parenting is a burden for so many and I suppose many regret initiating the process. Increased infanticide with lead to significantly fewer mouths to feed while giving parents more free time to pursue economically beneficial activities. I am well aware that many parents will be hesitant to take advantage of this new right but with time surely the culture will change for the better. Seven years will give parents the opportunity to figure out if their offspring will give more well-being to the world than it will take away. Scientific formulas can be devised to help guide parents in predicting the expected contribution of their offspring to society.

2.   Limit over consumption and sedentary lifestyles

The danger of over consuming food combined with sedentary lifestyles has been demonstrated to cause decreased well-being. It is time we got serious about diet and exercise among the masses. The dietary habits and exercise habits of populations should be subject to government oversight, social workers can be trained to carry out this task. By monitoring diets we will be able to put an end to over consumption of foodstuffs.

Guatemala

The cruelty the native Guatemalan people experienced is beyond measure. In a prior class I read parts of her story but not this section. As I read about the ingenious struggle I couldn't help but think about it in the context of the Cold War and I am sure that's how many Americans thought of it at the time. Thinking of every left leaning indigenous movement as a communist threat lead to some incredibly unethical decisions. It's obvious that the peasant struggle for freedom was fueled by years of oppression by the landed elite and foreign companies.

Menchu's story brought a voice to the voiceless. I have heard some people claim that her story is not 100% percent accurate; but they are missing the point. Mensu's is speak for her people's collective experience rather than just herself. I don't think I will ever be able to eat Chiquita bananas in the same way or watch that one Woody Allen movie.

Swift Modest Proposal

Swift's modest proposal is a piece about Ireland during a particular time, but it also has a timeless quality to it. By reading "A Modest Proposal" we can gain insight to many other situations where race and class is involved. I think it's important to point out that the Irish were once considered a separate and inferior race, The English looked down upon them and they resented it, religious differences didn't help the situation. The situation in Guatemala also has a racial/ethnic component because most of the poor are indigenous where as the wealthy are non-indigenous. The way I read a modest proposal is Swift is trying to poke fun at the social engineering that was popular among a certain intellectual elite in England. Swift the Irish-Catholic clergyman is urging the reader to have compassion for the Irish people rather than to simply look for quick fix solutions as if Irish are in themselves a problem.

Swift's modest proposal is a piece about Ireland during a particular time, but it also has a timeless quality to it. By reading "A Modest Proposal" we can gain insight to many other situations where race and class is involved. I think it's important to point out that the Irish were once considered a separate and inferior race, The English looked down upon them and they resented it, religious differences didn't help the situation. The situation in Guatemala also has a racial/ethnic component because most of the poor are indigenous where as the wealthy are non-indigenous. The way I read a modest proposal is Swift is trying to poke fun at the social engineering that was popular among a certain intellectual elite in England. I think Swift the Irish-Catholic clergyman is urging the reader to have compassion for the Irish people rather than to simply look for quick fix solutions as if Irish are in themselves a problem.

Loaves and Fishes

I am really excited to go on our field trip tomorrow. The Big Apple Bagel where I work donates bagels at the end of the day to Loaves and Fishes. I want to see what ends up happening to all those bagels. I also would like to know how the poor in Kalamazoo are dealing with the recent cuts in state aid. I would like to find out how hunger in Kalamazoo compares with other cities and what we can do to help prevent it. I guess were are getting closer to eradicating extreme poverty but we are not quite there even in developed West.

Satyricon

The mixture of prose and poetry was hard for me to follow. I got enough of the Satyricon to understand that this Trimalchio is not the best entertainer. Considering that the Satyricon is a satire I am assuming that the ancient Romans were well aware this type of behavior was frowned upon. Even if the Romans did appropriately frown on this eating behavior they certainly had a number of other habits we moderns would judge as barbaric. It seems like a lot of the posts mention a comparison between the ancient Romans and the rich of our present age. I don't want to force the comparison but we don't seem all that different. I don't think our nature has changed. I forgot that that we only had to read the dinner scene. I found the chapters leading up to the dinner also quite disgusting. What I like the most about the Satyricon the most is the insight into daily behavior of the ancient Romans which wasn't egalitarian. I guess Fitzgerald saw the connection of the Satyricon to 20th century america. Although not an easy read I think it's an appropriate read given that income inequality seems to be an issue on so many people's mind and not just in America.