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Essay / The Jungle: Society Takes Advantage of Naive Immigrants
During the Industrial Revolution in America, many immigrant families emigrated from countries in Europe and Asia in hopes of finding a better life in the land of freedom. However, when they arrived by boat, they found themselves in poor working conditions and on wages that were almost impossible to live on. Immigrants suddenly found themselves working, toiling with little or no choice over when they would be forced to work because they desperately needed money to feed their starving families. This sad state of affairs is reflected in the main characters of Upton Sinclair's novel The Jungle. Jurgis and his family found themselves trapped in the corruption of American society, refusing to believe that America was anything other than the land they had abandoned their former lives for. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay Society taking advantage of naive immigrants began very soon after Jurgis' family began migrating to America. Money was a very important factor in the immigration of many foreign families, because without this money it would be almost impossible for them to settle in their new country. However, various scammers are waiting patiently to prey on innocent immigrants as they land in America. “There was an agent who helped them, but he lured them into a trap with officials and cost them a lot of their precious money” (Sinclair 24). Most immigrants knew nothing about the country, so "it was easy for a man in a blue uniform to pick them up, take them to a hotel and keep them there, and charge them a huge fee to escape" (24). . Confused Lithuanians knew no better than to follow when told, allowing predators to take advantage of strangers for their own personal gain, disregarding the strong social values the families share. The law requires essential information to be posted in America, but nowhere does it say it must be in Lithuanian or any other language. This allows corrupt American society to exploit the ignorance of immigrants. Many families who immigrated to America in the early 1900s were not cultured by American society and because of this, they were easily deceived. When Jurgis and his family look for a house to buy in America, they are easily scammed by smooth-talking real estate agents. The family notices an ad in the newspaper for what appears to be the perfect house they need for what they can afford. With only twelve dollars a month and three hundred dollars down, the family seized the opportunity to settle in Packingtown. The ad "even quoted 'Home, Sweet Home' and made the bold move of translating it into Polish" (47). This echoes Jurgis' observation at the beginning of the book that no one has bothered to translate the price list outside the hotels into another language. Real estate companies took the time to translate the ad into Polish in order to attract attention and take advantage of naive immigrants. Real estate agents claimed the house was brand new, although it had simply been repainted after the previous tenants failed to pay their monthly fees. Blind to this fact, the presumably happy family moves into a new house, not knowing what surprises await them. After visiting a Lithuanian neighbor, they learn that the builders "used the most fragile and cheapest materials, they built.