AMERICAN DREAM
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In Upton Sinclair's novel, The Jungle, a Lithuanian family travels to America during the early twentieth century in order to fulfill a dream: "In that country, rich or poor, a man was free, it was said; he did not have to go into the army, he did not have to pay out his money to rascally officialshe might do as he pleased, and count himself as good as any other man" (27). However, the protagonist of the story Jurgis Rudkus and his family quickly discover that America is not the grand country they had envisioned. Rather, instead of finding a great land of equality and freedom, they find one that is harsh, unforgiving, and the exact opposite of their American dream.
To begin, as soon as the family arrives in America, they begin to discover that their original vision of the country is flawed. On their voyage, the family receives assistance from an agent; however, "he proved a scoundrel, and got them into a trap with some officials, and cost them a good deal of their precious money" (28). To make matters worse, the family suffers a similar fate again in New York. They had not even arrived in Chicago yet, but had already encountered officials that were no better than petty crooks. In each of these encounters, the family had to give some of their precious money to thievish officials in order to avoid other consequences. From this, it is obvious that the part of the dream where no man would have to pay money to officials is not true.
Moving on, when the family finally arrives in Chicago, Jurgis instantly begins to search for a job...