The Jungle

“The veselija is a compact, a compact not expressed, but therefore only the more binding upon all. Everyone’s share was different—and yet everyone knew perfectly well what his share was, and strove to give a little more. Now, however, since they had come to the new country, all this was changing; it seemed as if there must be some subtle poison in the air that one breathed here—it was affecting all the young men at once. They would come in crowds and fill themselves with a fine dinner, and then sneak off.”

After moving to America, Ona and Jurgis’s families do their best to bring their heritage and culture with them. This includes the veselija: an extravagant wedding feast to which all are invited. Traditionally, however, the guests are expected to show their gratitude during the acziavimas, when all the men take turns dancing with the bride and then donate a small amount of money to the newlyweds. The fact that many of the guests at Ona and Jurgis’s wedding do not abide by this custom poses financial difficulties for the family. It also serves as an early example of capitalism’s corrosive effects. The guests are presumably struggling to make ends meet themselves, but Sinclair implies that there is also a “subtle” moral influence at play in their negligence; life in America has taught them to be more self-interested.

“All the sordid suggestions of the place were gone—in the twilight it was a vision of power. To the two who stood watching while the darkness swallowed it up, it seemed a dream of wonder, with its tale of human energy, of things being done, of employment for thousands upon thousands of men, of opportunity and freedom, of life and love and joy.” 

As the family first approaches Packingtown, the air and land grow more and more polluted; smoke makes the skies dark and cloudy, plants struggle to grow, and the entire area smells of butchered and rotting meat. This pollution poses problems in and of itself—for instance, Sinclair will later describe how run-off from the area’s landfills ends up in a lake the city cuts for ice—but it is also symbolic of the corruption that capitalism breeds.