By Ralph Haselmann Jr.

Lucid Moon Review Poetry Website Archives, www.lucidmoonpoetry.com

       Upton Sinclair, in The Jungle, correctly portrayed the free enterprise, capitalistic economic system as wasteful, greedy and corrupt. Sinclair, through the oration of Nicholas Schliemann, stated that the present industrial competition breeded warfare , and a waste of effort. With competition, much time and money was spent on producing excessive amounts of products when only a small amount was necessary, and there was also needless competition in advertising the products. Advertising fraudulently persuaded people to buy things which they really didn’t need, and cheap qualities of goods were made to sell to and to deceive the ignorant. Such waste added to the “capitalistic destructiveness” of society. While working on the job, Jurgis was disgusted with the atrocities he witnessed in packaging the meet: this poor quality and standard of production indeed deceived the ignorant public. Sudden shift to Jurgis. A transition would have helped.
       With the competition and the waste came the greed in the production of products. Jurgis came to realize that his life was no different from that of the slaughtered hog. The packers wanted all they could get out of the hog just as they wanted all that they could get out of Jurgis. They underpaid and overworked him,In order to make the most profit; nothing stood in the way of greed. Jurgis’ duties on the job were unmercifully increased. He suffered injuries, was blacklisted and had to pay graft to obtain and keep a job. After Jurgis had been used, he was fired so that a stronger, more resourceful worker could take over. Such victimization of the American worker exemplified the greed and wastefulness that was present in the economic system. Qs a result of all the despair felt by Jurgis, he turned to the idea of Socialism as his only means of survival. Good – though more specific detail from the novel would help.
      With all of its seemingly great advantages, the concept of Socialism seemed ideal, and incited so much enthusiasm in Jurgis because it brought hope during a time of despair. The orator said that the oppressed working classes were the only ones who would lead themselves out of despair and hopelessness they were in, by joining together with others like themselves, they could band together and crush the ruling class, finally achieving freedom from wage slavery.
      With Socialism, there would be no need for competition because there would be more profit motive. The price of all material needs would be what it costs to make it. Those who had a common interest in anything would take part in it and benefit from it. In a cooperative society, scientific technology would eliminate drudgery,
      With machines taking over certain labor - intensive human jobs (dishwashing is given as an example). Technology would also advance methods of crop production and greatly influence world food production. Medical knowledge would be a top priority and would improve the health of all citizens by eliminating diseases.
       The idea of Socialism is good in theory, but impractical in its offering of solutions. A society that is used to one standard of living could not be easily persuaded to change to a radical, entirely different way of life. Society is profit – oriented, and it would take a great change in values to switch to a non – competitive way of life. The scientific technology is not advanced enough to create machines to do most human work, and people need employment to exist in the present society. Sinclair’s solutions only set a false sense of hope in the people whom he is trying to help, and therefore are impractical.

B+
Good essay - you have some good ideas which you organize well. However, you do not support your opinions as thoroughly as hoped, and you need to develop some ideas more carefully.

Ralph Haslmann Jr.
American Lit
Mr. Parent
10/12/82

Ralph Haselmann Jr.’s Bio
Ralph Haselmann Jr. was born on October 4, 1965 and lives in the lush rolling green hills of Morristown, NJ. He graduated from Mason Gross School Of The Arts, Rutgers (New Brunswick, New Jersey) in 1990 with a BFA in Graphic Design. He proceeded to paint houses for 11 years after school because it paid much more. He edits the critically lauded Lucid Moon Review Poetry Website, www.lucidmoonpoetry.com, which has been called the best poetry website on the internet, a valuable resource for poets, and is highly rated by Google. His first two poetry books, Wounded Heart, Naked Soul and Scattershot Haze, are available at Xlibris at 1-888-7xlibris, www.Xlibris.com , www.Amazon.com , www.BarnesandNoble.com , and www.Borders.com . In October 2001, Ralph was in a horrible, serious, near-fatal car accident, which left him paralyzed below the waist and in his right writing hand. Ralph is not wallowing in anger or self-pity, rather he is rededicating his life to promoting and publishing the works of others and himself. Remarkably, he can type with an adaptive keyboard and use a mouse pad to work on his website. Ralph is a member of The Writer’s Bridge, a group which will help place his writings in magazine markets that will pay him. Ralph is also a proud member of Peta, not People For The Ethical Treatment Of Animals, but the other one, People Eating Tasty Animals! Ralph has given poetry readings at The Shaker Café in Flemington NJ and The Back Fence in NYC. If you would like to reprint his writings or correspond with him, he can be reached at:

Lucid Moon Review Poetry Website and Newsletter, Ralph Haselmann Jr., editor
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(973) 993-9744 ralphylucidmoon@yahoo.com, www.lucidmoonpoetry.com.

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