The Weight of Riches

In reading "The Jungle" by Upton Sinclair, my thoughts turned to considering how true this novel really was to the present-day American culture. The idea of the American Dream is not as pleasant as most people are delusioned into thinking.Capitalism is a disease. The tainted meat that is sold can be thought of as symbolic in that tit represents capital itself. No one really considers the consequences of riches or the consequences that lead to obtain those riches.In fact, there was a moment where a character (I forget her name, now), actually sews the money into her clothes and carries it through the snow. It weighs her down.

Money is not freedom. With money there are restrictions and literal prices to pay, if one does not use their money properly. Yes, while spoiled meat and baby cows thrown into the grinder and sold as pickled ham sounds disgusting, so does the fact that the very slogan we live by, is a lie. America, is not free. Life is not free. Morality, even, is not free. We pay God to protect us, for we pay for the churches to continue to run. But what God would ask for that? Is not preaching in the streets freedom of speech? But of course, not even that is considered free--there are restrictions to that, too.

This novel proved, for me, to be a difficult read for the protagonist never really gets to lead a happy life. There seemed to be more happiness in the poor country in which he was born, but as soon as he entered America, he faced nothing but torment. He continued to lose and lose the more he tried to gain and gain. The irony of captialism is certainly horrific.