Analysis Of The Main Topics In The Jungle And Fast Food Nation
In the book, The Jungle and Fast Food Nation, there were several points that were brought up about the values, beliefs, political ideas, and institution. These topics played an important role in both of the books, as many people just like the family in, The Jungle, face several hardships in our country to this day. During these hard times people find several ways to get to their inner self and overcome these hardships that are in their path to success. Also, migrants go to different countries and bring their traditions with them. Involved in their traditions are their beliefs, and then they also try to expand their traditions with other people surrounding them in their new society. Equally they learn some of the country’s culture and beliefs.
People hold several values in their lifes, whether it is the value of food, water, money, clothing, love, etc. Without those values in their lives they wouldn’t be able to overcome everyday tasks. In the book, The Jungle, there were several strong values that kept the Lithuanian family going through rough times. They all wanted what was best for their families and they did whatever was needed to try to fulfill everyone’s needs. This country was and still is viewed as the “Land of Opportunity”, as many people come from various third world countries in which their government is extremely corrupt. Most of them are coming to our country to be able to feel the freedom and make a decent living while working here. The major value that the family lived by was struggling day to day making ends meet, but they still had determination to continue working their jobs even with harsh working conditions. More and more people are starting to value their opportunity of several rights in this country that other countries don’t offer. The migrants that come to the United States value their family and make big changes to their everyday routine for their family as they are the number one priority. They are doing this to better themselves and not just to come and take advantage of everything this country has to offer individuals. In Fast Food Nation, the popular fast food chains in our country valued different things than others did. Their main interest was how they could better themselves and they didn’t really care for their employees and their working conditions. The author felt as if changes should be made to make the priority the customer first and not the amount of money the company is bringing in. People should shift the focus towards where the food came from and how it was cooked and boycott until the issues have been attacked and changed.
Another major area that has major effects on society as a whole is the area of beliefs. When it comes to beliefs with different cultures, there are some people that are strict and live their life according to the textbook. Depending on the type of culture and what nationality you are, there are some strict ways they want you to live your live. In, The Jungle, several people were passing away due to the harsh working conditions. The families felt embarrassed and terrible as they weren’t able to have a proper burial for the person as they would’ve received back in Lithuania. Also, another important belief that the family from Lithuania had was to hold a celebration of your marriage and in the book they didn’t want to because they weren’t going to be able to afford it and they didn’t want to start their marriage off in debt. Nonetheless no matter what race you are or where you are from, you are going to have some sort of beliefs and the majority of the people are going to follow them. They are going to be passed down from generation to generation.
The last area that showed up a lot between both of the books was the idea of politics. Politics play an important role in the United States to this day. At the time in, The Jungle, politics influenced how everyone viewed the migrants. The foreigners didn’t get treated correctly then and they still till this day don’t get treated correctly. There are too many stereotypes in the world at this point in time. President Trump has stated his opinions on immigrants loud and clear throughout this last year. There are stereotypes out there that the immigrants are taking the American’s jobs when they are really working in rough environments that most Americans wouldn’t like to be involved in. Anywhere from 1 to 3 million migrant farm workers leave their homes every year to plant, cultivate, and harvest fruits, vegetables, and nuts in the United States. They sacrifice everything they had in their home country so they are able to make a living for themselves, while at the same time performing hard manual labor jobs. Therefore, with that being said politics change people’s views and make them think that the foreigners coming here to seek job opportunities are up to no good and just taking our opportunities, are simply wrong. Also, in the book Jurgis attends a Socialist Party meeting and gets involved with politics and he finds out how corrupt politics can be. People were paying other people for votes.
In conclusion, the theme of values, beliefs, political ideas, and institution was expressed throughout both of the books. All of those areas of interest are crucial in everyday society. Foreigners are the people that are able to see it clearer as they are coming from a different country and their perspective changes when they get to the United States. Although, without immigrants in our country we wouldn’t have any diversity in our society, everyone would live their life just like everyone else. Nevertheless without most of these ideas, people wouldn’t be able to base their lives off of anything. These impact not just ourselves, but everyone living around us.
