The Jungle Corruption

Words: 1147
Pages: 5

America, the land of the free, isn’t as free and just as it seems. America has been subject to corrupt practices in the law and judicial system in both the past and the present. This isn’t of course exclusive to just America’s governmental system; corruption in the courts and laws can be found almost anywhere where there is government, but in America, it seems to be mainly driven by money. The profit-driven corruption within the law and courts hasn’t disappeared since the early 1900’s - but today there is an extended effort to combat this corruption, and Jurgis would feel both pleased and displeased with the progress. In The Jungle, the drive for money leads to great corruption in the law and judicial system. Throughout the entire book, Jurgis was facing examples of this corruption that directly affected him. “...Poor Jurgis could not know that the owner of the saloon paid five dollars each week to policemen alone for Sunday privileges and favors…” (Sinclair 235). For example in this quote, regarding Jurgis’s trial for attacking a bartender for stealing $100 …show more content…
Both in the past and now, there has been direct corruption, but there are differences in the efforts to address the problem. The character Jurgis from The Jungle had strong feelings on the issue of corruption due to his personal relationship with how it affected him; and there are aspects of the changes that he would both like and dislike. Profit-driven corruption issues are still here today, and there are similar and different parts of corruption today compared to the past issue; and Jurgis would probably have different feelings about the different changes (or the lack of change). However, as it was in The Jungle, the people of the America always has the power to shine light on our issues - only the future will tell us if America’s corruption will be