The Legal System In The Jungle

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“Anyone who abuses the legal system ought to be held accountable. Period. No exceptions.” -Carlton Carl Despite this being how the legal system should operate throughout the years the system has been corrupted and mutilated into one that is unfair to the poor and the ethnically diverse. Discussing the state of the legal system in the United States is a controversial subject to touch upon considering that the legal system is one of the major things that bind our society together and keeps order. But it has to be questioned when those of varying races, ethnicities, and class background are being treated significantly worse than the white middle class male that dominate our society today and are met with special treatment. Whether it is the poor …show more content…
The protagonist in The Jungle is a Lithuanian immigrant named Jurgis who is constantly struggling with poverty while his and his family are trying to make a better life for themselves in America. While the novel follows the ups and downs of the family's new life one continuous problem Jurgis faces is confrontation with the legal system. HIs first run in with the law is when he is told by his wife, Ona, that her boss, Connor, forced her to have sex with his and into the prostitution business. After hearing this Jurgis found Connor and almost beat him to death for what he did to his wife. Jurgis is then taken to jail and had to face a jury in which they refused to hear his side of the story fully. He tried to tell the court that real villain was Connor but he had to deal with the language barrier and the fact that Connor had connections to the whole town, especially in the legal system. With his claims about Connor going unnoticed Jurgis is thrown in jail for assaulting Connor and is forced to leave his family to face the harsh winter alone. After going through emotional and physical turmoil while in jail Jurgis is forced to stay longer due to his lack of funds making it so he cannot pay bail. This is just one example from The Jungle that depicts still modern day problems with the legal system. Those with money and connections can get away with horrendous crimes while those with little money and harsh backgrounds have to face extreme time in jail for petty crimes, and in Jurgis’s case a crime where he wasn’t the bad
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