Moral Behavior, Community Is Impossible. Essay

Total Length: 1797 words ( 6 double-spaced pages)

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The money he earns doesn't go to his relatives but to drink. Teta Elziebta and Marija also give up their hopes of a successful marriage, of family. They become whores. Like Jurgis, they spend their earnings on themselves and not their family: they become heroine addicts (310).

Sinclair's contention that community can't exist in a society that makes immorally-based decisions persists through to the end of the novel. Despite their attempts to become a part of a community after leaving their family, Jurgis, Teta Elziebta, and Marjia all fail. The "communities" they find -- whorehouses and gangs of thugs-- because they are based on an immoral standards, do not function. For example, though he earns the criminal underground money and participates well in their endeavors, Jurgis is kicked out (300). Marija realizes that the community she lives in keeps her a prisoner by keeping her addicted to heroine and forever in debt; despite her realization that she is not a functional member of value to this society she remains.

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Though the argument that the character' immoral behavior is a survival instinct can certainly be made, it does not seem to be the ultimate point behind Sinclair's novel. People cheat others to maintain their family; their acts are justified by necessity. However, Sinclair's agenda in posing groups based on immoral decisions against those based on moral decisions seems a stronger undercurrent. The prominence of this idea in the author's mind is strengthened by the novel's end. It is not in the pit of despair that Sinclair leaves the reader. By bringing Jurgis in contact with the socialist party, Sinclair resounds the note on which he began the book: moral-based community works. Here Jurgis once again finds approval for his….....

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"Moral Behavior Community Is Impossible ", 31 March 2010, Accessed.19 May. 2025,
https://www.aceyourpaper.com/essays/moral-behavior-community-impossible-1227