True: People are Victims

According to 'The Jungle,' I think it is plainly evident that the book justifies as well as exemplifies the notion that people are the absolute victims of their environment. While I believe this notion to in reality be false, or rather hope it to be false, it is hard for one to believe otherwise after discovering the fates of the characters in the novel. As depicted by Sinclair over the course of the novel, the environment in Chicago at this time, particularly packing town, completely swallows its residents ultimately leading to their final demise. It is the environment, i.e. dirty living conditions with rampant disease, that leads to the death of so many characters in the novel. If this were the case, that people are the absolute victims of their society, one might wonder why nothing is done to change the environment that people are in. In one sense, the people of packing town become dependent on their environment. They become dependent on their work and their communal lifestyle in order to survive in America. This is the only life they know but it is their dependence upon it that makes them victims to their environment. The characters don't have a choice but to become slaves to the meat packing industry in order to not only repay their debts but essentially survive.