From the earliest chapters, Sinclair describes men purposely seeking out or simply not being able to avoid alcohol. Certainly it is a cheap and easily accessible escape from the horrors of their lives. However, many men drink because bars are the only place in Packingtown to get warm, and men are only allowed to sit in the warm bars if they are drinking. These warm bars also provide food, but again, only to drinking customers. In addition to providing food and warmth, bars are relatively clean in comparison to the filthy, blood-soaked killing floors, which are the only other places men can eat their meals during the workday. Alcohol is yet another way for businesses to exploit the basic needs of hardworking men, perpetuating their struggles within the evil capitalist structure. Bars are businesses like any other, seeking to make as much money as possible. In order to do so, they must encourage men to drink, despite the fact that alcohol offers no nutritional value, is expensive, and weakens the body and mind, rendering exploited men like Jurgis less able to achieve their American Dream. Although Jurgis abstains at first, he begins drinking to ease his physical pain after his grueling work in the fertilizer plant. He also uses it to dampen his emotional pain. As soon as Ona dies, for example, he sets out to "get drunk." Through the working class's relationship with alcohol, Sinclair suggests that it is another form of exploitation (by tavern owners, who are in cahoots with the slaughterhouse and the police) and that in a more perfect society, men would not turn to it in the first place.
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