Welcome to The Jungle

Welcome to The Jungle

America: The Land of Opportunity  

     We all want to believe that our precious homeland of America is truly a place where dreams can become a reality if you work hard enough, but in reality, that just isn't the case. We are sold on hope every day by those who believe in the integrity of the American capitalist system, such as politicians, advertisements, and even our own teachers in school; but what's it really like out there? From the viewpoint of housewives, children, students, and anyone who is financially supported by someone other than themselves, the capitalist system seems to be working out pretty nicely. But for those who put capitalism to the test, such as the breadwinners, the interns, and the less fortunate among us, the American Dream isn't quite so easily attained; capitalism seems to be an intensely competitive system, to the point of downright hostility. Guns N' Roses' "Welcome to the Jungle" is the epitome of an introduction to the sphere of the rat race of the American capitalist system. As the title shows, the song appears to "welcome" you to the vicious "jungle," where dreams come to die in a cutthroat struggle to reach the top of the food chain. Through Guns N' Roses' hard rock atmosphere, and Axl Rose's distressed yet passionate voice, the nature of some harsh environment is embodied through their raw, unaffected, and severe tone.

     The general concept of the American Dream exaggerates the number of rags-to-riches stories that seep through the strainer that separates the "closers" from the "losers," while those who get left behind are completely excluded from the equation in patriotic discussion. In fact, those who are filtered out of the success story are the majority of those who chose to participate in this rat race, and end up being circulated through a corrupt system that only awards the good leads to the closers, while tossing the dead leads to those who hadn't been able to make a close. This would seem fair, yet closing a deal is almost completely left to luck, as a salesman can only convince a customer to purchase if they have the means and motives to purchase properties. As Claudia states in Toni Morrison's The Bluest Eye, "it was the fault of the earth, the land of our own, of our town. I even think now that the land of the entire country was hostile to marigold that year. This soil is bad for certain kinds of flowers. Certain seeds it will not nurture, certain fruit it will not bear, and when the land kills of its own volition, we acquiesce and say the victim had no right to live," which parallels to the impervious nature of the boundaries between businessmen and their success as breadwinners (Morrison 206).

     David Mamet's Glengarry Glen Ross is all about the jungle of the workplace; a savage rat race to the top, in which the characters relentlessly chase the unreachable pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. Mamet's play can be best described by Guns n' Roses' "Welcome to the Jungle," as the song describes an introduction to the domain of the cutthroats, applicable to the situation in which Roma, Levene, Aronow, and Moss find themselves. "Welcome to the Jungle" parallels Glengarry Glen Ross, as it describes the same unattainable goal that is at the end of the rainbow of the American Dream; you're always chasing after that ideal of success, but you can never quite get there before the game changes on you. In Glengarry Glen Ross, the hot leads are given to the closers, and the cold leads are given to the losers, securing the caste-like system, so that the winners keep winning, and the losers keep getting fired and losing their sales. This disproves the American Dream, as it maintains the same system of the social hierarchy, smothering equal opportunity in the work field, so "the rich get richer, and the poor get children" (Fitzgerald 95). 

Welcome to the jungle we've got fun and games

We got everything you want honey, we know the names

We are the people that can find whatever you may need

If you got the money honey we got your disease

     The Jungle, an increasingly enticing environment as seen from the outside looking in, seems to be a setting in which the thrill of life flourishes through a constant stream of adrenaline. By "we got everything you want honey," Axl Rose seems to lure the victim into the grip of The Jungle, just as the salesman from Glengarry Glen Ross most likely joined the business as young men with big dreams. It seems almost a direct reference as "we know the names" could be interpreted as the leads from Glengarry Glen Ross, as the company was in control of a solid list of good and bad names that could lead to possible sales. The sales team seemed to be in constant demand for the leads, as it was their way of betting on themselves to be able to make a successful pitch to the customer. Their obsession with the leads turns into an addiction, which leaves them dependent on the company, which took advantage of their "disease" in exchange for "the money" through sales of properties, and even leads themselves.  

Welcome to the jungle we take it day by day

If you want it you're gonna bleed but it's the price to pay

...

You can taste the bright lights but you won't get there for free

     In the office, success is measured "day by day," and the salesmen get a chance to prove themselves through the board. One day, Roma might be a closer at the top of the board, yet he might end the day by losing a sale with Lingk, as he did in the play. Luck plays a large factor in this success, as Levene defends himself for having a bad streak, "... and what is that, John? What? Bad luck. That's all it is. I pray in your life you will never find it runs in streaks. That's what it does, that's all it's doing. Streaks. I pray it misses you. That's all I want to say," which he later backs up, as he is able to break his "bad luck" streak with an $82,000 sale to Bruce and Harriett Nyborg (Mamet 16). "If you want it you're gonna bleed, but it's the price you pay," because the salesmen must ALWAYS BE CLOSING, which means that they must sacrifice everything else, their families, their social life, their own health, to maintain their records as salesmen. In the film adaption of the play, Alec Baldwin says, "And your name is you're wanting. You can't play in the man's game, you can't close them? Then go home and tell your wife your troubles. Because only one thing counts in this life," forcing the men to surrender everything else for the sake of the leads, closing, and, above all, money. 

Welcome to the jungle it gets worse here every day

Ya learn to live like an animal in the jungle where we play

If you hunger for what you see you'll take it eventually 

You can have everything you want but you better not take it from me

     In the hostile work environment in which Glengarry Glen Ross takes place, it becomes evident that the pressure to succeed grows greater and greater everyday, while the men desperately struggle to maintain a steady path to the top. "It gets worse here every day," as the chance that they will fail grows greater, since bad luck infamously runs in streaks, and at some point they know they will hit that streak that puts them out of business for good, unless they can quit while they're at the top. Learning to "live like an animal" is a huge part of life in the dog-eat-dog world of the office, as every man is for himself, and must fight for survival if he even wants the chance to rise above his peers. In this society of Social Darwinism, survival of the fittest is an essential part of life, yet only a few will be able to survive and make it to the top of the hierarchy, while others are left at the bottom, oppressed by their own misfortune and the authority of their former peers. If you "hunger for what you see, you'll take it eventually," as Levene demonstrates his hunger for money, power, and success through his desperate plea to Williamson for a shot at the good leads. "I got to eat. Shit, Williamson, shit," he pleads, but to no avail (Mamet 17). Levene gets backed into a corner, and through his helpless desperation to be successful again, he breaks into the office and steals the leads, as he sees it as his only way to achieve greatness again. 

The Rush: From Glengarry Glen Ross to China's Education System

We are the victims, but this is the only chance.

National College Entrance Examination

        National Higher Education Entrance Examination, known as Gaokao in China, is the annual nationwide exam that almost every high school undergraduates must take in order to be admitted to colleges. It is considered as the toughest test in China.

Well, the SATs are child’s play compared to the Gaokao. If the SATs are the academic equivalent of, say, a brisk footrace, the gaokao is an Iron Man triathlon. Across a minefield and through a piranha-infested river that ends in a waterfall. With people throwing ninja stars at you the whole time! Freaking ninja stars.

        For Chinese high school students, there is almost no way to go to colleges academically without a NCEE score. Throughout the nation, Gaokao is the most significant event for each teenager because their career and future depend heavily on this exam, which directly determines which college they go to. It is controversy in China nowadays because it gives students too much pressure and generates unfair opportunities based on different regions. 

       The normal study time for a high school senior in school is 10 hour, and they are supposed to work until midnight. In order to compete with others, many schools have Saturday classes for all high school undergraduates, and extra classes on some courses on Sundays for some of the students. When becoming an undergraduate, there is almost no time for entertain or extracurricular. In addition, opportunities are exceedingly unevenly distributed among the nation by Gaokao. As people are rushing to the universities in Beijing, and Shanghai, in which the best universities are located, universities in these cities set strict baselines for each province, which favor the local Gaokao takers a lot because the universities admit local students a lot more than outsiders.

How many students are wearing glasses in this video? Why? :)

Most recently, photographs emerged of a classroom in Hubei province, showing students taking energy-boosting amino acids from intravenous drips hung from the ceiling. --BBC News.

The Machines and Academic Hierarchy

        Under the great pressure of Gaokao, more and more high school students become "study machines". Sixteen-hour study time is normal to most of the students. Gaokao takers are categorized by Arts and Science. Arts students will have six subjects: Chinese, English, math, politics, history, and geography; science students have six as well: Chinese, English, math, physics, chemistry, and biology. In the first year of high school, they will learn all of them, and at the beginning of the second year they will choose or "be chosen" to be categorized, and they can not switch for the remaining two years. Such extensive range of courses requires plenty of effort and time, and it keeps making students "study machines". Furthermore, there is little time available for high school students to do sports, activities, clubs, and games. More and more people become fat or weak not because they eat a lot, but because they don't move at all. 
        Such machines can be found in Glengarry Glen Ross by David Mamet; the salesmen say that they are machine. They are so disappointed at the world because they keep trying to sell people the land that they don't want. 

Aaronow: Shelly, the Machine, Levene (Mamet, 64).

Roma: It's not a world of men, Machine... it's a world of clock watchers, bureaucrats, officeholders... what it is, it's a fucked-up world... there's no adventure to it. We are the members of a dying breed (105).

These "study machines" in China will have more than ten mock Gaokao exams during their last year in high school, and their ranks are always told for estimation. In some school during the first two years, students have almost as many exams as they will have in the last year. Some of the exams are designed to categorize students. This system makes different levels of class available to students at different ranks. The high level classes, consisting of the top-ranked students at the same grade, will have the best teachers in school and different treatment, including teaching and homework; they learn things at a faster speed and have some "extra accessibility" of knowledge. The low level classes, however, will take a relatively slow pace and are less productive. This classification of students can be found at not only in high school, but also primary schools, middle schools, and colleges everywhere in China.

Levene: Get the chalk and put me on the board. I'm going to Hawaii! Put me on the Cadillac board, Williamson (63).

Such classification is similar to the board system in Glengarry Glen Ross. The salesman who close the leads, get on the board, and the more they close the better leads they will get, which gives them better opportunities to close again. This unfair system will result bigger distinction among people.

Education Inequality and Social Mobility

        Gaokao has a strong influence in China society. Many children are under strict care of parents about their academics at a young age. For parents, in order for their kids to have a better education in high school, they have to get the appropriate middle schools and primary schools, as well. Since the admission for high school and middle school are also based on one exam similar to Gaokao, children have pressure at a unusually young age. In addition, this system allows bigger and bigger gaps among students since the better ones get the much better education while the lower ones keep getting the lower level education all the time.

        Education inequality happens also in rural and urban areas. Rural areas have an extreme difference from urban areas in economics, and such distinction results a broad range of education levels in different regions. To a family in rural areas, the only hope that they could one day be rich and move to the big city is relied mostly on their children. However, it is way harder for a kid to get to university because the school can not afford higher-educated teachers or advanced facilities. Early in 21st century, there would be a celebration in a town if one were admitted by a university. They see this as a chance of social mobility. Unfortunately, such fortune had rarely happened to poor families. To some extent, education is a key reason why the poor get poorer and the rich get richer in China.

Sources not linked:
Mamet, David. Glengarry Glen Ross. New York: Grove Press, 2012. Print. 

The Relationship of Marriage and Social Hierarchy

Old Wealth

Nouveau Riche

Although most people are inclined to believe in the American Dream, or the idea that everyone has the same chance to improve their social status, the vast majority are restricted by their family name and reputation. A person’s heritage has always played a significant role within the social hierarchy, even as it pertains to marriage. Early Europeans sought to outlaw morganatic marriage, or intermarriage between people of unequal social rank, as a way of preserving the traditional social structure. Despite the progress made over the past few centuries, social distinctions and exclusions still exist and have a tremendous impact on an individual’s life. F. Scott Fitzgerald and Emily Brontë, authors of The Great Gatsby and Wuthering Heights, respectively, accurately identify the rigid social ranks between individuals, and the factors contributing to their distinctions. Jay Gatsby, the protagonist of The Great Gatsby, comes from a farming family and tries to improve his social status so that can fulfill his personal ambition and marry Daisy. Even though Gatsby gains immense financial wealth, he is still excluded from Daisy’s social class, or “Old Wealth,” because he is limited by his background and lack of education. Similar to Gatsby, Bronte’s main character, Heathcliff, is unable to enter Catherine’s social class because although he too achieves financial wealth, he lacks the true heritage of an aristocrat and a formal education.   

Social hierarchy 

Gatsby’s ambition to be a social elite began during his early adolescence, when he began to concentrate his energy on obtaining economic success. For instance, in his old book where his daily schedule is listed, he devotes an entire hour towards practicing “elocution, poise and how to attain it,” and reminds himself abstain from smoking and chewing (Fitzgerald 173). His devotion to improving his public speaking and mannerisms clearly represents his desire to become a member of the upper class because he must have the ability to pass as elegant in order to fit in. Accordingly, his refusal to smoke and chew tobacco illustrates his determination to differentiate himself from the vulgar activities of the lower classes. Although the real reason Gatsby wants to improve his status lies with his ambition, the abandonment from Daisy also constitutes a significant reason, as well as an excuse. Gatsby recalls the first impression of Daisy as “the first ‘nice’ girl he had ever known,” because they did not have an “indiscernible barbed wire” that separated them (Fitzgerald 148). To Gatsby, Daisy represents an entrance into the exclusive aristocracy, which is demonstrated by the absence of “barbed wire.” Although Gatsby considers the intermarriage of Daisy and him as a shortcut to make the dream of wealth true as the propose chase Daisy in the beginning, he truly falls in love with Daisy after he is in the relationship with her.  However, the failure of his romantic relationship which is result in Daisy abandon him because the pressure from society, made he realized it’s impossible to a man from lower class, like him, marry a upper class woman, no matter how deep their love is. Meanwhile,  it also stimulates him to enhance his status while he feels the humiliation and inferiority of his poverty, which  made the great gap of social status between Daisy and him.

Daisy 

               Gatsby introduces his background to Nick as “[he is] the son of some wealthy people in the Middle West-all dead now. [he] was brought up in American but educated at Oxford, because all [his] ancestors have been educated at Oxford” (F. Scott Fitzgerald, 65). Fitzgerald utilizes that to emphasize Gatsby propose that made other people believe he has potential abilities to be a upper class as well as old wealth member as he was born in a old and well-known family and graduated from a noble college, not just a new wealth. 

"One night, we can build a nouveau riche, three generations to cultivate an aristocrat."
-- Williams  Shakespeare

                Despite that  he tries to defend that he is the Old Wealth, his statements and actions expose his feign. Nick as a gentleman comes from a blue-blood family and his family went to Yale from generation to generation, but he modestly said he went to college in “New Heave”. And it is feigned that Gatsby show him the picture which he took in Oxford and the “Orderi de Danilo”.

Gatsby's party
His house and parties, the symbols of fortunes, were  utilized by Gatsby as measurements to flaunt his riches since he lacks of a background as Old Wealth.

             
                    While Daisy inclined to Gatsby’s position as she condemns Tom reveals Gatsby’s education background, Tom emphasizes the division of Old Wealth and Nouveau Riches as he says: “Nowadays people begin by sneering at family life and family institutions, and next they’ll throw everything overboard and have intermarriage between black and white. “ (F. Scott Fitzgerald, 130).  It illustrates the intermarriage between different social class could not accept by moral  as it insinuates the absurdness of the intermarriage between black, which represent Nouveau Riche, person who born in poverty  and White, which refers to person who inherit money from blue-blood family, represents Old Wealth. Furthermore, Tom emphasize the ideology of social hierarchy to deride Gatsby’s background by improve his own status as a warn to Daisy that it would broke the social order if she chooses a Nouveau Riche. And after Tom reveal Gatsby’s illegal deal, Daisy’s sentiment has changed dramatically as she felt remorse about she tried to go away with Gatsby as she “looked at Tom, alarmed now.”after Tom said, “you two start on home, Daisy, in Gatsby’s car” (F. Scott Fitzgerald, 135). Because the illegal deal, which not only could be consider as the testimony of his corrupt but also deny his background as his fortune was not obtained by inheriting and that made Gatsby lose the potential possibility of enter upper class. “In Gatsby’s car” symbolized Gatsby’s social class, Nouveau Riche.  If Daisy chooses to go with his, then she could not keep her position among upper class any more and would be degenerated into Nouveau Riche as Gatsby.

                  In Wuthering Height, Emily Brontë demonstrates how social status acts as the factor to impact the Catherine’s choice between true love and class.  Compared by the love from Catherine to Heathcliff, which is considered true love, the love to Edger is based on materiality because it seems to be the pursuit of high-quality life under the factors like class, status, wealth, and family, which exerts a subtle influence on Catherine’s values as she explains the different of those two: “My love for Linton is like the foliage in the woods: time will change it, I'm well aware, as winter changes the trees. My love for Heathcliff resembles the eternal rocks beneath: a source of little visible delight, but necessary” (Brontë, 80). To Catherine, marrying Edgar doesn’t mean she will love Linton more than Heathcliff,  just because she follows the society hierarchy, as she describes Edgar “because he is handsome, because he is young. And he will be rich, and I shall like to be the greatest woman of neighborhood”(Brontë, 76) which means Catherine prefers Edgar for his handsome , young, wealth and status which is laid on external circumstance and is changeable, so Catherine to his love also will be changed with that external things, and her marriage with Edger never means she will leave Heathcliff as she plans “if I marry Linton, I can’t aid Heathcliff to rise, and place him out of my brother’s power”(Brontë, 79), she would like to enhance Heathcliff’s status by her husband’s power, as well as help him get rid of Hindley’s control, though Heathcliff does not like to accept her too much care. Furthermore, it also illustrates Catherine doesn’t satisfy Heathcliff’s current status who is not only living in poverty and also is treated as a slave by his brother, has a great gap from him. Heathcliff is to her what a slave of the lower class is to a lady of aristocratic class. As Catherine once tell her maid that “It would degrade me to marry Heathcliff now” (I’ll find the page no. ch.9), which means if Catherine marry him, she would degrade in to lower class but marry a upper class men like Edger would make her stay in the aristocratic class.

In a nutshell, both of Gatsby and Heathcliff have similar experiences as they are abandoned by the upper class woman who they love while those women made the choice between the hierarchy of social order and true love.  After they realizes the cruelty of reality of social hierarchy, they obtained wealthy through assiduous working. Similarly, their persistence of love-pursuing is praised and sympathized  by readers. However, their fate are determined while they are born, the love emerges between different social class will not to be end in a happy outcome, wherever how much they did for trying to improve their status. 

More stories about social hierocracy and marriage

Arhduke Franz Ferlinand and Countess Sophie Chotek von Chotkwa

Morganatic marriage  is the marriage between people of unequal social rank, which prevents the passage of the husband’s title and privileges to the wife and any children born of the marriage. The marriage of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, and Bohemian aristocrat Countess Sophie Chotek von Chotkowa is a famous example. Despite that  Archduke who was the heir of Austria-Hungary, finally overcame the great pressure form his royal family and other European upper class to marry Sophie, their marriage, which was a morganatic one, did not gain any esteems from society. Their children took their mother’s family name and rank, and were exclude from imperial succession. Countess Sophie serves as a aristocrat could not be accepted, it is less impossible to Gatsby and Heathcliff  to marry higher status women.

Deposed Queen Yoon

Queen Yoon

Experience of Deposed Korean Queen Yoon is another famous example of  the intermarriage between two extreme social classes. Her husband who served as  King of Korean, in spite of oppositions from royal family and ministers, marriaged with her, the maid who he loved.   Without a powerful upper class background, Queen Yoon treated disrespectful by King’s other concubines who were born in a aristocratic family.  And the envy and resentment of concubine triggered the struggle in palace. As a result, Queen Yoon was repealed and exiled because the traps from other aristocratic concubines. Queen Yoon’s son, Yeonsangun of Joseon, inherited Korean throne after his father’s death. However, the blood purge he emerged a in order to revenged the people who calumniated his mother, brought the rise of a coup caused he was overthrown by aristocrats. 

-------------------------------------

Unlink sources:
Fitzgerald, F. Scott, and Matthew J. Bruccoli. The Great Gatsby. New York: Scribner, 2004. Print.
Brontë, Emily. Wuthering Heights. New York, NY: Signet Classics, 2011. Print.