Jurgis was a character that had no apparent flaws, but his sorrows and pain led him to the socialist form of government and the evils of capitalism. Through the trials and tribulations he repeatedly faces in the novel, he comes to believe in the evils of capitalism and how corrupt the system is. First is at the wedding, where the barkeeper starts off with a half keg, and drains that and uses another half keg through the festivities, and charges the family fully for both kegs. Not even the sacred tradition of marriage stops the immorality of the barkeeper who only looks out for himself. Next, when the family goes to buy a house, the ad shows it as being new and disguises all the hidden costs. In realization, the house is 15 years old, has had several familys live in it. The deal which they signed on the house had many hidden expenses such as interest and insurance, so the family is forced to scrounge and save to make ends meet.
The next problem that caused grief for Jurgis and made him hate capitalism, was the death of Dede Antanas. Dede had to pay a man a third of his wages just to have a job, and even then it was a horrible job that caused him to die. In this situation, Jurgis sees that the bosses care nothing for the workers, only their own profit, taking graft from men to do jobs. After that, Jurgis' wife Ona, got raped by her boss and became pregnant. This showed Jurgis the lawlessness of capitalism. Then Jurgis is introduced to the crime aspect of Packingtown, and finds out just how profitable it is to be a criminal. Once again he is shown just how bad the system is that it is more profitable and less dangerous to be a thief, than to be a normal, hard-working man. The total loss of family and tradition is an under appreciated reason of why Jurgis breaks down and comes to the light of socialism. He loses his connection to Marija and Teta Elzbieta, and also the death of Ona, his son Antanas and the runaway Jonas split his spirit and belief in the American Dream and his beliefs in capitalism.