The Dehumanizing Nature of Capitalism

The book vividly portrays the brutal conditions of the working class—slums, labor-ghettos, and the destruction of family life—arguing that the capitalist system reduces people to 'beasts' and 'machine-serfs.'

The Iron Heel regime embodies the dehumanizing and oppressive force of unchecked capitalist oligarchy.

Workers are treated as expendable parts of the machine, with accidents common and no safety net.

Jackson's arm and the blood on Avis's gown symbolize how capitalism reduces workers to expendable parts of the machine.

Ernest describes the masters as grossly material, morally rotten, and living in an 'arid desert of commercialism,' contrasting them with the clean, noble revolutionists.