Book Review of the Jungle Essay examples

In the first place, Sinclair exposes imagery in order to illustrate the very unsanitary conditions found in these factories. He is able to make the readers picture the gross factory floors or the rotted meat. His strong choice of words enable the readers the ability to see what and why something has to change. For example in paragraph three, “There would be meat stored in great piles in the room; and the water from leaky roofs would drip over it, and thousands of rats would race about it. It was too dark in these storage places to see well, but a man could run his hand over these piles of meat and sweep off handfuls of the dried dung of rats” (Sinclair 3). This quote paints a picture in the readers’ minds of just how bad the conditions are in these factories. Also in paragraph 3, “Every spring they did it; and in the barrels would be dirt and rust and old nails and stale water-and cartload after cartload of it would be taken up and dumped into the hoppers with fresh meat, and sent out to the public’s breakfast” (Sinclair 3).The right word choice can make the readers picture the water dripping or the rats scattering. Sinclair’s word choice is so strong and detailed that readers can picture exactly what that would look like.

This novel was a big hit because of its subject. The novel was supposed to focus on the harsh conditions and overworked lives of immigrants in the United States in Chicago. “However, most readers were more concerned with his exposure of health violations and unsanitary use in the American meatpacking industry during the early 20th century, based on an investigation he did for a socialist newspaper.” (Gilder Lehrman) This then got the people talking about the meat packing industries unhealthy work. In Sinclair’s novel he described “the disease of packinghouse workers, from severed fingers to tuberculosis and blood poisoning.”(Gilder

Upton Sinclair carefully weaves vivid accounts of political and legal corruption into his portrayal of the city of Chicago at the turn of the 20th Century. As Jurgis’s story unfolds, he becomes both the victim and perpetrator of nefarious actions, which undermine the overarching legal and political system. As will be demonstrated, Sinclair’s portrayal of corruption aims to convince his readers of the evident failings of unbridled laissez-faire capitalism and, by contrast, the viability of socialism as a potential alternative.

The Jungle by Upton Sinclair was published in 1906. After reading two-hundred and ninety-four pages, it is evident that humans have been shaping the world over time and the world has been shaping us as well. A lot has changed since the industrial revolution, the time frame in which this novel takes place. Our food industries have improved, money value has risen, and job opportunities have expanded. Throughout The Jungle the reader follows an immigrant family on their journey of hardships and losses as they grapple through gory times that was the Industrial Revolution.

Socialism – a word that still strikes fear into the hearts of the American people. Written in 1906, The Jungle effectively describes some of the biggest issues of the era; poverty, discrimination, injustice and crime are some of the many problems that plagued the ‘Labor Movement’ years. In the later chapters of Upton Sinclair’s muckraking novel The Jungle, Socialism is a hot topic amongst Jurgis and his ‘comrades’. This system of societal organization seemingly provided all the answers to the working class’ concerns by implementing a simple solution: “From each according to his ability, to each according to his contribution.” This ‘solution’, however, is not unique; almost every system of government promises an answer to the most common

The Jungle by Upton Sinclair is a vivid account of life for the working class in the early 1900s. Jurgis Rudkus and his family travel to the United States in search of the American dream and an escape from the rigid social structure of Lithuania. Instead, they find a myriad of new difficulties. Sinclair attributes their problems to the downfalls of capitalism in the United States. While America’s system was idealistic for Jurgis and his family at first, the mood of the story quickly transforms to assert that capitalism is evil. This theme drives the author’s message and relay of major issues throughout the entirety of the novel. The idea of capitalism and social Darwinism is to

Upton SInclair’s novel, The Jungle, is a novel based on the “Gilded Age” in american history. It is the life of a working man named Jurgis Rudkus and as the story progresses, it shows the corruption and dishonesty of the people during this time period, as well as their reasoning behind their actions. Also as the novel continued, it showed the author's inspiration for the title of this novel. Throughout the book, Upton Sinclair had scattered metaphors as to why Capitalism is corrupt and why Socialism is better. With subtle hints to social classes and how Jurgis progresses through them through corruption.

Most famous people inspire authors to write books written about their achievements, however Upton Sinclair Junior did it backwards. Some of his ninety novels including an autobiography, and in particular The Jungle, changed America forever by using fictitious stories to depict the present issues at that time. Upton Sinclair was an author and activist in the early to mid 1900’s who was passionate about issues involving women 's rights, working conditions, and the unemployed. He wrote over ninety books in his lifetime, as well as countless articles and other works of journalism. As Sinclair grew up, he was exposed to both a lifestyle of poverty and wealth that shaped his world as well as his political views as a socialist, or someone who advocates the vesting of the control of the means of production and distribution, of capital or land in the community as a whole. Upton Sinclair was a controversial author who took a stand in history by vastly impacting the food industry, becoming politically active, and forecasting solutions to social problems.

Written at the turn of the 20th century, Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle took place in an era of unprecedented advancement in civilization where the American economy had risen to become one of the wealthiest on the planet. However, Sinclair asserts that the rise of capitalist America resulted in the virulent corruption and competition that plighted society into an untamed “jungle.” Shown by the corruption of the Chicago meatpacking industry, Sinclair highlights the repulsive filth of human greed that was created as a byproduct of the economic boom. The effects of industrialism and the rise of untamed capitalism is what raped the superfluity of workers, like Jurgis Rudkus, of the opportunity to uncover prosperity in America. Not only does The Jungle capture the brutality and acceleration of corrupt capitalism and ruthless Darwinism during the Progressive Era, it also prompts resistance and displacement of the existing political system in favor of a socialist revolution. Through the novel, Sinclair demonstrates how the deterioration of the American Dream was exacerbated by the capitalist greed and corruption that eventually drove Jurgis and his family into mental degeneration and despair.

And he writes of dishonest politicians and tricky real-estate salesmen. At the core of the story, Sinclair tells about the devastation and the falling apart of Jurgis's family as a result of the ruthless, abusive, and oppressive nature of work and life in Packingtown. By the end, Jurgis wanders alone, deprived of all dignity. He comes across a rally of political socialists, hears a speech on socialism, and enthusiastically converts to that cause. In the last chapters of the novel, Sinclair manifests arguments for socialism, in the form of speeches that Jurgis hears. The book ends with an appeal of a socialist speaker to "Organize! Organize! Organize!" so that "Chicago will be ours! Chicago will be ours! CHICAGO WILL BE OURS!" (Sinclair 372-73)

In the book, The Jungle, Upton Sinclair advocates for the overall elimination of oppression and exploitation of workers and immigrants and the use of socialism as a solution. The book depicts, and illustrates, the events and outcome of Jurgis and his family from Lithuania coming to the America’s in hopes of a better life, from the ideology of “The American Dream”. Jurgis believes that hard work will pay off no matter the size of the problem, however him and his family realize that the America’s posses corruption, harmful working conditions, and oppression of the worker and immigrants. Sinclair uses examples to express the hardships and cruelty that lower class workers faced to allow the reader to perceive whether or not there is a need for change in the system. Frederick Douglass uses the same form of writing to bring light to the harsh and unjust experiences he endured in order to persuade and communicate why there is a need to accomplish what he is advocating for.

Sinclair used metaphors to add further depth, descriptiveness and understanding to his writing. In this speech the author states, “feel the iron hand of circumstance close upon you a little tighter.” By this, he is referring to the injustice suffered by the laborers being a large, immovable hand virtually smashing them in its fist. This metaphor added an interesting twist and gave the speech goers a visual that made it easier for them to comprehend. Sinclair also demonstrates this by stating, “With the voice of those, who ever and wherever they may be, who are caught beneath the wheels of the Juggernaut of Greed!” Sinclair used this metaphor to highlight that even those brave enough to try and rise up are at time corrupted by greed.

The Jungle by Upton Sinclair details the life of a Lithuanian immigrant named Jurgis, in the late 1800’s. In the novel, Jurgis and his family immigrate to America in order to find prosperity and follow the “American Dream”. However, upon reaching reaching America, they face many trials and tribulations. Foremost, no one in the family is able to speak English, as well as being poor immigrants that are easily taken advantage of by society. Initially, Jurgis tries to keep his head up and tries through his own work to succeed, but as the events of the novel unfold, we see him tore down and corrupted. The moral corruption of Jurgis can be seen as a reflection of the environment in which he lived. In the end, Jurgis believed that the capitalistic society that he lived in was against the common man. The Jungle illustrates how greed and unchecked capitalism can have devastating effects on people.

The metaphor of the human being as a waste product allows Sinclair to tap into the guilt feelings of his audience.  At times, the book reminds one of those late-night TV solicitations for funds for third-world children.  What is interesting is that this is not particularly a good novel to read; the writing is dogmatic and often polemical.  Rather than trying to convince with reason and subtlety, Sinclair is shoving a point of view down the throats of those watching.  Still, this brutal approach is the only way to make an impression on an audience so far removed from the reality depicted in the novel.  Such an approach draws on the Catholic/Jewish/universal guilt that is plied by Sinclair like a preacher through the meat market of industrial life.  Rudkus comes into the novel full of hope and the reader must identify with his hopes and dreams.  Yet these dreams are not exactly fodder for a successful novel, if Rudkus was to find his American Dream.  The dream he finds is as rotten as the sausage that he processes, as is the American Dream in the socialist mindset of Sinclair.

Throughout the novel it is evident that factory owners care more about their profits, than the health of their workers. Jurgis would often work long shifts for little pay. In the story the Sinclair states, “And for this, at the end of the week, he would carry home three dollars to his family, being his pay at the rate of five cents per hour—just about his proper share of the total earnings of the million and three-quarters of children who are now engaged in earning their livings in the United States" (85). This quote proves that Jurgis was laboring long hours, every single day, to make no more than a child. Due to this Jurgis struggles to provide for his family and purchase necessities to live a healthy lifestyle. Eventually his lack of success leads him to drinking and corrupt activities. The corrupt practices of the factory owners are evidenced by child labor, sale of contaminated meat, and abuse of female workers. While capitalist gain financial earnings, the corruption that takes place destroys the heart and soul of workers throughout the stockyards, until all hope is lost.