In Upton Sinclair’s novel The Jungle there are many themes that are included throughout the story. Examples of these themes are dishonesty, social classes, Jurgis’s place, and the encounters he has. Most of this novel has smart and well placed metaphors scattered throughout it. These metaphors fill the book with partial sub themes. A good example of these metaphors is the title itself, the jobs the characters work at, the weather, and one of the most important ones, the characters themselves. Dishonesty The Jungle is full of it from every main and single mention character. There are many reasons why characters are dishonest. One of the whole reason he family moves to America. Another reason is to earn money. This is evident with Jack Duane when Jurgis meets him in prison and he tells him what he does for a living. Others are dishonest so they simply don’t have to work so hard. While characters do dishonest deeds they have many different rationalizations for them. Most are deceitful so they can survive over others and to get ahead. While for Jurgis the start of his deceit is to support his family. That is another subject throughout the book Jurgis changes he starts off well then he lives through a tragedy or two and then switches to a life of crime until the end of the book where he becomes a full fledged thief. Jurgis in this case acts as a metaphor and almost everything in this novel is a metaphor. It’s only fitting that a book with a lot of metaphors has a title that is one aswell. The title The Jungle refers to a theorist by the name of Charles Darwin which boils down to the beings best adapted will survive or in other words survival of the fittest. Another metaphor used throughout the book is the meat. The meat represents America during the late 1800’s and early 1900’s. During this time period America referred to it as the gilded age and the meat represented this by looking good on the outside but turning out to be terrible on the inside. The meat was just like america in this aspect because if you were too look at america in that time period it would look appealing but turn out to be horrible. Another commonly used metaphor used in the book are social classes and what they represent. The social
Upton Sinclair’s novel The Jungle had powerful political effects, resulting in his ultimate goal to create change. He was aware about the unsanitary conditions in the meat factories and therefore knew that something needed to be done. He was determined to implant a spark in readers and make them desire change. The variety of the rhetorical devices that Sinclair included helped him accomplish his goal. In chapter 14 from The Jungle, Upton Sinclair identifies imagery, personification, and pathos in order to inspire change upon the unhealthy standards and brutal work conditions in the factories.
The Jungle, being a persuasive novel in nature, is filled with different rhetorical devices or tools used by Sinclair to effectively convey his message. Sinclair’s goal of encouraging change in America’s economic structure is not an easy feat and Sinclair uses a number of different rhetorical devices to aid him. Through his intense tone, use of periodic sentencing, descriptive diction and other tools of rhetoric, Upton Sinclair constructs a moving novel that makes his message, and the reasoning behind it, clear.
making him less human. Even though Jurgis makes money from his work, it is not enough to
The Jungle by Upton Sinclair was written to expose the brutality faced by the workers in the meatpacking industry. Sinclair wanted to show people what was really going on in the factory because few people were informed about these companies work conditions. He wanted to show the public that meat was “ diseased, rotten, and contaminated” (Willie).” This revelation shocked the, public which later led to the creation of the federal laws on food and safety. Sinclair strongly shows the failure of capitalism in the meatpacking industry which he viewed as inhumane, destructive, unjust, brutal, and violent (Willie).”
In the novel The Jungle by Upton Sinclair there are many ways that different literary elements are used to explore a political or social issue. One main issue has to do with the meat packing industry and how the workers are treated. In the novel, the main character had moved to America to find work and live the American Dream but his time in America was anything but a dream. Upton Sinclair uses many literary elements in his work to show imagery, metaphors/ similes and personification all why relating to the social issue of the packing industry.
The Jungle by Upton Sinclair was about Jurgis Rudkus who was an immigrarnt from Lithuania that came to the United States to discover his dreams, hopes, and desires. He took his family to Chicago to begin a new life. He worked in meatpacking industries that were unsanitary and brutal amount of hours that resulted into starvation. He was mistreated and realized the American dream wasn't as easy as it seemed. The book deals with disease, hunger, corruption, crime, poverty and death. “Leave it to me; leave it to me. I will earn more money – I will work harder.” This was said by Jurgis frequently because him and Ona always struggled with money and having a job but Jurgis never wanted Ona to stress about those problems. Jurgis always took charge
Upton Sinclair’s novel “The Jungle” is a classic story of greed, corruption, and misfortune following Jurgis Rudkis and his love interest/eventual wife, Ona Lukosazite, and their two families. The novel shows off the complexity of and fickle nature of life and all that within it that we all take for granted. The characters feel very human and their troubles are very sympathetic as well. One begins to feel delight as well as anguish at the author’s non-existent mercy.
Upton Sinclair's novel The Jungle. Is a story about a family from Lithuania that move to Chicago, Illinois in 1905. There are many themes shown in the story. Such as Irony which is shown in many ways than one for example one of the characters in this story finally gets some money and she carries it everywhere and it weighs her down and one day she gets stuck in mud because it was so heavy. Poverty, greed, and death also happens in this novel as well. Poverty is shown in the book in how poor they are they get paid very little. Greed is all around the characters as in the people around them are greedy and they make ways to where no one else has any. Death happens the the family in many ways a few of the family members die in the novel.
The Jungle demonstrates the exploitation of workers under the capitalist system where the majority of the wealth is concentrated in the hands of the few while workers like Jurgis are forced to become wage slaves in order to survive. Not only does the owners see workers as “wild beasts” and trap
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.
Several years before and after the turn the turn of the twentieth century, America experienced a large influx of European immigration. These new citizens had come in search of the American dream of success, bolstered by promise of good fortune. Instead they found themselves beaten into failure by American industry. Upton Sinclair wanted to expose the cruelty and heartlessness endured by these ordinary workers. He chose to represent the industrial world through the meatpacking industry, where the rewards of progress were enjoyed only by the privileged, who exploited the powerless masses of workers. The Jungle is a novel and a work of investigative journalism; its primary purpose was to inform the general public about the dehumanization
Written by Upton Sinclair, The Jungle explores the sheer, harsh conditions of the living and working environment in the Chicago stockyards. The title is significant because it represents the realities of the labor force and depicts a wild, brutal environment that benefited the wealthy, while leaving the inferior working class fighting to survive. In Particular, the The Jungle denotes the life of Jurgis and his family in Packingtown and their hardships they face in the Chicago stockyards. Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle has a significant title because through corruption and capitalism, the weak and poor suffer, while the strong and wealthy flourish.
The Jungle both supports and refutes this theory. It supports it, considering that Jurgis’ family could not progress because their main focus was survival, food, clothing shelter. However, Jurgis reaches the highest level of self actualization during a period where his basic needs are not meet, when he decides to join the political party of Socialism. It is not until he joins this party that Jurgis understands his purpose.
The Jungle is a novel that focuses on a family of immigrants who came to America looking for a better life. The novel was written by Upton Sinclair, who went into the Chicago stockyards to investigate what life was like for the people who worked there. The book was originally written with the intent of showing Socialism as a better option than Capitalism for the society. However, the details of the story ended up launching a government investigation of the meat packing plants, and ultimately regulation of food products. It gave an informative view of what life was like in America at the time. Important topics like immigration, working conditions and sanitation issues of the time were all addressed well in the novel.