Corruption, lies, adultery, politics, and death are all topics addressed in Upton Sinclair’s 1906 novel The Jungle. The book reveals the atrocities that occurred during the early 1900’s in Chicago’s cruel and disgusting meatpacking district. The Jungle chronicles the struggle of a Lithuanian family that came to America with dreams of making their riches and passing it on to their descendants. Analysis of the novel reveals a recurring theme of how desperation makes people do horrible things such as being coerced into sexual acts, working in dangerous conditions, and selling themselves for money. Peer review by Slate’s Karen Olsen critics the novel’s shortcomings and praises its high points. The tale of a poor, hopeful Lithuanian family …show more content…
The family begins to have good luck, both Jonas and Marija begin to work. The group is presented with an offer for a house, which they take without understanding the fine print. The entire family continues working, with Jurgis quickly learning all of the horrible things that occur in the factories. Soon after the wedding described in the beginning occurs and life goes on afterwards. Old Dede Antanas dies from sickness. Their first winter begins and they are not prepared for what happens. Hours are cut, so all of the family is being paid less than half of what they were usually making. Jurgis joins the union and the rest of the family follows. Jurgis becomes a citizen and learns more of the political corruption that occurs under him. Soon after this Ona gives birth to a boy, who is named Antanas. Later, Jurgis hurts his leg on the job which progressively gets bad enough that he is bedridden to allow it to heal. While Jurgis is bedridden, Jonas leaves the group without notice, causing the family’s income to decrease further. After his leg heals, Jurgis finds a job at the fertilizer plant. Ona starts to become sick and despondent, which worries Jurgis. Jurgis questions her repeatedly and learns about what Connor had done. Jurgis assaults Connor for his crime and is sent to prison where he meets Jack Duane, a charismatic criminal. Jurgis is sentenced to a month in jail for the assault of Connor. When Jurgis is released he comes
As the story goes on Ona and her baby Antanas both die. Ona during child birth and Antanas will drowned in front of the house. Jurgis will then move out of the city to the suburbs leave all of his family behind. Later returning to Chicago and getting himself into a lot of trouble with the law. After some time of being in and out of jail Jurgis finally gets a job working at a hotel. He will become back in touch with his family that he left and begin to support them on what he makes by working at the hotel.
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.
The last decade of the nineteenth century and the early twentieth century saw the development of several movements in literature through the changes in America. Consequently, these influences amounted to have an impact on authors at the turn of the century. Moreover writers began to respond to social changes of the industrial revolution and provide an understanding of a newly emerging society in America. Chapter 14 of the novel “The Jungle”, by Upton Sinclair” depicts these societal changes during the turn of the century. Capital and social influences are demonstrated in “The Jungle” by exposing the injustices in America.
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.
Uptons Sinclairs The Jungle from 1906 is a fictional book from the progressive era. Even though The Jungle is a fictional novel, it described conditions that were real during the progressive era, such as working class poverty and harsh working conditions. The novel was written as a way to exploit the real lives of working citizens at home and at work.
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
Upton Sinclair wrote The Jungle in hopes of empathizing with the American public on behalf of countless immigrants working in slums and corrupt industries during the
While the works of Upton Sinclair are not widely read today because of their primacy of social change rather than aesthetic pleasure, works like The Jungle are important to understand in relation to the society that produced them. Sinclair was considered a part of the muckraking era, an era when social critics observed all that was wrong and corrupt in business and politics and responded against it. The Jungle was written primarily as a harsh indictment of wage slavery, but its vivid depictions of the deplorable lack of sanitation involved in the meatpacking industry in Chicago resulted in public outrage to the point where Congress passed the Pure Food and Drug Act and the Meat Inspection
For many, the word “jungle” brings to mind a tropical overgrowth of dense vegetation and swooping, snake like vines, not the miserable, poverty-stricken Packingtown of industrial Chicago. However, in The Jungle, Upton Sinclair’s exposé of the meatpacking industry, many of the jungle’s primitive rules of survival govern the “urban jungle” of Chicago. Unaware of what they must do to survive, Jurgis and his family struggle to find the core values of the American dream that they naïvely believe in: acceptance, opportunity, hard work, and morality. Through their lives and surroundings, Sinclair displays how the occupants of Packingtown cast aside their moral values, in favor of greed, in order to survive.
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.
America, by the turn of the twentieth century, was regarded as the “Land of Opportunity,” and lured thousands of immigrants. The foreigners that fled to the United States were in search of new lives; better lives. America was at the age of industrialization, and the economy was shifting from agriculture to factories. There were jobs in the factories available to un-skilled workers, which were the majority of the immigrants. And industrialists had no problem finding a way to exploit the workers lives.
The novel, The Jungle by Upton Sinclair depicts the lives of poor immigrants in the United States during the early 1900’s. Sinclair is extremely effective in this novel at identifying and expressing the perils and social concerns of immigrants during this era. The turmoil that immigrants faced was contingent on societal values during the era. There was a Social Darwinist sentiment
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.
I can't live in something, I don't believe in it. Not just because I don't believe in communism, it's good in book when you write it, sounds beautiful, but in life doesn't work. Will never work because of human nature, because people aren't perfect you can't make a perfect world [inaudible] we're living in a beautiful [inaudible] because of the beautiful thing people are taking advantage of it. It's the wildest jungle the best beautiful [country?] but it's the wildest jungle. That's the ways I see it.