The Jungle Thesis

The Jungle (1906), by Upton Sinclair, is a story mainly about the life and turmoil of a man who came to American in hopes that he will become a free, rich man with a beautiful wife, Ona, and happy family; this man is the young Jurgis Rudkus, a strong, energetic Lithuanian whose personality and life are all changed several times over the coarse of the story. Major— usually tragic— events that occur in the story serve as catalysts for Jurgis's dramatic, almost upsetting, transformations. There were four major turning points in Jurgis's life: after he loses his job and is forced to work at a fertilizer mill; when he loses his wife and children; when he is incorporated into the criminal and political underworlds; and when he picks his life

In the book The Jungle by Upton Sinclair; this was first published by Fine Creative Media Inc. in 1906 (edition I read was published in 2003) it discuses life as an immigrant and how immigrants foresaw the American dream and how they tired to achieve it. There where many themes for the book. The theme that I took was most important was that life on the other side is not always better then what one has. This theme can be shown many different ways throughout the book. It is shown through the plot and through many examples of event that occurred though the book.

There was never the least attention paid to what was cut up for sausage; there would come all the way back from Europe old sausage that had been rejected, and that was moldy and white – it would be dosed with borax and glycerin, and dumped into the hoppers, and made over again for home consumption. There would be meat that had tumbled out on the floor, in the dirt and sawdust, where the workers had tramped and spit uncounted billions of consumption germs. There would be meat stored in great piles in rooms; and the water from leaky roofs would drip over it, and thousands of rats would race about on 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. These rats were nuisances, and the packers would put poisoned bread out for them; they would die, and then rats, bread, and meat would go into the hoppers together. This is no fairy story and no joke; the meat would be shoveled into carts, and the man who did the shoveling would not trouble to lift out a rat even when he saw one – there were things that went into the sausage in comparison with which a poisoned rat was a tidbit. There was no place for the men to wash their hands before they ate their dinner, and so they made a practice of washing them in the

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 Jungle is book that takes the reader in a period in time where the “American Dream” was the only thing worth believing in the daily job struggles of immigrants in America during the early twentieth century. What is the American Dream? It is said that any man or woman willing to work hard in this country and work an honest day is capable living and could support his family and have an equal opportunity to success. Although The Jungle was taken account more on how the meat production was disgusting and unhealthy for production and consumption. However many missed the real message of this book in which Sinclair wants to engage the reader in particular scenario of the failure of capitalism. According to Sinclair, socialism is the only way out of the failure of capitalism. It is the way that all problems can be solved and works for the benefit of everyone where capitalism works against the people. The slow destruction of Jurgis’s family at the hands of a cruel and unfair economic and social system demonstrates the effect of capitalism on the working class. As the immigrants, who believe an idealistic faith in the American Dream of hard work leading to material success, are slowly used up, tortured, and destroyed.

Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle was published in 1906 and was an eye-opening revelation of the workingman’s experience in the Chicago stockyards. Sinclair describes the horrible work conditions the workers endured and the unsanitary ways in which the meat was made and processed. Sinclair uses an immigrant family from Lithuania to help bring attention to the hardships and unfairness that the working class had to go through.

There were no toilets, so human and rat excrement wound up in the meat, along with the rats themselves. These unsanitary details moved readers far more than the injustices inflicted on the workers. Other examples include the rechurning of rancid butter, the cutting of ice from polluted water and the doctoring of milk with formaldehyde. The average consumer was shocked to know that the “pure beef” was in fact contaminated and unfit for human consumption. Imagine

Jurgis Rudkus and Ona Lukoszaite open the novel of The Jungle with a celebration of their wedding. The opening of the book highlights the best time that Jurgis and Ona will ever again experience during their stay in America. Jurgis is convinced that he can accomplish the American Dream, gaining prosperity from hard work and dedication. However, as the novel progresses, we soon see that this dream that Jurgis had is much farther away than he anticipated, and prosperity seems untouchable unless one gives up their morals and values and joins the capitalistic America. In this novel we see Jurgis start with a dream and end with a dream, however much is lost in the process.

Upton Sinclair’s novel, The Jungle, was written about the meatpacking industry of Chicago in 1906. The inside look at the processes of the factories opened the eyes of the American people and led to the passage of the Meat Inspection Act and the Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906. Throughout the novel, Sinclair brings to light the true conditions in the meatpacking factories through the life of a family of Lithuanian immigrants. The atmosphere created by Sinclair in The Jungle is comparable to a literal jungle through concepts such as corporate hierarchy, Social Darwinism, and metaphorical language.

Truth be told, Sinclair demonstrates that the working environment security was greatly low and representatives were at the high danger of harm similar to the instance of Jurgis companions, relatives and Jurgis himself. In the meantime, the damage of laborers frequently implied the loss of employment that demonstrates that the mid 20th century specialists were not secured in their rights. Now, it merits specifying the way that lawful demonstrations that legitimately secured representatives, who endured wounds or had incapacities, were presented just in the late 20th century, for instance the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990. Consequently, the carelessness of managers and absence of worries about their representatives' wellbeing was a standard in the US in the past and this disposition has

The Jungle is a novel about a Lithuanian family working in the stockyards in Chicago. The writer depicts the struggle for survival in the poor working condition and how they must endure hardships and overwhelming work. Furthermore, the novel provides a detailed description of the meatpacking company in the early twenty-century and the life of many immigrants. Later, the family

Upton Sinclair’s novel, The Jungle, follows the life of Jurgis Rudkus, his Lithuanian family, and friends who all recently immigrated to Chicago in search of a better life. Jurgis, Ona, and the rest of their family find jobs in Packington, the meatpacking industry of Chicago. Quickly they discover the difficulties of surviving in the United States during the early 1900’s through financial troubles, unreliable work, illness, and swindling. Through his novel, Sinclair exploits the dangerous working conditions of the Chicago meatpacking industry, the health violations, and the struggles the workers face to make ends meet. Contrasted with today’s food industry and the fight for Food Justice, authors Raj Patel, Gottlieb, and Joshi address the similarities between Jurgis and meatpacking workers to the agriculture and industry workers of today. All face challenges such as the struggle to survive on low wages, hazards in the workplace, and the mental burdens these jobs impose on workers. Upton Sinclair exploits the corrupt environment of the meatpacking industry but issues such as worker wages, public health, and sanitation remain important issues today.

The Jungle tells the story of one Lithuanian family's journey to America to seek a better life. When the Rudkus family first arrive, they are naively hopeful about their prospects in America and have dreams of owning a home, marrying, and having children. Once they arrive, their dreams are not easy or even possible to achieve. Ona and the children must go to work, family members die as a result of brutal working conditions, and the family is cheated into signing a lease on a home, which they eventually lose. The optimism of the Rudkus family is contrasted with the hardships in their lives, and their dreams are replaced by a struggle for survival. Through their experience, Sinclair shows how immigrants are used as mere tools for capitalist

The Jungle is a book that was written in 1906, in the middle of the Progressive Era. It was written by Upton Sinclair for the purpose to try to awaken the reader to the terrible living conditions of immigrants in the cities. But also to show how the harsh critical system led to meat inspection legislation and the Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906. This novel specifies in every little detail about the living conditions and the working conditions of the immigrants. In this book, Sinclair indirectly articulates what the American Dream was and what it meant for all the immigrants.

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.