The Themes Of Dishonest In Upton Sinclair's The Jungle

“The Jungle”, written by Upton Sinclair, Jr is a novel based on the hardships of immigrants in the early twentieth century. The author focuses in on a family that immigrated all the way from Lithuania to Chicago Illinois. They came to the states in hope for an abundance of opportunities, and a promising future but soon came to realize that their images of the American dream were anything but true.

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.

The Jungle, written by Upton Sinclair was a very touching and motivating story. Sinclair aimed for our hearts, but instead, he hit our stomachs. The Jungle is a story of hardships and trouble, some successes and many failures as a family tries to achieve the "American Dream." In this book, "The Jurgis Ruckus' myth of failure is the other side of the Horatio Alger's myth of success." (xxvi)

Ultimately, the city’s corrupt political system harnesses the unfettered capitalist economy in an effort to generate wealth and influence for those in power. When Jurgis is first introduced to the city’s democratic election process, he learns that politicians are able to collect large amounts of “graft” (i.e., money/privileges gained by corruption) by winning public office. In order to secure these positions, politicians must resort to corrupt elections tactics such as 1) buying votes, 2) hiring party-men to vote multiple times and 3) naturalizing foreigners in order to gain their vote. Sinclair uses vivid depictions of morally reprehensible politicians in order to demonstrate how the “system” is rigged against the workingman. For example, the venal Mike Scully misappropriates city funds to support his various business holdings (including the dump, tenement homes, the brick factory, and the ice house). He exempts his various businesses from taxes and also pays his workers with city funds (Ch. 9). By conducting business practices as such, Scully is able to scam honest, working men into buying inferior products at high rates. Although Scully campaigns as a man of the people, he is only concerned with collecting graft and offering special treatment to his supporters (e.g., he secured an alderman position for a

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.

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.

For centuries immigrants have left their homes and have journeyed to the United States in pursuit to live out the “American Dream”, an idea that the U.S. will provide people with a better life. However, this “better life” was not just given upon arrival, immigrants were not told the horrid experiences, and backbreaking hour, they would face in search for a better life. There is no better representation of this than Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle, this book is a very accurate representation of the life of the vast majority of people within the United States. During the time when this book was written there were few jobs, and the jobs that were obtainable were mostly factory jobs with horrible conditions that entailed excruciating hours. Aside from the dangerous conditions, the pay was next to nothing making it near impossible to afford food and shelter, let alone providing for a family. Immigrants quickly found out that the “American Dream” was not the glorified vision that they thought, rather more like the song “Welcome to the Jungle” by “Guns N Roses”. After examining the lyrics, you can tell the similarities Axl Rose and the rest of Guns N Roses were facing as they tried to make it in the music industry. “In the jungle, welcome to jungle, watch it bring you to your knees, I wanna watch you bleed,” once you get to the U.S. you’ll get ripped down to almost nothing and suffer from the horrible conditions that you are faced with. The Jungle takes all of the issues immigrants

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

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 corruption of the United States government was especially present within Packingtown; Packingtown was a nickname for the Union Stockyard in Chicago. Sinclair describes it as “a study in colors now, this smoke; in the sunset light it was black and brown and gray and purple. All the sordid suggestions of the place were gone-in the twilight it was a vision of power. To the two who stood watching while the darkness swallowed it up”(page 29). The sky is being described as engulfing the building with an array of dark colors. Jurgis thinks the colors are great, but Sinclair is showing how dark the city is. The people believe they see the kindness, but was the government hiding an abundance of things from the public. The corrupt government is hiding their dark actions within the less darker colors. The corrupt government was also functioning within the workplace itself. Jurgis suffered as a result, including when “Jurgis was ordered to remain and do some special work that normally the injured man had done”(page 62). Jurgis was forced to do

Analysis with textual evidence: Chapters 22-26 of The Jungle unravels the vulnerability of those who have lost everything, as they are easily influenced by the temptations of corruption. Sinclair emphasizes in his novel how even if one has clear morals, it will certainly waver if the individual confronts conditions he/she is not familiar with. This is noticeable through the actions of Jurgis after the death of his child when he transitions from barely surviving to living a life full of crime and wrongdoing all in the city of Chicago. “A month ago Jurgis had all but perished of starvation upon the streets; and now suddenly, as by the gift of a magic key, he had entered into a world where money and all the good things of life came freely” (Sinclair

The Jungle by Upton Sinclair is a tough read that teaches the corrupt policies of capitalism. The narrator, Jurgis, struggles with his new life in America because it isn’t the ideal dream that most immigrants have. Jurgis’ struggles are understandable, but there are many who have never had to experience what he has so it is harder to sympathize and compare oneself to that of a character with no similarities. However, this novel also teaches the hardships immigrants typically went through during their transitions, or their lives in general, in America while also providing the reader with healthy confusion. This novel establishes a sense of confusion, uneasiness, or worry while also making the reader feel pleasure or happiness. There are several instances in the novel where the reader experiences this healthy confusion while learning about the differences in lifestyles between the fortunate and those looking to have a new life but encounter conflicts. Most scenes in this novel are sad, but also have happiness buried deep within the text or meaning.

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 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.