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Theme Of The Jungle

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When Upton Sinclair spoke about his book, The Jungle, written in 1906, he said "I aimed at the public's heart, and by accident I hit it in the stomach." (p. v). Never a truer word was spoken. The Jungle highlighted three main themes. The first was the experience of the immigrants once they arrived in the United States, including the harsh conditions under which they lived. The second was the experience of the immigrants once they entered the labor force, specifically at meat packing plant in Chicago. This included the dangerous conditions under which the immigrants worked in addition to highlighting the unsanitary practices under which the meat was processed for human consumption. The third theme was to highlight socialism. …show more content…

Jurgis, Ona and the other family members never saw any of these deplorable conditions as harbingers of things to come. The first several chapters of the book are filled with unwavering optimism as no matter how many setbacks, Jurgis and his family all feel that once they get settled in with a home and jobs that everything will be okay. Because he is big and strong, Jurgis gets a job almost immediately on the killing floors at the meat packing plant. A job painting cans opens up for Marija when the lady who had the job for many years takes a sick day and is fired. Antanas, who is older and is having difficulty finding a job, finally gets a one in the factory in the pickling room, but only after he promises to give a third of his pay to the guy who found him the job. Jonas finds a job. The family pools their money and is able to buy a house that they were told is new only to discover later that it was not new and furthermore, there were additional conditions that made the house payment more than they originally though. As a result, Ona pays someone $10.00 to get her a job and Teta Elzbieta’s oldest son, Stanislovas, gets a job in a lard factory. After struggling and saving, Jurgis and Ona are finally getting married. As is the tradition, the family hosts a big dinner which everyone in the

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