Upton Sinclair's Jungle Conditions
The Cruel Conditions of A Jungle
Upton Sinclair’s novel The Jungle, introduces Jurgis Rudkus, a Lithuanian immigrant who enters America with his wife Ona. Jurgis is a strong individual who is eager to learn more about the American dream, but the miserable working and living conditions in Packingtown starts to make an impact in his life that will cause him to struggle in supporting his family.
Firstly, this story takes place in the twentieth century, and depicts a Lithuanian family who decides to move to Chicago trying to find a better life. They soon realize that the conditions of the factory work environment are very harsh. In order to show Jurgis’s emotions towards the city of Packingtown Sinclair uses the metaphor “... all life, was to
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Sinclair uses “the shackles,” (Sinclair 243) that have been holding him back to symbolize the poverty, the cruel meat-packing industry, and the hardships for an immigrant in Chicago. All these things that have happened impact his life and do not allow him to live his life in Packingtown the way he expected to when first arriving. Sinclair even uses symbolism with the title of the book itself. The story’s title The Jungle symbolizes the wild nature of capitalism. Packingtown, the place that Jurgis has moved into contrasts to a jungle in the sense that the rich are superior to the poor. The competition for jobs is very important for everyone because it is how they take care of their families. In the jungle there is always an animal that is more dominant than the others and the factory owners represent that because of how much more they are superior than all of the enslaved workers that are working for them. For Jurgis and his family it is a jungle where they are living because of everything going on around them. “There is one kind of prison where the man is behind bars, and everything that he desires is outside; and there is another kind where the things are behind the bars, and the man is outside” (Sinclair 279). This explains the imprisonment that Jurgis has had to go through because of the unfair and unjust problems in
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The Jungle Research Papers
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The Jungle Thesis
580 Words | 3 PagesThe novel The Jungle, written by Upton Sinclair, uses the story of an immigrant family from Lithuania to represent the trials and errors of an immigrant family during the Industrial Revolution. The Jungle’s main story introduces Jurgis Rudkus, an immigrant arriving in Chicago, who struggles to work in harsh conditions and provide for his large family. Upton Sinclair exposes the inner workings of how immigrants survive the battles of poverty and how the injustices within the government can drive a person wild. Upton Sinclair uses The Jungle to display the horrific experiences that immigrant families face when coming to America. Most urban populations during the Industrial Revolution are immigrants, which increases the competition for work.
Socialism In Upton Sinclair's The Jungle
778 Words | 4 PagesIn Upton Sinclair's The Jungle, Jurgis and his family attempt to survive in a malicious society. In this jungle of a town, rotten meat is being packaged in order to save money. Throughout the novel, the immigrants are faced with greedy capitalists who take advantage of the family’s ignorance and naivety in order to make money. The symbols of corruption, a jungle-like setting, and the tension between family and a work-based lifestyle transparently contribute to the unifying theme of anti-capitalism. In other words, this book is not art; this book is propaganda.
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Review Of Upton Sinclair's The Jungle
1370 Words | 6 PagesThe Jungle is a story that revolves around the protagonist Jurgis Rudkus and his family, the Lithuanian immigrant who came to America to lead a better life and worked at meatpacking plants of early 20th century Chicago. The story showcases the hardship that they underwent due to the harsh and bad working condition, poverty, starvation and being cheated by unjust people agents, eventually losing all their money. The Jungle provides us ways to look at the unfettered capitalism that prevailed in the early 20th century. This book also exposes the corruption, inequality, unjustness, sickness and slavery that existed in the society.
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