ipl-logo

The Jungle Critical Analysis

1202 Words5 Pages

Camila Casanova
U.S. History 1302: S67
Mr. Isaac G. Pietrzak
February 9, 2018

Critical Review: The Jungle
Sinclair, Upton. The Jungle. New York: Barnes & Noble Classics, 2003.
During the time period of the 1900’s, the meat packaging industry in Chicago, as Sinclair mentions in his novel, The Jungle, was a very unsanitary and extremely dangerous workplace that lacked much more than just a few safety precautions. Simple things, such as enforcing hand washing or workers’ rights were unheard of in the working environment. It is clear that Upton Sinclair was trying to expose the worker’s horrendous labor conditions in order to improve their situation, along with the introduction of socialism. Upton Sinclair, in his novel, talks about how a Lithuanian immigrant by the name of Jurgis Rudkus, and his family, travel to Chicago trying to make ends meet. However, they soon realize Chicago was not the place for that. They take you on a journey full of dream-crushing brutality and deception of what seems to be the ideal place to work and built a life. They settle near the stockyards and meatpacking district, where Jurgis finds his first job at Brown’s slaughterhouse. Jurgis, thinking the U.S. offered more freedom, finds that the working conditions there are very …show more content…

One of his novels, Dragon’s Teeth, won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1943, but his best-known novel was The Jungle. Upton’s novels, plays, pamphlets, and articles are all reflected on social themes, due to the fact that his main concentration was on social change. Growing up in a family of different backgrounds both economically and morally, he experienced situations that helped him grow as a person and develop his social ideas and themes for his literature, something which made him the trustworthy and likeable author he is remembered as

Show More
Related

How Upton Sinclair Changed American

1476 Words | 6 Pages

Innocent Belief Famously known for his novel, The Jungle, Upton Sinclair changed American life in the early 1900s without a doubt through his literature. However, many don’t realize that Sinclair reformed American life in more than one instance, through more than one book. At times, he even reached beyond his realm of literature to discuss other needed adjustments. Besides the serendipitous changes he created for the meat packaging industry, Sinclair’s other actions throughout his life are, subjectively, important to American history, according to Anthony Arthur. In his biography, Radical Innocent: Upton Sinclair, Arthur reveals his bias towards Sinclair, while supplying a relevant nature to his writing across an in-depth review of Sinclair’s

Read More

Brief Summary Of Upton Sinclair's 'The Jungle'

2162 Words | 9 Pages

Title and Author: The Jungle , Upton Sinclair Genre: Historical Novel Date Published: February 26 , 1906 , Historical Connections: The Jungle is connected to a group of journalist who were active in The Progressive Era which took place from the 1890s to the 1920s. Upton Sinclair was a muckraker which was a term coined by Theodore Roosevelt this term is used to describe an investigative journalist. These journalist exposed problems in factories and businesses. Protagonist Jurgis Rudkus is an immigrant from Lithuania.

Read More

Jurgis Rudkus In Upton Sinclair's The Jungle

710 Words | 3 Pages

Jurgis gains a new perspective of everything around him and everything that has happened. The main character Jurgis Rudkus is an immigrant coming to America. He searches for a job to provide money for his wife and parents. In the article Schema Criticism by Mark Bracher, he emphasizes that, “Jurgis is the prototypical image of autonomy. He is powerful, exuberant, striking figure who towers above the other workers” (32).

Read More

Jurgis Rudkus Character Analysis

680 Words | 3 Pages

Analyzation of Jurgis Rudkus Indeed, characterization in literature is a crucial matter, bringing even more depth and purpose. The Jungle by Upton Sinclair discusses the corruption of the meat-packing industry, specifically focusing on a man with a Lithuanian family. The book discusses the life of Jurgis Rudkus, during which he completely evolves as a man. With characterization Sinclair brought this book to life, and began a revolution in the meat-packing industry.

Read More

The Immigrant Family In Upton Sinclair's The Jungle

1442 Words | 6 Pages

Upton Sinclair’s “The Jungle” tells the story of Jurgis Rudkus and his immigrant family. In his homeland of Lithuania, Jurgis meets his love, Ona. However, he is denied marriage to her Sometime later, Jurgis tries again to seek her hand, but fins out Ona’s father has died and her family is in debt. Along with his father, Antanas, and Ona’s family: Teta Elzbieta, Marija, Jonas, and six children, Jurgis moves to America to start a new life. They arrive in New York, and soon travel to Chicago.

Read More

Meatpacking Workers In Upton Sinclair's The Jungle

1060 Words | 5 Pages

However, readers at the time were not very concerned about the petty immigrants living on the lower rung of society. Rather, they cared about what affected them most: the condition of the meat they were eating-- and had been eating-- for years, that were produced by some of the very factories mentioned in Sinclair’s novel. For the majority of The Jungle’s readers, the fact that poor immigrants were being exploited was not bothersome. Instead, the fact that the food that readers had been eating for years contained the power to kill them seemed shocking, pushing the nation into a worried frenzy. Readers were disgusted by the facts they were reading, catalyzing the creation of administrations like the FDA.

Read More

What Are The Risks Of The Jungle By Upton Sinclair

2031 Words | 9 Pages

Those writers and journalists were called “Muckrakers”, Upton Sinclair was one of them. In order to stay on his position and support the muckrakers, he chose to tell the truth to American public instead of keeping silence. Then, “The Jungle” became his weapon to oppose the trusts and some corrupt officials. Although the content is dangerous and risky, it’s also effective and worth. People responded dramatically to this book, the risk has valuation for Upton Sinclair to take and hook the

Read More

The Economic Tension In Upton Sinclair's The Jungle

1899 Words | 8 Pages

Upton Sinclair portrays the economic tension in the United States during the late 19th and early 20th centuries through his novel “The Jungle”. He used the story of a Lithuanian immigrant, Jurgis Rudkus, to show the harsh situation that immigrants had to face in the United States, the unsanitary and unsafe working conditions in the meatpacking plants, as well as the tension between the capitalism and socialism in the United States during the early 1900s. In the late 19th century and early 20th centuries, there were massive immigrants move into the United States, and most of them were from Europe. The protagonist, Jurgis Rudkus, like many other immigrants, have the “America Dream” which they believe America is heaven to them, where they can

Read More

Summary Of The Jungle By Upton Sinclair

1463 Words | 6 Pages

In 1904 Upton started writing about immigrants and the meat packing industry. This later lead to him being hired to write an expose for a socialist newspaper (Lauren Coodley). The expose later was written in book for and became The Jungle. The Jungle was very difficult to get published because of the controversial content but in 1906 in was published (Robert

Read More

Summary Of The Jungle By Upton Sinclair

558 Words | 3 Pages

The Jungle by Upton Sinclair was published in 1906 in New York. In this heart-wrenching novel by Upton Sinclair, a Lithuanian hard-working man, Jurgis Rudkus, goes through various hardships after he emigrated to the United States. The Jungle confronts real issues in the new United States with a unique approach of the cycle of despair from capitalism, and the harm of the grotesque sanitary conditions of the meat-packing industry. In Chapters 18-19, Jurgis Rudkus gets released from jail after serving 30 days for the assault of Ona’s boss, Phil Connor. Connor sexually assaulted and harassed Ona.

Read More

Working Conditions In The Jungle

634 Words | 3 Pages

During the 1900’s working conditions were undeniably horrible. In Packingtown everyday got more difficult as the days went on. In the meat packing business things were supposed to be done quick. Inside the factories packing, chopping, inspecting and people actions didn’t mix. Not only did the people in the factories suffered, the people outside of the factory also suffered.

Read More

Upton Sinclair's Accomplishments

1548 Words | 7 Pages

They begin dancing at their wedding feast which is situated in Packingtown, which is Chicago’s meatpacking district. Reading the novel there are clear indications that things are not all good between this couple. In fact, after arriving in the United States they come to the realization that the streets are not paved with gold literally. They make the decision to seek employment in Chicago’s busy industrial yards, where many cattle are being slaughtered on a daily basis and put into cans and packaged. The family’s living conditions are not great, so they begin looking for a new place to live which is way beyond their current

Read More

The American Dream In Upton Sinclair's 'The Jungle'

1310 Words | 6 Pages

In summary, Sinclair’s the Jungle tackles problems about the capitalist system and uses instances of literary elements to connect two concepts, like animals in the Slaughterhouse and immigrants in the US, but these are not Sinclair’s primary concern. Upton Sinclair wrote the Jungle with a desire for money. This claim is proven by the overwhelming instances of impossible levels of misfortune, excessively gory imagery, and disturbing descriptions of the food you eat and how it’s truly prepared. The main character’s dad dies, then his wife, then his son, from drowning in mud, then his other family member gets eaten by rats. To have that many horrible things happen to one family is impossible.

Read More

Capitalism And Socialism In Upton Sinclair's The Jungle

452 Words | 2 Pages

“I aimed at the public’s heart and by accident I hit in the stomach” stated the international famous Upton Sinclair, after writing his most prominent novel, The Jungle. The word jungle is constantly associated with a wild environment full of undomesticated animals, but in this authentic novel, it refers to the unethical actions practiced during the gilded age. Sinclair’s main idea was to end all the unjust activities experienced during this time by writing and using the experience of his main character. Throughout the novel, the audience can perceive themes such as capitalism and socialism, historical events and symbolism.

Read More

Examples Of Struggles In The Jungle

2149 Words | 9 Pages

A Time for Struggle and Change Upton Sinclair’s book, The Jungle, depicts the struggles of Lithuanian immigrants as they worked and lived in Chicago’s Packingtown at the beginning of the Twentieth Century. The United States experienced an enormous social and political transformation; furthermore, the economy, factories, and transportation industry grew faster than anyone had ever seen. Immigrants and migrants were attracted to city life for its promise of employment and their chance at the American Dream. The poor working class had little to no rights, and they grappled with unfair business practices, unsafe working conditions, racism, Social Darwinism, class segregation, xenophobia, political corruption, strikes, starvation, poor housing,

Read More

More about The Jungle Critical Analysis

Related Topics

Open Document