ipl-logo

Analyzing The Reader Response To Upton Sinclair's 'The Jungle'

743 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Analysis paper of the jungle by upton sinclair

Henry R. Matute
Professor Flores
Reader Response #1
09/13/14

The novel, “The Jungle”, by Upton Sinclair, gives the reader a heart rending portrayal of the hardships faced by the working class. Upton Sinclair wrote the novel, not for one to read and feel sympathy for the working class, but to enlighten the readers to the corruption, the abuse, and the ignorance people had on the events that occurred around them. The novel shines a light on the negatives that an uncontrolled capitalist society will have on the people, who have no voice to speak for themselves and it is the duty of the reader to fight for them.
Upton Sinclair’s use of imagery throughout the novel helps the reader to depict the conditions in which the working class lived and worked in. As Upton Sinclair states, “How could they find out that their tea and coffee, their sugar and flour, had been doctored; that their canned peas had been colored with copper salts, and their fruit jams with aniline dyes?,” (Sinclair,63). It is clear that the working class were blinded to the abuses secretly done to them. The food they eat to live for another day of work was slowly poisoning their bodies with disease and malnourishment. It is evident that …show more content…

Upton Sinclair uses of Jurgis Rudkus as the dynamic character of the novel shows the reader the effects of the abuse from working in the meatpacking industry of Chicago. As Upton Sinclair states, “In the beginning, he had been fresh and strong, and he had gotten a job the first day, but now he was second-hand, damaged article...They had gotten the best of him- they had worn him out, with their speeding up and their carelessness.”(Sinclair, 103). It is clear that the abuses by the owners such as, overworking, long work days, and consist threats of unemployment, had gotten the best of

Show More
Related

Review Of Upton Sinclair's 'The Jungle'

404 Words | 2 Pages

• Upton Sinclair wrote “The Jungle” which exposed the conditions of the meat packing industry in Chicago. • Moved to Pasadena, California in 1915 and wrote 47 books by 1933. • Sinclair ran for governor of California in the election of 1926 and in 1930 but in 1933 ran as democrat for governor of California • “I, Governor of California, and How I Ended Poverty: A True Story of the Future” (1933) a utopia novel written by Sinclair, if elected, he would end unemployment. • Sinclair proposed another program called End Poverty in California (EPIC) • If any farms were sold for taxes would be purchased by California and establish cooperative agricultures communicates known as “California Authority for Land.” This would only be put into effect

Read More

Socialism In Upton Sinclair's The Jungle

778 Words | 4 Pages

In 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.

Read More

Is Theodore Roosevelt Considered A Growing Economy During The Gilded Age

549 Words | 3 Pages

During the end of The Gilded Age, technology and innovation expanded, and the United States was thought of as becoming a growing empire. With this growing empire came a lot of changes, trends and differences in opinions. Theodore Roosevelt, Ida M. Tarbell, and Upton Sinclair, sat down to discuss the continuing problems that started with the Gilded Age. Theodore Roosevelt was an astounding opinion leader and was someone people considered to be as the prominent head of the Progressive Era.

Read More

Is Theodore Roosevelt Considered A Growing Economy During The Gilded Age

550 Words | 3 Pages

During the end of The Gilded Age, technology and innovation, expanded, and the United States were thought of as becoming a growing empire. With this growing empire came a lot of changes, trends and differences in opinions. Theodore Roosevelt, Ida M. Tarbell, and Upton Sinclair, sat down to discuss the continuing problems that started with the Gilded Age. Theodore Roosevelt was an astounding opinion leader and was someone people considered to be the prominent head of the Progressive Era.

Read More

Summary Of Upton Sinclair's The Jungle

608 Words | 3 Pages

Book Review #3: The Jungle The renowned book, The Jungle, by Upton Sinclair, reveals many harsh truths that had been hidden during the Gilded Age, and brings light to the conditions of the working class of the time. It is obvious from the beginning that Sinclair’s purpose in writing The Jungle is to address the faults within the relationship between politics, economics, and society, by creating sympathy for the poor, working, and essentially enslaved laborers, which generally consisted of immigrants. Sinclair firmly argues against the ideas of capitalism by tearing down the “American Dream” and revealing the ugly truth behind a façade of myths. He goes on to favor socialist ideas, and expresses extreme disapproval towards the corruption and

Read More

Similarities Between Frederick Douglass And Upton Sinclair

430 Words | 2 Pages

Other than the people who lived there, life in the city slums was unknown to most of America. Upton Sinclair author of the novel “The Jungle” had an intention to explore what life was really like in the cities. He takes a typical immigrant family and tells what their life is like. The man and the woman get married, live in a tiny tenement, and have dirty low paying jobs in the meatpacking plant. But the real surprise comes when Sinclair talks about the meatpacking plants.

Read More

Summary Of The Jungle By Upton Sinclaire

606 Words | 3 Pages

Throughout The Jungle, Upton Sinclaire’s social political agenda was very clear. When Jurgis and his family first arrive in America, they had high hopes and believed that they could achieve the American dream. However, we see a transformation in the family’s view of capitalism as they continue to face hardships. Sinclaire portrays big business as antagonistic through corporate leaders exploiting and taking advantage of their workers. As an author, Upton Sinclaire wanted to expose the flaws and horrors of capitalism to the public and used his characters to depict the lives of many immigrant workers struggling under the power and corruptness of American capitalism.

Read More

Abilities In Upton Sinclair's The Jungle

185 Words | 1 Pages

As the novel unfolds the downhill battle of the main character Jurgis Rudkus and his family Sinclair delivers a textual illustration on the harsh reality faced by a vast majority

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

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

Upton Sinclair The Effects Of The Jungle

640 Words | 3 Pages

Upton Sinclair's book The Jungle depicted many disturbing social injustices immigrants had to endure at the time during the 19th century. Jurgis and his family moved to America in search of a better life, but upon arrival the harsh reality set in that America was not what everyone said it to be. They suffered many hardships. The working conditions, when they could find employment, were terrible. They battled discrimination, they were grossly taken advantage of, and survival from day to day in Packingtown slowly worked to deteriorate their faith.

Read More

Working Conditions In The Jungle

634 Words | 3 Pages

The Bosses squeezed and drained the life of those men. In the book The Jungle written by Upton Sinclair he described the life of a struggling family try to work and stay alive in the filth. The working conditions in the factories were unsafe, unsanitary and people made little. The purpose of this book was for people to become socialist other than capitalist.

Read More

The Flint Water Crisis

1766 Words | 8 Pages

It is about the harsh environment of the meat packing industry and the immigrants who worked in it. This book follows the story of Jurgis Rudkus. He had moved to the United States from Lithuania in search of a better life, but they were soon taken advantage of because they have a lack of education and money. Jurgis and his family moved into an area in Chicago called Packingtown. It was the center of Chicago’s meat packing industry.

Read More

The Jungle Thesis

580 Words | 3 Pages

The 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.

Read More

The Jungle Critical Analysis

1202 Words | 5 Pages

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.

Read More

More about Analyzing The Reader Response To Upton Sinclair's 'The Jungle'

Related Topics

Open Document