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Examples Of Adapting To A Cruel World In The Jungle By Upton Sinclair

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Adapting to a Cruel World The Jungle by Upton Sinclair is a perfect example of man vs. society. The brutal labor and poverty defines the harsh reality of this 1906 novel. While exploring this cruel society, Jurgis Rudkus, the protagonist, faces many hardships and becomes an acknowledgeable person. This is evident when Jurgis involves himself with barbaric working conditions, his vulnerable family, and socialist beliefs. The working condition of Durham’s meat-packing and fertilizer industries are extremely hazardous. The industry floors are described as “half an inch deep with blood” (43), and workers have little to no protection. Jurgis, a determined worker, labors for the sake of providing for his family. Naive as he is, Jurgis does not understand the unforgiving nature of the industry until it is too late. After injuring his leg, he is unable to support his family and realizes how cruel the world is. The working …show more content…

The importance of his family to him is evident when Ona passes away. In the moment, “An icy horror of loneliness seized him; he saw himself standing apart and watching all the world fade away from him---a world of shadows, of fickle dreams” (197). Though in despair, Jurgis grasps the situation and learns to move on. Almost as if a weight is off his chest, Jurgis learns to accept the inevitable fate of his family. As an effect, Jurgis invests his time elsewhere: Socialism. After being heavily swayed by the speeches of a Socialist, he begins to think on his own. A Socialist party is described as, “a really democratic political organization---it was controlled absolutely by its own membership, and had no bosses” (325). The Socialistic views cause Jurgis to act more independently. From a previous history of tyrant bosses, the idea of Socialism opened up new possibilities to him. The Socialist party set Jurgis off to a new path and assisted his journey to

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going through many circumstances that you begin to lose yourself. You soon not know who you are. Yes, this is a question to you, the one who is reading these exact words right at this moment. Take a second to imagine losing your character. Was there ever a time of happiness in your life?

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1157 Words | 5 Pages

I’m an honest man, and I’m strong and willing--” (340). 2. How does Jurgis try to correct some of the mistakes of his past, before he embraced Socialism? Jurgis try to correct some of the mistakes of his past by spending all his time and his money on spreading the Socialist cause, though he does occasionally fall into old habits of drink.

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710 Words | 3 Pages

In the novel, “The Jungle” by Upton Sinclair, Jurgis Rudkus plays an important role. Jurgis goes on a journey with his wife to a new country looking for a job and ends up losing more than he ever thought he could lose. The character, Jurgis Rudkus, is a strong willed man who faces many difficult situations on his journey to find a job and to reunite with his in laws.

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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.

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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

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1523 Words | 7 Pages

During the late 19th century, Upton Sinclair wrote The Jungle where he romanticized the notion of American culture. This exaggeration enticed immigrants to travel to America in an effort to start a new life as exemplified by Jurgis Rudkus and his family. Immigrants traveled due to their high hopes and expectations for finding more opportunities and climbing up the socioeconomic ladder. They allowed unrestrained capitalism to take advantage of them which ultimately led to inhumane living and working conditions. With its abuse of the immigrant workers, the system of capitalism was a major downfall in society.

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535 Words | 3 Pages

What does one do when their family is struggling? In the novel The Jungle by Upton Sinclair, Jurgis provides not only for his family, but for anyone in need during hardship. He works hard so no one else has to and everyone can be happy. Even when a crisis comes up he finds a way. He takes care of the ones he loves and leaves no one out.

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1287 Words | 6 Pages

Anything in a novel can be represented as a symbol. Symbols are a representation of an item through an abstract concept. Surprisingly, a Union Stockyard could also be a symbol; The fictional Packingtown reveals many attributes about the real life Packingtown in the course of The Jungle. In The Jungle, by Upton Sinclair, Sinclair uses Packingtown to symbolize the corrupt government, the working class, and the condition of the United States.

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485 Words | 2 Pages

Upton Sinclair’s “The Jungle”, was published in 1906 to shed light on the harsh realities faced by the working class in America during the 20th century. The novel depicts themes of the grueling immigrant experience and the evils of capitalism. Sinclair uses these themes to inform readers of the struggle and harshness of life during this time and to represent the need for labor rights. The story begins by introducing the main character, Jurgis Rudkus, a Lithuanian immigrant.

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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.

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1050 Words | 5 Pages

Zoomorphism, or the shaping of something in animal form or terms, is almost the opposite of personification. Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle illustrates early twentieth century Chicago as a metaphorical jungle primarily through the use of zoomorphism. The use of zoomorphism highlights the animalistic similarities of Chicago and the jungle, and suggests that Darwinism relates to humans. The main protagonist, Jurgis, is commonly described using negative zoomorphism.

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1025 Words | 5 Pages

by portraying the idea of Juche and the party system

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The chatter and whispers of the ideas and philosophies of socialism have now become yells and screams about how socialism is the most righteous form of government, that will revolutionize social justice issues in America. The idea of socialism has been around since Plato, yet it never seems to work successfully. There have been many different works written to push the philosophies of Socialism but one of the most read books is The Jungle written by Upton Sinclair. Although many copies of this book have been sold since its publishing it has failed in its goal to open people’s eyes to the horrors of a capitalist society.

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793 Words | 4 Pages

He begins to be in a love affair with a girl named Julia. Collectively the two try to rebel against the party's control, so they can live in freedom. But eventually, they are caught, and they can’t try to rebel any longer as the Thought Police brutally tortured them until they were brainwashed to understand the party's ideology. “For the first time he perceived that if you want to keep a secret, you must also hide it from yourself.” (Orwell 354).

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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.

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