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Metaphors In The Jungle

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Recommended: A literary analysis of the jungle by upton sinclair

A transition from cottage industries to new manufacturing processes in the early 1800’s caused a significant uproar in America’s Literature. As Capitalism grew, many socialist authors wrote novels to address the situation. As a result, readers argued whether the author wrote these novels for money, to discuss the situation, or to simply expose capitalism and shock the reader. An initial reading of The Jungle by Upton Sinclair might appear to be literary fiction, further analysis suggest that it is primarily a work of commercial fiction. Upton Sinclair effectively uses extended-metaphors to explain the cruelty the people at the time had to go through. More specifically, Sinclair uses extended metaphors to show the reader the corruption in the …show more content…

He was also a devout Christian who believed, that Christianity supported his idea of Socialism. He says “If he (Jesus of Nazareth) could come into the world this day and see the things that men have made in his name, would it not blast his soul with horror” (400) He also uses authorial voice, to describe socialism as the “new religion”(said by Ortinaski in the Jungle) (307) because he believed that socialism was the solution to all problems. It is no surprise that a former journalists enjoys using authorial voices in his novels; however, that caused the readers to argue about the reasons behind the excessive usage of authorial …show more content…

Upton Sinclair purposely tries to shock the reader by explaining the corruption in the meat industries in detail. Sinclair says “In these chutes the stream of animals was continuous; it was quite uncanny to watch them, pressing on to their fate, all unsuspicious a very river of death,” (58) later in the book, he also describes the meat industries by saying “there were whole cellars full of it (animals)... In yet other rooms they were putting up meat in boxes and barrels, and wrapping hams and bacon in oiled paper.” (82) The extra description of the meat industries was really unnecessary because it can disgust the reader, but at the same time shock them which is Sinclair’s goal. Sinclair didn’t just expose the meat industries for the sake of making money; he also combines all the conflicts that an immigrant might face and applies them to Jurgis and his

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