Written amid the Industrial Revolution, Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle highlights the daily life and struggles of the Rudkis and Lukoszaite family – Lithuanian immigrants. As industrialization marked the transition from hand-made items to mass-produced machine made ideas, the value of products increased, as did the need for laborers in newly built factories. Immigrants and Americans alike flooded major cities in hopes of obtaining jobs. Through the private struggles of Jurgis and Kin in The Jungle, Sinclair paints a disheartening – but true – picture of the public issues surrounding low-wage workers, immigrants, and women. In this paper, I will discuss C. Wright Mills concept of the sociological imagination, describe the ‘private issues’ of Jurgis and Marija, and discuss how ‘private troubles’ are used to highlight ‘public issues’ occurring in larger society. The Sociological Imagination C. Wright Mills, in “The Sociological Imagination”, describes the sociological imagination as a new way …show more content…
Jurgis, in love with Ona, decides that they should move to America. Experience financial issues in Lithuania, America seemed like a land of opportunity and hope. In chapter 2, Jurgis describes America as a place where “man was free… he might do as he pleased and count himself as good as any other man.” (p.15). Upon arrival in America, Jurgis and his family are hopeful that they will get a new start – they find jobs, purchase a home, get married and have kids; however, life quickly takes a turn for all members. As the story progresses, Jurgis and his kin begin to draw the connections between their private troubles and the greater social issues impacting workers, immigrants, and women in Chicago. In the following sections, I will discuss the links between Jurgis Rudkis and Marija Berczynskas’ experiences and issues of: unfair labor practices and the exploitation of