The Jungle-Like Atmosphere In Upton Sinclair's The Jungle

Upton Sinclair, a successful muckraker in the early 1900s, is the author to the gut-wrenching novel, The Jungle. In this story, Sinclair incorporates real facts he learned from going, undercover, into a meat-packing factory. Upton believed that the working conditions and the lifestyle the immigrants were forced to live in, during this time, were heinous; because of this he strives to create a novel that will gain the attention of the government and large factories in order to create better working conditions and quality of life. To accomplish this feat Sinclair subtly compares the meat-packing factory to a jungle; he speaks of physical and mental aspects such as temperature and a hierarchy, includes ages and lifespans, and also integrates animal imagery. Fusing all of these different factors gives The Jungle the exact jungle-like atmosphere Sinclair was hoping to obtain. Some of the more physical aspects that Sinclair played upon to create the

An example of how he implicated this ideology is shown by who, in the factory, has ultimate power to who has none. This hierarchy starts with the owners, then management, and lastly, the disposable workers. We can see something relatable to this in a jungle, a food chain. A lion has more power and influence over a hyena, who has more power than a rabbit. Another example of this predator and prey mindset is shown by the following quote: “He had not told them, simply because he had supposed they would understand that they had to pay interest upon their debt, as a matter of course.” As the reader, it is obvious that the agent was lying and preying upon the young family’s vulnerabilities and lack of knowledge. By doing this, he was able to make more money at the expense of the Rudkis family. You can interpret a tiger chasing a wounded deer in the same predator versus prey