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The jungle novel literary essay
The jungle summary essay
Jungle by upton sinclair summary and analysis
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More handpicked essays just for you.
The jungle novel literary essay
The jungle summary essay
Jungle by upton sinclair summary and analysis
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
In Zinn’s chapter 13, The Socialist challenge, The working class didn’t like the conditions that they were having to work in. The Muckrakers, journalists who wrote poor things, wrote newspaper articles, books and the pieces of writing about the conditions the workers had to work in. Some of the main instigators and authors behind the writings consisted of Upton Sinclair, Ida Tarbell, Lincoln Steffens, J.P. Morgan, Eugene Debs, Theodore Roosevelt and Jack London. Each of these individuals offered something different to the fight. Upton Sinclair published The Jungle, which was a novel that shocked the nation discussing the harsh conditions in the Chicago meatpacking plants.
In chapter 15, “Self-Help in Hard Times”, Zinn’s overarching point is that unity among workers was not simple to achieve, and that white supremacy was a powerful, deadly force after the war. To support and further discuss these concepts, Zinn points out how relations between the American Federation of Labor and the Industrial Workers of the World were often tense, how city life often changed drastically during times of strike, and how immigration laws during the twenties began to favor Anglo-Saxons. One such way Zinn showcases these ideas is by describing how drastically life changed for cities when workers went on strike, hoping for an increase in their wages. As the strike continued on throughout February of 1919, Zinn recalls how all services, except for those that were consider essential to daily life, ceased.
However, Sinclair was and unlikely savior. He had roots in socialist agenda, which unapologetically opposed capitalism and lobbied for full government takeover. In addition, Sinclair had alienated himself from elitist circles by authoring over 40 books which muckraked industry and institutions such as Hollywood, the press, and religion. Sinclair’s book, The Jungle, described the in detail the horrors of the meat packing industry and led to government regulation of the industry. Sinclair realized that America was in desperate need for immediate reform and could not await social victory over capitalism.
Journalists and authors, such as Upton Sinclair from document 2, can be credited with exposing the corruption during the gilded age. Sinclair was know as a muckraker and his purpose in writing books such as The Jungle was bring light to what was happening in these factories. His work played a key role in the progressive era by holding these business men accountable. The Progressive Party also played a key role in the progressive era. Based on their platform, it is shown that their purpose is to benefit the working class by laws and
The book is full of tragedies ranging from Jurgis losing his job to the death of his wife and child. In The Jungle, Upton Sinclair successfully shows how the working class was affected by capitalistic America, by the lack of safety standards, and
Thus, Sinclair’s purpose of writing The Jungle failed to bring readers to advocate for the rights of workers trapped in the low wages, unsafe working conditions, and long hours of meatpacking factories, but rather, succeeded in opening the country’s eyes to the meatpacking practices that went on behind closed doors and the establishment administrations to protect the public from these unscrupulous
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
The thesis of Sinclair’s The Jungle is that capitalism is not good for everyone, and that socialism can fix the problems capitalism has created in American society. However, the major reforms that came from The Jungle were reforms in the meatpacking industry such as the Meat
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.
Immigrants from the early 20th century came to America looking for jobs and brighter futures. Many were faced with harsh realities, especially those who were employed in the meatpacking industries. The wealthy exploited the weak and unemployed, using them to make their own profits, and Jurgis describes the society: “The city, which was owned by an oligarchy of business men, being nominally ruled by the people, a huge army of graft was necessary for the purpose of effecting the transfer of power.”(173) This made capitalism an oppressive and repressive society. Sinclair depicts the meatpacking industry's greed and corruption throughout the whole book, showing how businesses prioritize profit over the health and safety of their employees and customers.
“Things that were quite unspeakable went on there in the packing houses all the time, and were taken for granted by everybody; only they did not show, as in the old slavery times, because there was no difference in color between master and slave”. The international best-seller book The Jungle as published by author Upton Sinclair on February 26, 1906 had a profound impact on society in the way that the working class is viewed, particularly with the food industry and meat packing plants such as the one that took place in Chicago during the story. While building public sympathy through the depiction of such oppressed workers, it also managed to spark a great deal of protests about the poor conditions and lack of sanitation that took place in the food industry. In a short matter of two months after Sinclair had published the book it
In the early 1900’s, many immigrants moved to America with hopes that they could live freely and work to have a better life. The Jungle, written by Upton Sinclair, is about a Lithuanian family who worked in the Chicago Stockyards and discovered the true horrors of working in the meatpacking plants. The theme in Upton Sinclair’s book, The Jungle, reveals how much damage capitalism caused and the effect that capitalism had on people. As the main character goes throughout life, he is constantly being set back by capitalism. “Capitalism is an economic system where private entities own the factors of production”, says Amadeo.
When money and profits are the most significant in the capitalist society, the employers treated their workers poorly, such as excessive working hours and received lower wages. The exploitation of
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.
In Patriotism and Cosmopolitanism, Martha Nussbaum argues for a cosmopolitan education, writing that patriotism is expendable in order to fulfill cosmopolitan goals. Nussbaum, however, later alters her views on cosmopolitan and patriotism arguing instead that patriotism should be a primary goal of education and discards a rootless cosmopolitanism. There is an inherent tension that arises between cosmopolitanism and patriotism. The implication is that cosmopolitanism must be in conflict with patriotism by definition. In this paper I will argue that cosmopolitanism and patriotism are more compatible rather than being binary opposites and that this inherent tension is resolvable.