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Upton Sinclair The Effects Of The Jungle

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Upton Sinclair's book The Jungle depicted many disturbing social injustices immigrants had to endure at the time during the 19th century. Jurgis and his family moved to America in search of a better life, but upon arrival the harsh reality set in that America was not what everyone said it to be. They suffered many hardships. The working conditions, when they could find employment, were terrible. They battled discrimination, they were grossly taken advantage of, and survival from day to day in Packingtown slowly worked to deteriorate their faith. Faith in who they were and what they had now become. Upton Sinclair's book, The Jungle, describes how alcohol, poverty and people in positions of authority had a negative impact on lives of immigrants. …show more content…

Ona, being Jurgis's wife, had to deal with Jurgis's drinking problem. This resulted in Jurgis resenting his family and inevitably the couple grew apart. Stanislovas was affected heavily by alcohol that led to his tragic death. When Stanislovas was working serving beers, he would drink the top off the beer and Stanislovas eventually got drunk, fell asleep, and was eaten alive by rats. Jurgis was heavily addicted to alcohol. He had seemingly satisfying short term effects, but inevitable detrimental long term consequence. When Ona died, Jurgis took all the money he could find, even taking the kids money that they had earned. Jurgis ended up drinking all of his pain and his money away. And this was the telling of only three immigrants depicted in the story that were affected by

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The Jungle Book Review In 1906, Upton Sinclair published The Jungle to expose how rough the life of immigrants coming to the United States was. This book also exposed unsanitary conditions in meatpacking industry. Upton Sinclair’s main focus in this book was to show how tough life was for immigrants coming to America, but instead he disgusted Americans by the conditions of the meat factories. The book begins with the main character, Jurgis Rudkus, and his wife Ona, having their marriage reception in Chicago. This gives the reader background information about the characters, where they are from, and why they have come to American.

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558 Words | 3 Pages

While challengers to Upton Sinclair’s radical methods for reform label him a socialist foe of American values, Sinclair’s efforts where truly aimed towards publicizing the plight of the average citizen in America. Sinclair helped Californians and citizens throughout the nation realized that their voice and their vote were a powerful political tool. Sinclair’s so called radical policies established a set of Democratic values within California that is still present today. California, The Golden State, was known as the land of milk and honey. It was the home of the gold rush, and industries such as oil, agricultural, and Hollywood flourished.

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Isabelle Wilson Carey, Hour 1 14 January 2015 Social, Political, and International Repercussions of Upton Sinclair’s “The Jungle” They were called floorsmen, trimmers, beefboners, or butchers. Stuck with the dirty work, these men hacked and sliced, severing jowls from shoulders from ribs. Backs hunched, they repeated the same motions, preparing these unidentifiable creatures for consumption. The danger of their labor was clear to them from the horrifying accidents they had all witnessed, however they had a job, so no one was complaining.

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608 Words | 3 Pages

Book Review #3: The Jungle The renowned book, The Jungle, by Upton Sinclair, reveals many harsh truths that had been hidden during the Gilded Age, and brings light to the conditions of the working class of the time. It is obvious from the beginning that Sinclair’s purpose in writing The Jungle is to address the faults within the relationship between politics, economics, and society, by creating sympathy for the poor, working, and essentially enslaved laborers, which generally consisted of immigrants. Sinclair firmly argues against the ideas of capitalism by tearing down the “American Dream” and revealing the ugly truth behind a façade of myths. He goes on to favor socialist ideas, and expresses extreme disapproval towards the corruption and

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1037 Words | 5 Pages

How would you feel people would feel knowing that they were ingesting contaminated foods? This was the case in the late 18th hundred and early 19th hundred many social and economic problems came to be in the United States. For example, one of the many problems that arose during these years were the sanitation conditions in the companies. To be more precise, food companies were getting away with many of the inspections the government would act on. Meat packing industries were becoming more unsafe everyday.

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832 Words | 4 Pages

Jurgis Rudkus, the main character in The Jungle by Upton Sinclair, has a very rough journey when he moves to America from Lithuania. He faces many hardships and they're difficult for anyone to endure. Throughout the novel Jurgis is put through the justice/prison system multiple times, and each time he experienced something new, whether it be the unjust treatment he received, the food he was served, or even the condition of his cell and daily life there. The novel portrayed the justice system as an unfair one. They treat immigrants and the poor unfairly.

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845 Words | 4 Pages

Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle “hit [the readers] in their stomach” rather than in their hearts like he had hoped to. Steve Trott thoroughly writes about Upton Sinclair’s successes and failures as a writer in his piece, “Upton Sinclair and The Jungle.” Sinclair had written the novel in hopes of drawing attention to the “appalling conditions and squalor of wage-laborers under capitalism… [b]ut his objective was lost on the public, overshadowed by unsanitary conditions and inadequate regulation in the meat processing plants” (Trott 2). Because Sinclair based the novel off of a fictional character, Jurgis Rudkus, his reliability fell short.

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3087 Words | 13 Pages

In The Jungle by Upton Sinclair, Ona Lukoszaite and Jurgis Rudkus, two Lithuanian immigrants who have arrived in Chicago, are getting married. They hold their veselija, or wedding feast, in Packingtown, Chicago because it is the center of the meat-packing indusrty. The highlight of the celebration is the acziavimas, a traditional Lithuanian dance. Each guest help the couple pay for the wedding which can cost up to three hundred dollars- more than a years paycheck for many of the guests. Some though dont contribute and just attend for the free food and drinks.

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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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844 Words | 4 Pages

The Jungle by Upton Sinclair, is set in Chicago in the early 1900’s, during the height of social reform known as the Progressive era. The population of Chicago had grown substantially, from 29,000 in 1850 to 1.7million in 1900, due to the influx of immigrants in search of the “American dream”. America was the destination of all in search of freedom, equality and higher wages. The dream promised success in exchange for hard work, determination and morality. The reality was that the “American dream” was just an illusion.

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722 Words | 3 Pages

"Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore, Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!" America is supposed to be a good place for immigrants. In the book The Jungle immigrants are treated horribly. They are exploited and taken advantage of very easily. In my essay I will be explaining to you how immigrants were taken advantage of in the book.

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1777 Words | 8 Pages

As a result, excess workers and negative attitudes toward new immigrants lead to unfair practices by employers. Many of these unfair practices are shown in Sinclair’s novel The Jungle. Sinclair describes his character’s situation: “There were weeks at a time when Jurgis went home after such a day as

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1707 Words | 7 Pages

Not only had immigrants been cheated of a promised "comfortable" lifestyle, but the U.S. had also negatively

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1445 Words | 6 Pages

Families that are poor or have a low income are more likely to commit crimes for the purpose of their own needs to survive. “It is a fact that neighborhoods where the poor are concentrated are more prone to high crime rates, and poor residents are the most common victims of crimes” (1). The best explanation for this is that poorer people have the same needs as a regular middle-class citizen. The poor citizens need certain things to help him or her live a healthy life, such as healthcare, food stamps, and more employment options. One may argue that healthcare is too expensive and that food stamps have been taken away from many people.

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500 Words | 2 Pages

Not being able to receive benefits limits and holds back many immigrants from progressing and ultimately achieving the "American dream". Through my dad's experience, he had to slowly start from the very bottom with practically nothing and work his way to be able to maintain a family of his own. Without these restrictions, my father could have achieved assimilation as the earlier European immigrants did. The hardships did not only affect my father, rather the majority of immigrants at that time. Another law passed in congress in 1996, which permitted removal of a citizen that has received an 'aggravated felony".

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