Analyzing The Reader Response To Upton Sinclair's 'The Jungle'
Henry R. Matute
Professor Flores
Reader Response #1
09/13/14
The novel, “The Jungle”, by Upton Sinclair, gives the reader a heart rending portrayal of the hardships faced by the working class. Upton Sinclair wrote the novel, not for one to read and feel sympathy for the working class, but to enlighten the readers to the corruption, the abuse, and the ignorance people had on the events that occurred around them. The novel shines a light on the negatives that an uncontrolled capitalist society will have on the people, who have no voice to speak for themselves and it is the duty of the reader to fight for them.
Upton Sinclair’s use of imagery throughout the novel helps the reader to depict the conditions in which the working class lived and worked in. As Upton Sinclair states, “How could they find out that their tea and coffee, their sugar and flour, had been doctored; that their canned peas had been colored with copper salts, and their fruit jams with aniline dyes?,” (Sinclair,63). It is clear that the working class were blinded to the abuses secretly done to them. The food they eat to live for another day of work was slowly poisoning their bodies with disease and malnourishment. It is evident that
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Upton Sinclair uses of Jurgis Rudkus as the dynamic character of the novel shows the reader the effects of the abuse from working in the meatpacking industry of Chicago. As Upton Sinclair states, “In the beginning, he had been fresh and strong, and he had gotten a job the first day, but now he was second-hand, damaged article...They had gotten the best of him- they had worn him out, with their speeding up and their carelessness.”(Sinclair, 103). It is clear that the abuses by the owners such as, overworking, long work days, and consist threats of unemployment, had gotten the best of
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