Ayn Rand's The Jungle

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 face of adversity, what causes some individuals to fail while others prevail? Many people face difficulties. Depending on the person’s strength some will get through tough times, but some will fail to overcome them. I have chosen two books: Their Eyes Were Watching God and The Book Thief. These two stories deal with people overcoming the difficulties they face throughout their life. Some difficulties include racism, religious discrimination, and dealing with others’ cruelness or kindness.

In “ The Jungle”, the author Upton Sinclair states that “ I aimed at the public's heart and by accident I hit it in the stomach”. This means that Sinclair wanted to muckrake the Meat Packing Industry to seek attention for the workers, but instead food became a bigger concern. The characters Jurgis, Ona, and Marija with fellow family members are Lithuanian immigrants who came to PackingTown in hope for a better future, however they came to realize that the whole town is run by capitalist. Although Sinclair intentionally uses metaphors and similes to depict the characters struggle in the horrible living and working conditions in Packingtown, his purpose is undermined and overlooked by his use of realism to depict the food process.

The Jungle is a novel about the journey of Jurgis and his family after immigrating from Lithuanian to Packingtown, Chicago. Jurgis finds a job working in the meat-packing industry, and the family finds a house to buy. Although Jurgis did not want Ona or the children going to work, times get hard and the whole family ends up getting a job. While at work, Jurgis injures his ankle; this causes him to be out of work for a few months. To keep the family from losing their jobs, Ona sleeps with her boss, Conner. When Jurgis finds this out, he gets very upset. Jurgis then finds Conner and physically assaults him. Consequently, he is condemned to thirty days in jail. When Jurgis is released, he finds Ona in labor. Unfortunately, Ona and the second

Towards the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century, America had experienced booming industrialization, urbanization and economic growth which brought about many technological advancements; this era was known as the Gilded age. Despite the technological accomplishments and economic success during the Gilded age, the wealth gained by industries was do to the unfair treatment of workers, by giving them long hours and paying them low wages, employers and owners kept most of the profit while workers suffered. As European immigrants began flooding the United States, in search for opportunity and to live the American dream, they settled in cities in search for jobs and communities to raise their families in but were faced with

The Jungle written by Upton Sinclair was an expose on the life of those who lived in Packingtown, Chicago. Packingtown was where most of the people who was looking for work lived, it was a very crowded city. Job openings were scarce and most of the jobs were very unsafe. Most of the people in this part of town were poor, so they did not really have much doubts of food,. The Jungle exposed the horrific work conditions, the poor food quality, and the deceitfulness of the business owners.

Several problems are revealed in the Industrialization Period through Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle. One of them is the the things that go on behind the walls of the food industry. The conditions here during this time were particularly awful in several ways and for many reasons. Some troubles that surface during this time in the meat packing plants are the use of spoiled, dirty or rotten meat, poor wages for the workers there and the conditions of the working area.

The Jungle is a story that revolves around the protagonist Jurgis Rudkus and his family, the Lithuanian immigrant who came to America to lead a better life and worked at meatpacking plants of early 20th century Chicago. The story showcases the hardship that they underwent due to the harsh and bad working condition, poverty, starvation and being cheated by unjust people agents, eventually losing all their money. The Jungle provides us ways to look at the unfettered capitalism that prevailed in the early 20th century. This book also exposes the corruption, inequality, unjustness, sickness and slavery that existed in the society.

In the early 1900s, food safety was an incredibly unfamiliar and overlooked part of America’s food industry. Written by muckraker Upton Sinclair, The Jungle, was a controversial novel that depicted the harsh living and working conditions of immigrants working in the food industry. After the release of The Jungle, thousands of meat-eating Americans were horrified at what had been happening in factories. Disgusting yet accurate details presented in The Jungle were the basis for the creation of laws to stop food production from becoming so unsanitary.

The Jungle by Upton Sinclair follows the main character Jurgis Rudkus who is an immigrant from Lithuania. Jurgis immigrated to the United States and made his way to Chicago in order to follow the path of a legendary hometown name, Jokubas, who supposedly made a lot of money in the states. Upon reaching the United States and arriving in Chicago they realized it would be much harder to establish an income in a city they weren’t familiar with. Their luck changed when they happened upon the infamous Jokubas and found out he ran a local delicatessen in the stockyards in Chicago. Jokubas helped them find a place to sleep for the night in a boarding house while they used those first days to look for work in order to move to a nicer place of living. Jurgis then takes a tour of the stock yards where he is first introduced to the quality of living these animals are in before slaughter. He also notices that the inspectors don’t pay close attention to the carcasses to check for

By the end of “A Raisin in the Sun” by Lorraine Hansberry, the Younger’s lives are beginning to improve. Compared to the state of the family at the opening of the play, most considered that play ends on a joyous moment. However; that is not so for the Younger family. The way the play ends is not a happy ending because the Younger family does not have the funds that they need, two people are further from their dreams, and they are moving into a neighborhood to could be dangerous for them. Although one may be excited that things appear to be better for the Younger’s, the reality is that things could possibly be worse for them.

The Jungle by Upton Sinclair begins with Jurgis’s and Ona’s wedding day at Chicago’s meat packing building. The beginning of the book is based on flashbacks for the couple, such as from when they meet in Lithuania to deciding to move to the United States in hopes of a better life. Not only does the newly wed couple decide to go but other family members decide to go too. Once they arrive to Chicago they realize that America is not exactly how they envisioned it to be. Not long after hunting for a job they all finally find one. However, not long after one of their family members dies and the others become unemployed, therefore making it very difficult for them to make ends meet.

Upton Sinclair wrote The Jungle to improve the huge gaps of the social classes in America during this time. His intention was to improve social aspects, because it was the only way that issues in the country would improve. . “Sinclair presents socialism as Jurgis’ only hope—and the only hope of workers like him”(1110). Jurgis, the main character in Sinclair’s book, was the father in the rather unfortunate Lithuanian family. The family made the decision to travel to America because to them as outsiders, the country was known as “the promise land,” a place to go in search for hope and well being in their future. It

Jurgis goes on a journey with his wife to a new country looking for a job and ends up losing more than he ever thought he could lose. The character, Jurgis Rudkus, is a strong willed man who faces many difficult situations on his journey to find a job and to reunite with his in laws.

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.