Rapid Industrialization And Urbanization In Upton Sinclair'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.

“The jungle” and “Genesis of the tenement” both contain conflicting and negative impacts. The authors may both have similarities on their purpose to create their text. Though it is clear that they both contain differences too. Upton Sinclair thought that the workers at the factories were not being treated well. Jacob Riis knew that the people in the tenements were living in horrible conditions, and that no one would intervene. Not only did he go to these tenements to write about them, he also took pictures of what was happening inside those tenements. In the tenements, lived very poor people, so even 5 dollars would be too much for them. While the rent was too high for these people, the wages were too low for the factory workers. “Their rent was eight dollars and a half for a single room on the top-story, so small that I was unable to get a photograph of it even by placing the camera outside the open door. Three short steps across either way would have measured its full extent.” ( page 387 lines 140-144 ). Not only was the rent high, the living space of this colored family was not comfortable. These people had to live in very small places, because they didn’t have anywhere else to go.

Upton Sinclair is recognized today as one of the most influential writers during the birth and largest period of industrialization in America: The Industrial Revolution. He is known most by his incredible, life-changing novel, The Jungle, which was written and published in 1906. The book was written to explain the amount of power and control that big businesses had during this era over the average workingman. “The novel’s story of the destruction of an immigrant Lithuanian family by the forces of corporate greed and poverty is a tale of horror almost beyond tragedy”(1110). Throughout the novel, Sinclair shows a series of unfortunate events that the Lithuanian family encounters once they move to America in hope of finding a life of living the “American Dream.” Although his writing influenced

In 1904, Upton Sinclair viewed/took after the modern town of Packingtown, Chicago. In view of what he saw of industry and its specialists, he composed The Jungle. Sinclair's motivation for The Jungle was "to show Americans how insidious the business - and by expansion, (a framework where individuals claim cash and profitable things)- had got to be" (pg. 72) and to (achieve or pick up with exertion) better working conditions. He composed of Lithuanian individual (who enters a nation) Jurgis Rudkis and family as they encountered (when a nation fabricates processing plants and makes heaps of things) and its belongings. The perusing "Living and Dying in Packingtown, Chicago" incorporates a piece of/measure of The Jungle, which concentrates on the setting and conditions, work, individual and family impacts, and results of the mechanical plants.

Upton Sinclair would be hanging on the edge of his seat eating up every word, waiting for his turn to talk. He would then slam his Journal, The Jungle, on the table. “- And while we are on the topic of horrible and unethical practices of the rich man taking advantage of the poor, lets discuss the conditions of the working man in the meat industry.” He continued to discuss the gruesome, shocking, and awful

Upton Sinclair would be hanging on the edge of his seat eating up every word, waiting for his turn to talk. He would then slam his Journal, The Jungle, on the table. “- And while we are on the topic of horrible and unethical practices of the rich man taking advantage of the poor, lets discuss the conditions of the working man in the meat industry.” He continued to discuss the gruesome, shocking, and awful

Such miseries the immigrants had to face included the hazardous working conditions where they had to stay for long hours. There was no doubt that workers had either die or were injured as they worked in such environment. In Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle, the dangers of working conditions are emphasized through Jurgis’ incident at the meatpacking plant. One winter day, the speeding-up process upon the workers caused the factory’s steer broke loose, causing the workers to run to a pillar in order to avoid the frantic

After the first reading The Jungle, it was clear that Sinclair was creating a jungle-like atmosphere to help create the chaotic story of Jurgis and his family. Written during the early 1900s, America was experiencing a lot of change. Immigrants were pouring into the cities across the country searching to achieve the American Dream. Although the immigrants were slowly being replaced by newer immigrants, they struggled to fight against each other to make it big in the cities. Sinclair wanted to expose the corruption of the industries and the immigrants attempts to fit into the capitalistic society. Sinclair uses different methods to overall make this industrial jungle present in the novel. He shows how social Darwinism is normal in this society

Subject: The Jungle mainly focuses on poor living conditions for the working class in 20th century Chicago. I learned how corrupt politics in this time period were, how gross the meatpacking industry used to be, and how hard immigrants had it when they came to America. This text is controversial because it gives suggestion that socialism is the better government system. This would split the sides into those for capitalism and those for socialism.

The Jungle is none other than an outstanding novel. Upton Sinclair wrote the novel based upon research and possibly, personal feelings. Upton Sinclair did not live a rich life but most of his life in poverty as the fictional family he created. He became a writer to help pay off his school debt.

The state of society has long been an influence on authors while writing their novels. In fact, many of their best works stem from the passion they feel for a particular cause. During the early 1900s, fair treatment of laborers in the United States of America was becoming an issue. At that time, word of the American Dream and one’s ability to become successful in America was spreading to foreigners, and so they rushed to America by the boatload. Employers often took advantage of the ignorance of the immigrants, and worked them to death for little pay. Upton Sinclair sympathized with these immigrants and in response, wrote his socialist novel, The Jungle, in 1906. Influenced by his own experiences and the state of labor in American society,

During the late 19th century, citizens sought more direct action from government. As the Progressive Era ushered in, the abuses of the Gilded Age were addressed through a new honesty. Muckraking became a popular form of journalism that contributed to the many aggressive reform agendas to sweep the nation. It began with Jacob Riis’s publication of How The Other Half Lives, one of the first muckraking exposés to capture the public eye. He revealed the tenement life of the poor for others to see in a visually striking way, increasing awareness of the societal ills that plagued urban society. When Theodore Roosevelt became president at the turn of the century, many of his proposed reforms were inspired by Riis’ photojournalism, which gathered enough

Chicago becoming a useful backdrop to Upton Sinclair’s story which is basically about a Lithuanian immigrant family struggling to adapt to their new lives in the United States (Chicago) which was a city full of hope to the family. Marija, Jonas, Ona, Jurgis, Antanas, Elizabeth, and her six children decide to go to Chicago and become wealthy. Jurgis began labor in Brown's Killing Fields and Durham's fertilizer mill. Then, with the death of Ona, he is basically left with nothing but tough obstacles. Without work, and after weeks of trials and tribulations, he becomes a tramp, then a harvester failing he seasonal crops. Jurgis becomes homeless, leaving him with no other option, but to wander in Chicago. Jurgis, Ona, Antanas, Marija,

The moral message each author portrays in the text ties into the realistic ways of the world. In the Jungle the author Sinclair paints a picture of the reality of these poor working conditions. Throughout the text Sinclair tries to show the readers that capitalism is bad. In the Jungle Sinclair

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.