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Summary Of The Jungle By Upton Sinclair

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After the 1906 publication of Upton Sinclair’s novel, The Jungle, American citizens were shocked and confused. An instant hit, the book made Sinclair an immediate celebrity. His most famous quote was pertaining to the impact that The Jungle had on society, he states, “I aimed for the public’s heart, and by accident I hit it in the stomach.” The groundbreaking novel unearthed the lives of poor immigrants living and working in the Chicago stockyards. The story's main character, Jurgis Rudkus, is a Lithuanian immigrant who came to America with the dream of living a happy and content life with his family. This does not happen and, like most immigrants, Jurgis experienced countless tragedies. Upton Sinclair obtained an accurate portrayal of these …show more content…

In 1900’s Chicago the problems that this caused were massive. The Jungle reveals that many public officers were venal and bribing was rampant. This resulted in horrible working conditions and no legal justice for immigrants and other workers.Sinclair describes the effects that capitalism can have on immigrants through the Rudkus family. When he first arrives Jurgis does not understand why his co-workers are angry or why unions are necessary. He states that he enjoys the work and its high speed pace, it is written that, “He was quite dismayed when he first began to find it out- that most of the men hated their work.” In the beginning this work, to Jurgis, was not oppressive or unjust, it was tolerable. This is because he was exactly what the system was looking for; he did not realize that as soon as Packingtown had its effects on him, he was useless. With no laws in place to protect the employees, because all the factories were individually owned, employees were treated like trash and, without them knowing, capitalism was their biggest enemy. Most workers might have been upset at their bosses, but they did not realize that their maltreatment came from a much higher

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