The Jungle Thesis
The novel The Jungle, written by Upton Sinclair, uses the story of an immigrant family from Lithuania to represent the trials and errors of an immigrant family during the Industrial Revolution. The Jungle’s main story introduces Jurgis Rudkus, an immigrant arriving in Chicago, who struggles to work in harsh conditions and provide for his large family. Upton Sinclair exposes the inner workings of how immigrants survive the battles of poverty and how the injustices within the government can drive a person wild.
Upton Sinclair uses The Jungle to display the horrific experiences that immigrant families face when coming to America. Most urban populations during the Industrial Revolution are immigrants, which increases the competition for work. Jurgis becomes quite hopeful for him and his family's future in America; however, once settled in Chicago, Jurgis realizes how hard he must work to support his family. Jurgis compares his family to being the same as trapped rats (Sinclair 77) and they had no way of getting out of their desperation (Sinclair 118). This comparison indicates that Jurgis and his family feel trapped in their
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The Jungle provides insight into specific events like this, when Jurgis’ house is given away, even though he paid for the house (Sinclair 203). Jurgis has discovered his house was sold to another family, who do not know they too have been swindled into paying for a rental house. This event represents how vulnerable immigrant families are to the schemes of Americans, but also to the language barrier between English and Lithuanian. The majority of immigrants are not able to make enough money, because they cannot understand English, which causes them to be more susceptible to being ripped off. Being an immigrant in a new city is terrifying and not having money to eat, have shelter or even warm clothing becomes overwhelming to Jurgis and his
Summary Of Upton Sinclair's The Jungle
1525 Words | 7 PagesThe Jungle by Upton Sinclair follows the life of Lithuanian immigrant Jurgis Rudkus and his family living in Chicago. Jurgis finds work at Brown's slaughterhouse and there he endures harsh working conditions as well as his family members. Ultimately he and family suffer many tragedies related to their work environments. While this book is a work of fiction it mirrors real life. The Jungle was published in 1906 during the Gilded Age.
Book Summary: The Jungle, By Upton Sinclair
1552 Words | 7 PagesJurgis and his family are put in the center of this district which began to corrupt each and everyone of them little by little Over and over again Jurgis runs into conflict and could never find rest and assurance of peace. No matter how hard he fights to help his family and himself achieve the American
Summary Of The Jungle By Upton Sinclair
990 Words | 4 PagesWhen Jurgis first came to america they thought it would be better than where they use lived but it was way worse. The last metaphor is when Marija had enough money to actually be able to put it in the bank. Later she found out the bank had ran out of money so she thought she would lose it all so she and the other people of packingtown went and withdrew all of her money. Marija was so worried she was going to lose all of her money that she sewed it into her jacket pockets, only for her to get stuck in the mud. This shows that marija valued her money more than her own life.
Summary Of The Jungle By Upton Sinclaire
606 Words | 3 Pagesbut Jurgis’s family was cheated by the realtor and were forced to compete for jobs that had horrible working conditions from the very beginning. The family eventually were reduced to nothing and had to morally degrade themselves in order to survive. Using Jurgis’s life as his instrument, Sinclaire was stating that through capitalism poor families could to fall into drinking, prostitution, and a life of crime. He was showing that even a good man like Jurgis could become selfish and corrupt under the capitalist
Summary Of Upton Sinclair's The Jungle
694 Words | 3 PagesWorkers had to spend the whole day, sacrificing their vitality, working in dangerous places, just to gain a minimum wage and being later demoted to eat the spoiled meat they produce. The author took advantage of the harsh climatic conditions of Chicago to accentuate the extreme working conditions of immigrants. Although noticeable, Jurgis belated to understand that “there was no justice, there was no right, anywhere in it--it was only force, it was tyranny, the will and the power, reckless and unrestrained!”(Sinclair
The Jungle By Upton Sinclair And Cinderella Man Directed By Ron Howard
1645 Words | 7 PagesHave you ever imagined living through life without a steady job, no money, or no food? Both of the characters in these stories endured all of those things. Jurgis and James had many different experiences and many similar experiences throughout their lifetimes. Upton Sinclair wrote a book, The Jungle, describing a young, late teen’s man named Jurgis Rudkus and his family. His family and he moved to America in the early 1900’s looking for a better life.
The Meat Industry In Upton Sinclair's The Jungle During The Progressive Era
1021 Words | 5 PagesThe main character Jurgis early on in the book when he was still full of hope and believing in the “American dream” shuns his coworkers aligned with the union. However, as he is exposed to how working at the meat plant truly is and how it can drain the life out of someone, he joins the union himself. Jurgis’ hope in the union pulled him further even when he was on the brink of breaking down. As people read The Jungle it inspired those in similar positions to form their own unions. Sinclair’s writing became a powerful tool for everyday working citizens to unite with those in similar situations, creating a platform for workers to have a voice and be heard.
Capitalism Exposed In Upton Sinclair's The Jungle
485 Words | 2 PagesPoverished and indebt due to the passing of his father-in-law, Jurgis moves to America in pursuit of the American dream. Jurgis begins work at a meat packing to lift his family out of poverty, but is met with the harsh realities of being an immigrant. He is treated as a commodity that can be easily replaced. Lured by the
Jurgis Rudkus In Upton Sinclair's The Jungle
710 Words | 3 PagesJurgis gains a new perspective of everything around him and everything that has happened. The main character Jurgis Rudkus is an immigrant coming to America. He searches for a job to provide money for his wife and parents. In the article Schema Criticism by Mark Bracher, he emphasizes that, “Jurgis is the prototypical image of autonomy. He is powerful, exuberant, striking figure who towers above the other workers” (32).
The American Dream In Upton Sinclair's 'The Jungle'
901 Words | 4 PagesThe novel is a vivd depiction of the struggles of a Lithuanian immigrant family in Chicago, as they try to make a living in the meatpacking industry. A key element in being “American” and an immigrant is having to be dedicated and persistent. Looking past the hardships at the moment, but to see what will come in the future when all of the hard work is done. According to Lynn Munro, writer of a literary criticism of The Jungle, “Jurgis personifies their defiance, constantly vowing to work harder and refusing to accept the systemic causes of his sufferings.
Summary Of The Jungle By Upton Sinclair
718 Words | 3 PagesThe book The Jungle by Upton Sinclair is a book that tells about the working conditions of the meat packing industry located in Packing Town, a district in lower Chicago USA. In the book a family emigrating from Lithuania, and coming to America to start a new life, encounter hard times. James Braddock is an Irish emigrant who comes to America to start a life, He becomes a boxer and fights his way to the top. After the Depression hits, he is hit just as hard as everyone else is; he works in ports to make little to no money just to survive. At the end of The Jungle, Jurgis is a worker who finds his way once more and makes good money.
The Economic Tension In Upton Sinclair's The Jungle
1899 Words | 8 PagesThere are many other traps around America that deceive the immigrants because their weakness of not knowing English and the desire of getting a great life in America which lead them unpreparedly get fooled by the businessmen. These traps prevented the immigrants from leaving America, because of the significant amount of debt that they have to pay each month, which forced them to keep working and become the slave of this capitalistic society in America. Unfortunately, even they work very hard, in most of the time they will not get anything in return, such that Jurgis’s family cannot even keep the house at the of the book and many of family members’ health destroyed by the harsh working conditions in the
Examples Of The Progressive Era In The Jungle
1384 Words | 6 PagesAneta Kowalkowska September 25, 2016 Professor Cory Davis History 104 – Modern America: From Industrialization to Globalization The Progressive Era in The Jungle Upton Sinclair’s main focus in The Jungle is to show how capitalism ruins and crushes the American dream through a Lithuanian family of immigrants who struggle to survive in the labor force. Sinclair is sending out a message that immigrants were not a threat to American culture and that the real enemy for every American are capitalists and that socialism is the answer to that problem. He tries to establish a bond between immigrants and Americans by starting the book with a wedding scene. He does not try to make the Lithuanians at this wedding completely Americanized,
The Harsh Reality In The Jungle By Upton Sinclair
1013 Words | 5 PagesThe poor working conditions are traumatic for Jurgis, his family, and many others just like them. Throughout the novel, Sinclair describes the working conditions in Packingtown. Going to work every day with such terrible conditions changed Jurgis and his family, and wore them down. It is not only an emotional
The Jungle Critical Analysis
1202 Words | 5 PagesThey take you on a journey full of dream-crushing brutality and deception of what seems to be the ideal place to work and built a life. They settle near the stockyards and meatpacking district, where Jurgis finds his first job at Brown’s slaughterhouse. Jurgis, thinking the U.S. offered more freedom, finds that the working conditions there are very
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