Upton Sinclair The Jungle Analysis

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.

American Dream or American Nightmare? Sinclair, Upton. The Jungle. Mineola, New York.

Due to this, the children might be exposed to many different serious health problems. Several lawsuits have been in place because of this situation. The Jungle, written by Upton Sinclair, is about Jurgis Rudkus and his family, who are immigrants that move to Chicago from Lithuania in search of a better life. Once they get to America, they realize that life here was not all that it was cracked up to be. They get mistreated, and their daily lives become very challenging.

Child labor was a huge issue in the late 1800’s to the 1900’s. Children often worked through unfair, unhealthy, and unsafe. Children often worked hard for little pay. The children often contracted diseases and lost arms, hands and fingers in accidents and even died sometimes. Young workers had dangerous jobs like working in the coal mines.

“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.

When Upton Sinclair wrote the Jungle, a book about the terrible environment of the meat-packing factories in Chicago, he hoped to motivate reform in immigrant working conditions and promote socialism. Instead, what shocked readers the most was the sordid surroundings in which their future meals were prepared. Sinclair 's audience saw these conditions as a threat to themselves, and that energized reform in the meat-packing industry. What scared audiences the most was how real this threat was to their lives. As can be witnessed in the results of Sinclair 's crusade, the most effective propaganda is that which rouses the visceral survival instinct. Donald Trump, a notorious real estate mogul, is running for president on a platform that started

Excerpts from The Jungle by Upton Sinclair, Document Analysis The Jungle, by Upton Sinclair, is a renowned source of political fiction that pioneered the movement of food safety in the United States. The Jungle was first published in a socialist newspaper in 1905 and then later adapted into a novel in 1906 after popular demand. Sinclair initially wrote the exposé as a way to change the unfortunate circumstances of immigrant laborers, whose working conditions that were believed to be unacceptable for any laborer in the industry. Sinclair leaves short references of his political opinions in the novel in various locations throughout the text “As if political liberty made wage slavery any the more tolerable!”

Revealing the harsh treatment of meatpacking workers and showing the reality of the disgusting conditions found in butchery shops to the public, Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle became an enduring classic by American readers throughout the early twentieth century the prompted the later creation of the Federal Drug Administration. In the early 1900s, America was explosively transitioning from an agricultural society to a thriving manufacturing-based nation. As production demand in factories grew throughout the country, the work force needed to run those factories also expanded. A new type of demanding and dangerous work became prevalent throughout the nation, as immigrants coming into the “Land of Opportunity” found themselves desperate

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.

Child labor was another problem presented at this time. At the rate they were going back in 1900, 26% of boys between ten and fifteen were already working, and for girls it was 10% (Background Essay). Child labor was increasing as fast as the children working were dying. An example of this tragic scenario was Dennis McKee, a 15-year-old boy who was smothered to death by coal (Document B). This boy had a family, and that family had to deal with the loss of their son, all to the fault of an industry that thought to use young, able-bodied boys for their work was a fantastic idea.

In The Jungle by Upton Sinclair the main character, Jurgis moved from Lithuania to America with his family to live the American dream. Throughout the book Jurgis goes through trials and tribulations. Deaths, injuries and rape leads Jurgis down a path of no return. Jurgis and his family were trapped in a never-ending cycle of suffering because they did not think before they act.

Child labor was a great concern in the Industrial revolution but very few people did something to stop it. Women and Children were forced to work more than 10 hours a day with only forty minutes to have lunch. Elizabeth Bentley once said that they didn’t have any time to have breakfast or drink anything during the day. They worked standing up and if they didn’t do their work on time they were strapped (whipped). Children were treating like they were not important, like they didn’t deserve a better life.

Life in the Lower Class In the novel The Jungle, Upton Sinclair uses various literary devices to portray the naturalism movement in the view of a Lithuanian immigrant living in America. Sinclair uses symbolism to portray the house that Jurgis and Ona desire to live in as the beginning of their American dream, he also uses foreshadow as he mentions the innocent hogs being slaughtered at the factory which foreshadows Jurgis and his families future as these innocent people begin to face hardships leading to their end. The negative diction in which Sinclair uses in this novel portrays a poignant and despicable lifestyle in Chicago. Jurgis and Ona were newly weds who came to America shortly after their marriage in Lithuania. Upon arrival to the states Jurgis and his wife lived in a boarding house for a while as Jurgis went in search of a job.

Alexis Cooper Ms. King-Zimmerman AP Language and Composition 29 September, 2015 The setting in The Jungle by, Upton Sinclair takes place in the early 1900’s. The main story line is pictured around the Chicago meat packaging industry, or “Packingtown”. The author goes into graphic detail about the different ways the meat was “tainted”. In the Chicago meat packaging industries many of the workers were killed and turned into fertilizer as they fell into the fat rendering tanks.

• Upton Sinclair wrote “The Jungle” which exposed the conditions of the meat packing industry in Chicago. • Moved to Pasadena, California in 1915 and wrote 47 books by 1933. • Sinclair ran for governor of California in the election of 1926 and in 1930 but in 1933 ran as democrat for governor of California • “I, Governor of California, and How I Ended Poverty: A True Story of the Future” (1933) a utopia novel written by Sinclair, if elected, he would end unemployment. • Sinclair proposed another program called End Poverty in California (EPIC) • If any farms were sold for taxes would be purchased by California and establish cooperative agricultures communicates known as “California Authority for Land.” This would only be put into effect