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Literary Exploration - The Jungle by Upton Sinclair

            In his novel, "The Jungle," Upton Sinclair reveals the horrors and injustices of industrial Chicago. Sinclair uses his knowledge from research and muckrakers to exploit the conditions for labors in industrial cities. His main focus was around the meat packing industries and how they were not careful about their manufacturing of products and false advertising claiming the food was healthy. Sinclair tells the story of Jurgis Rudkus to portray the harsh conditions and wrongdoings of the Chicago meatpacking industry and the struggle for immigrants/workers to find jobs and maintain a good life for their families. The exploitation of life of industrial Chicago in the eyes of those who experience the corruption everyday show the cruelty and unfairness of turning dreams of wealth and stability into a horrid nightmare of corrupt capitalism and injustice. .
             Upton Sinclair uses "The Jungle" as an exploitation of the injustice of capitalism of the day. His main argument is the demand for money, food, and shelter as a means of survival is preventing the movement for real change in society because of the harsh capitalistic system. The main character Jurgis comes to America as an immigrant with the hopes of making himself into a successful man. He instead is tortured and changed for the worse as a result of capitalism. Jurgis attacks Phil Connors for sexually harassing his wife and is sent to prison for it. He ironically feels safer in prison than he does out in Packingtown. He is given shelter and fed without having to beg and actively hunt for it. However, he is more worried about his family. He thinks, "why, in the name of heaven, if they must punish him, did they not put his family in jail and leave him outside-why could they find no better way to punish him than to leave three weak women and six helpless children to starve and freeze?" (p.190). .
             Jurgis feels that the injustice of capitalism is unsympathetic to his family.


Essays Related to Literary Exploration - The Jungle by Upton Sinclair

1. The jungle by upton sinclair

The Jungle, By Upton Sinclair. (First Signet Classic Printing, November 1960) Upton Sinclair's The Jungle was written in the early 1900's when industry was becoming a big thing. ... Also, the way Upton Sinclair narrates The Jungle, including a protagonist, a setting, and a plot, rather than simply giving out facts about the meat packing industry, supports the validity of the statement that Sinclair's main purpose for writing the book was not only to uncover the secrets of meat packing. Research will however, prove that Sinclair did investigate the meat packing industry rath...

  • Word Count: 438
  • Approx Pages: 2
  • Grade Level: Undergraduate

2. The Jungle

The Jungle, by Upton Sinclair was an important novel for the Twentieth Century in American history and made a big role in how industries, people, and American society in general functions like it does today. Industrialization was one of the many themes that made The Jungle an important role in American history. ... Immigration was also another theme that Upton Sinclair brought up, so people could understand what life was like for them at the time. ... And we had nothing to eat- (page 170) Upton Sinclair depicts the lifestyles for immigrants to be very rough and in some cases, a lot of tra...

  • Word Count: 366
  • Approx Pages: 1
  • Grade Level: High School

3. The Jungle

(The Jungle, Upton Sinclair, 163) Another character that finds the evils of capitalism is Marija, who is forced to rectify to herself, a life of prostitution and drug use caused by capitalism. ... (The Jungle, Upton Sinclair, 212) This can be shown by the brutal treatment of the people that work in the plant. ... (The Jungle, Upton Sinclair, 102) In addition, Sinclair's writing style of figurative language is used mostly in metaphors and similes. ... The Jungle by Upton Sinclair was written to show the goodness of socialism and the evils of capitalism, in addition to show the hardsh...

  • Word Count: 2054
  • Approx Pages: 8
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4. Upton Sinclair's The Jungle: Muckraking Un-Raked

Upton Sinclair, a journalist from California, pioneered mucraking in his journalism. ... The Jungle, published in 1906, was one of Sinclair's most popular novels and a perfect example of muckraking. ... Sinclair exposed corruption in a variety of businesses in The Jungle, however his main focus was Chicago's meat-packing industry. ... Sinclair uses The Jungle to expose child labor, in the case of thirteen year old Stanislovas. ... Upton Sinclair seems to use the negative propaganda in the story to expose all the corruption, abuse, misconduct and explotation of the capitalist soc...

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5. The Jungle

A French philosopher once said that the greatest tyranny of democracy was when the minority ruled the majority. Upton Sinclair's The Jungle gives the reader a great example of exactly this. A man who earns his living honestly and through hard work will always be trapped in poverty, but a man who ear...

  • Word Count: 1462
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  • Grade Level: High School

6. The Jungle Book Review

The Jungle, By Upton Sinclair American novelist Upton Sinclair was born in Baltimore, Maryland and came from Southern aristocracy. ... With his strong development of socialistic views and interests, Sinclair began his work The Jungle, portraying a factual account of Chicago's meat packing industry in fiction form. ... Sinclair achieved instant success with the publication of The Jungle. ... Sinclair's success and credibility with The Jungle was then followed by a series of books which highlight his personal ...

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7. The Jungle

The Jungle, a novel written by Upton Sinclair, however, uses harsh and vivid images to display how life was like in industrial Chicago in the early 1900's. ... Upton Sinclair's The Jungle is a novel about the evils of capitalism and the struggles of an immigrant in America. This book had a great impact on the American Society and through Sinclair's words, he was able to spread the ways of the Socialist. ...

  • Word Count: 350
  • Approx Pages: 1
  • Grade Level: High School

8. The Jungle by Upton Sinclair

"The Jungle" is Upton Sinclair's call to arms against capitalism, an exploitative ideology that has laid ruin to the Chicago meatpacking district where the novel's main protagonist, Jurgis immigrates to with his family from Lithuania. Jurgis is subject to countless atrocities throughout the novel which facilitate Sinclair's blowing critique of capitalism. ... Upton Sinclair strategically subjects Jurgis to the atrocities he suffers in the novel to highlight the exogenous demands put on the working man, or proletariat, by the capitalist system. ... Sinclair weaves the plot awry...

  • Word Count: 1109
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9. The Jungle

Upton Sinclair's The Jungle did not serve its intended purpose of promoting the socialist movement. ... There are many reasons why The Jungle was unsuccessful in sparking a socialist uprising. ... The Jungle would have a much greater influence if it were more realistic. I believe The Jungle would have a greater influence if Sinclair created more developed characters. ... The book would have had a greater acceptance throughout the society and also been a more effective socialist propaganda if Sinclair were to follow these guidelines before writing The Jungle. ...

  • Word Count: 597
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