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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 earns his living through lies and cheating will be wealthy. The Jungle portrays a Lithuanian family stuck in a Capitalistic country. It shows the ongoing struggle of a lower class that will never get farther in life as long as the minority of rich people rule over them. .
             The Jungle conveys a struggle between Capitalism and Socialism. Socialism is the best way out for the peasants, but a Capitalistic America has already trapped them. When Jurgis Rudkus and his family first come to America, they do not know how it was run. Once Jurgis begins working in the stockyards, he finds out that the upper class dominates over the lower class. Supposedly America is a democratic nation, but this is not true. Capitalism rules the nation. The upper class bosses rule what goes on in the peasants lives. It is a form of slavery. Sinclair writes: Things that were quite unspeakable went on there in the packing houses all the time, and were taken for granted by everybody; only they did not show, as in old slavery times, because there was no difference in color between master and slave. (106) Sinclair compares the conditions of the factories to that of slavery. The rich boss is the master and the peasant is the lowly slave. Capitalism rules in the stockyards of Chicago. The higher class people can get ahead in life because they have an in with the system, but the peasants will forever be stuck at their work on the machines in a packing plant. .
             Jurgis Rudkus endures the work in the factory system. He comes across Capitalism first hand here. Through his work in the meat packing plant, he sees how they are able to work around government regulation through bribes and deceit.


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1. Jungle

... tear down every leaf and destroy every tree of the jungle that they fear. In doing so the result is the full emergence of their own animalistic and savage qualities. This jungle is not only relevant within the story Beloved, but relevant in all the history of slavery, in the literature surrounding slavery, and racism in general. The "jungle" that Stamp Paid refers to can be interpreted in ... themselves. In a sense, they are placing that "jungle" in the blacks as well as in themselves. In the poem, Silhouette written by Langston Hughes we are presented with the idea of the Jungle found i...

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2. The Jungle Story

... in many different language. response to the publication of The Jungle was quick and overwhelming. Even the literary critics were at least as interested in the descriptions of the awful working conditions and unsanitary practices in the packinghouses as they were in the quality of the novel. At the other end of the political spectrum, the reviews were equally favorable, although for different reasons. The Republican President, Teddy Roosevelt, had ... good or bad writing is not talked about very much. The feeling seems to be that any book which causes as much positive social change as Th...

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3. Heart of the apocalypse

... is the African jungle along the Congo River during the height of the ivory trade, whereas in the film the setting is the war torn Vietnam jungle down the Nung River, while ruthless and barbaric fighting is going on there. In Conrad's Heart of Darkness, Marlow, the narrator journeys up the Congo River into the heart of the African jungle, to his ultimate destination of visiting Kurtz, who has gone insane from his experiences in the jungle ... . Africa in the ... ...

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4. The Jungle

... that Sinclair has created through figurative language. Through these metaphors and similes, Sinclair portrays the powerful people in the world as the hunters in the jungle, and the lower class people are shown as the hunted. This shows the power of the ruling class over the poor, and the reader starts to feel the hardships of the workers through the metaphors and similes used by Sinclair. Also, Sinclair took a kind of nonfictional approach to ... is that not everybody is alike and different people have different standards. Granted it is a lot easier to make it in America today than it w...

  • Word Count: 2054
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5. The Jungle Book Literary Criticism

... with a situation and more importantly about friendship. Rudyard Kipling's character design in the story is one of the main ways that the story is so popular and widely read. Every one of his characters develops into a more mature person, just the perspective of the character development is astounding. Many people could say, "The Jungle Book was not that great of a novel and it was made for children ... their own, because my two cents differ quite a bit from their views. If I could pick one novel that influenced hundreds upon hundreds of authors in our century, it would be The Jungle Boo...

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6. Full Summary - Lord of the Flies

... close behind. Suddenly, Ralph looks up to see a naval officer standing over him. The officer tells the boy that his ship has come to the island after seeing the blazing fire in the jungle. Jack's hunters reach the beach and stop in their tracks upon seeing the officer. The officer matter-of-factly assumes the boys are up to, as he puts it, "fun and games." When ... looks up, he sees a British naval officer standing over him. The officer's ship noticed the fire raging in the jungle. The other boys reach the beach and stop in their tracks at the sight of the officer. Amazed at the spectac...

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7. Reflections On "The Heart Of Darkness"

... read as an adventure story about the jungle, or, on a deeper level, a story that examines the evils of society. The novel begins on board the Nellie, a small European ship on the Thames River. The scene is that of a calm, quiet day with the crew lounging on the deck. The people on board are the anonymous narrator, Marlow, the Director of Companies, a lawyer, and an accountant. As the men sit in peaceful conversation, Marlow ... is wholly evil, but what virtues can be found in the sinister jungle? The presence of cannibals who are loyal to their employers show that the darkness may not b...

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8. Analysis of Upton Sinclair's The Jungle

... about the hog expect the squeal"(Sinclair 34) stated the tour guide as he laughed while talking to the people on the tour of the meat packing industry in chapter 3 of the novel The Jungle written by Upton Sinclair. In the novel The Jungle does a well job of telling, along with showing what the meat industries of Chicago actually consist of. Sinclair corrupts the "American Dream" that the immigrants ... have imagined since migrating here to America. The immigrants grew excitement ... is beyond obvious that it is necessary for chapter 3 to take place in The Jungle because it contains a ...

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9. Novel Analysis: Max Weber and Lord of the Flies

... . Ralph, forced to desert his hiding place, manages to break through the enemy line. As Ralph frantically combs the island for safety, the fire has spread and most of the jungle is now ablaze. Driven to the beach by the manhunt, Ralph collapses in exhaustion at the feet of a naval officer, attracted to the island by the smoking jungle. As the tribe emerges from the jungle, they stop and stare silently. Ralph, secure in ... the knowledge that he is rescued, reflects on the things that have taken place ... ...

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10. Upton Sinclair and The Jungle

... that are coming to Chicago. In the time period of The Jungle, as well as now, many foreigners struggled to find work. In the time period of the Jungle, exploitation, working and living conditions were worse than they are for today's immigrants. One issue that Sinclair explains throughout the novel is exploitation and greed. One example of this in the Jungle, is where a character is swindled out of money ... be held to exploitation and greed. Secondly, Sinclair shows the dangerous and unfair labor issues the immigrants faced. One of the dangerous work practices that were mentioned in The...

  • Word Count: 578
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