The Jungle by Upton Sinclair is well known in history as a book that has caused a change in the food industry. It is about an immigrant family from Lithuania coming to America for a better life. They soon discover the difficulties of living in a town known for it’s grand amount of immigrants and for it’s meatpacking industry. Jurgis Rudkus and his wife Ona Lukoszaite struggle to find jobs while trying to also support their immediate family. They are taken advantage of and used for the most dangerous of jobs. The slaughterhouse has no safety regulations which leads to the deaths of the workers. The family starts off with high hopes but as time goes on, their dreams are crushed by death and misfortune. Upton Sinclair is quoted saying,”I aimed
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Sinclair manages to use pathos in The Jungle in order to to achieve his purpose of showing how difficult life is for immigrants and how dangerous the meatpacking industry is. The readers were forced to see as Jurgis and Ona went through trouble trying to lead a happy new life in America. The first chapter of the book starts off describing their wedding and how happy and eager they are to be married. Jurgis says at the beginning of the book, “I will earn more money- I will work harder”(Sinclair 21) when he finds out about the costs of having a wedding. As the story progresses, Jurgis and Ona try to take care of their immediate family. They try to find jobs and find out how difficult it is to support a family on a little pay and unsafe working conditions. As death and misfortune creep onto the unsuspecting family, their lives becomes harder. Jurgis’ father, Antanas, soon dies from unsafe working conditions in a chemical factory. The chemicals burned through his boots and led to an infection. In addition to the sudden introduction, some of the family members are soon laid off by the companies and are unable to pay their contribution for rent. This is a problem for Jurgis and Ona since they will be evicted from their home if they cannot pay. The readers are forced to witness and sympathize for the misfortune that keeps hitting this young family. They go through death, hunger, sickness, poverty, and a diminishing relationship. The family started off with high hopes for a better life but ended up struggling to survive. Ona and Jurgis’ relationship becomes strained and they soon begin to despise each other, Jurgis went from being a happily married man willing to work harder to support his family to an alcoholic with no family. “In the evening there was no place for him to go except a barroom… He had no home to go to, he had no affection left in his life…”(Sinclair 239). This
Sinclair manages to use pathos in The Jungle in order to to achieve his purpose of showing how difficult life is for immigrants and how dangerous the meatpacking industry is. The readers were forced to see as Jurgis and Ona went through trouble trying to lead a happy new life in America. The first chapter of the book starts off describing their wedding and how happy and eager they are to be married. Jurgis says at the beginning of the book, “I will earn more money- I will work harder”(Sinclair 21) when he finds out about the costs of having a wedding. As the story progresses, Jurgis and Ona try to take care of their immediate family. They try to find jobs and find out how difficult it is to support a family on a little pay and unsafe working conditions. As death and misfortune creep onto the unsuspecting family, their lives becomes harder. Jurgis’ father, Antanas, soon dies from unsafe working conditions in a chemical factory. The chemicals burned through his boots and led to an infection. In addition to the sudden introduction, some of the family members are soon laid off by the companies and are unable to pay their contribution for rent. This is a problem for Jurgis and Ona since they will be evicted from their home if they cannot pay. The readers are forced to witness and sympathize for the misfortune that keeps hitting this young family. They go through death, hunger, sickness, poverty, and a diminishing relationship. The family started off with high hopes for a better life but ended up struggling to survive. Ona and Jurgis’ relationship becomes strained and they soon begin to despise each other, Jurgis went from being a happily married man willing to work harder to support his family to an alcoholic with no family. “In the evening there was no place for him to go except a barroom… He had no home to go to, he had no affection left in his life…”(Sinclair 239). This