Professor Brandon Davis
HIST-112
21 February 2016
The Jungle Book Review Sinclair, Upton. The Jungle. Cambridge, MA: R. Bentley, 1971. Print. In the book The Jungle, Upton Sinclair demonstrates his viewpoints on how the industrial movement impacted culture, politics, and businesses in general, as well as becoming a voice for the workingmen of America. The book follows an immigrant named Jurgis and his new wife Ona, who came to America from Lithuania, on a journey starting with their wedding reception banquet in Chicago. Although the ceremony and party is exactly what the couple needs, the party ends with the newly-married couple being unable to cover the costs of the celebration. It seems that this is a habit of younger guest to attend a wedding reception when they are not even invited and leave without paying, leaving the costs on the newlyweds. The couple is immediately shoved into the what kind of world they will be living in and the people that will be surrounding them. The couple decide to buy a home, rather than renting, and are then scammed an agent to buy a home that she describes as “brand new”, however Jurgis later finds out that he is the fifth person to attempt to try and pay for this home that is slowly falling apart, and he is paying nearly three times the amount it cost to build it. Sinclair describes Jurgis as naive, and unsure, but when Jurgis is hired by Brown and Company because of his size and strength he is finally able to see if America is indeed the “land of opportunity”, however it only goes to show Jurgis the unsafe working environments that workers are forced to be exposed to. Sinclair describes the unfair and cynical system in Chicago that have working conditions that are cold, disease-ridden, and unhealthy for laborers. He points out the lack of job security, as well as the lack of fair treatment all around for workers that are underpaid and overworked. In each chapter, Sinclair describes how strong Jurgis is and despite all of these issues that he continues to face, Jurgis and his family are able to make ends meet for a while, until Jurgis gets injured while working with the cattle and is required to rest in order to fully recover. When he finally recovers, he returns to work only to find out that his job is no longer available and he is forced to find other ways to get money. For Ona's sake, Jurgis does not drink like many of the other working men in his town. Ona is also working for the same company that Jurgis once worked out, and when Jurgis was injured she was raped by another man who also worked for the company. When her husband finds out what has happened, Jurgis find Connor and beats him within an inch of his life, and is punished by being sent to jail, creating a larger hardship on the …show more content…
It seems that Sinclair does in fact support the Socialist party, and shows to be completely against the meat packing procedures, he is mainly focused on working for the rights for workingmen. It does seem that Upton Sinclair is very biased and is completely pushing for socialism. The purpose of the book is clear is to push the authors ideas and beliefs, as well as bring light to the conditions and lack of rights that the workingmen have. After carefully reading the novel and taking to heart what the author is saying, it is very unfortunate that these events really occurred. When following Jurgis on his journey and seeing his struggles, Sinclair paints a picture of how life was during that time, and how at times it seemed to only get worse, with no support of society. The author is able to show how miserable Jurgis is and how he is feeling about living in the town of Packingtown and the occurs that take place in that town. With the negativity aside, the book was very enjoyable and even though it was in fact tough to get through at times because of the hardships that the family and main characters were facing, it was able to prove the authors thesis at the same time that he was able to tell a very well informed