Geography Matters In Upton Sinclair's The Jungle

- Geography Matters... Geography shapes society which in turn shapes characters, setting, themes, tones, and so forth. This concept is also seen in reality. When I went to Key West, it was evident that the geography shaped those that lived there. Surrounded by water, paralyzing heat and humidity, those that lived there are relaxed and slow walkers and talkers, extremely frustrating for an impatient person such as myself. This concept applies to Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle. The Jungle takes place in Chicago. This enables Sinclair to reveal the horrible working conditions of meat factories as well as the corrupt owners of the factories. Chicago’s winters are harsh, which emphasizes the difficult times the family faces. Multiple times in the novel the family must walk in the frigid cold during a blizzard to go to work. The weather as well as their dedication to going to work highlights the high likelihood that the family would lose their job. In turn, this enforces the unforgivingness and inhumanity of their employers.
For example, Thomas Foster points out that winter reveals “old age and resentment and death” (186), which I find unsurprising considering my hatred of winter. Robert Frost’s “Storm Fear,” takes place in winter during a blizzard. In the first two lines the speaker says “I count our strength/ Two and a child” revealing he’s married with children. Then he says “And my heart owns a doubt” (7) revealing he now doubts the love he shared with his wife. In lines 10 and 11 he says “When the wind works against us in the dark,/ and pelts us with snow.” The dark symbolizes the unknown and the cold represents the coldness of the realization that the speaker is falling out of love. In this poem, winter represents the speaker’s growing age as revealed by having a child and marital issues. Winter also emphasizes the resentment the speaker feels towards the realization of the death of his