Summary Of Upton Sinclair's The Jungle
The Jungle
In the year 1906,Upton Sinclair published the eyeopening novel, "The Jungle". The fictional novel became immensely popular that not only the American people were reading it, but the twenty sixth president of the United States, Theodore Roosevelt, also engaged in reading it. The fictional novel takes place mainly in Chicago, where a family of twelve immigrants move from Lithuania to the United State of America in hopes of achieving their version of the "American dream". Once the family arrives in America they realize how difficult it is to escape poverty, let alone be considered wealthy. The novel addresses the American dream, poor working conditions, and socialism.
From the start, of the novel there is talk about success in America. Ona, her finance Jurgis, and the rest of both their families decide to move to …show more content…
America in order to have a better future. Throughout the book the family struggles to reach ends meet, working for what they can get. Jurgis works in a meat packing factory, where he mades very little profit, although he is making the most out of any of his relatives, it is still not enough.When putting a down payment on a house is too expensive, the youngest children are expected to start to work as well. Moving to America did not suddenly make Jurgis or his family richer, but rather they went into extreme poverty living off every penny, thus their idea of the American dream is never achieved.
Next, a major point seen in the book is the harsh working conditions of the meat packing business, where Jurgis worked.
The factories were extremely unsanitary, there were numerous injuries, and dangerous working conditions. Sinclair depicts the gruesome aspects of factory labor, such as human limbs getting caught in the machines and still being packaged along with the other meat. "The Jungle" changed the way food is distributed now, after the novel was published the FDA (food and drug administration) was established to inspect food quality.
Finally, Jurgis hears about the idea of socialism, a system in which the government regulates the economy. Jurgis learns about socialism from a preacher, Mr.Lucas, as well as Nicholas Schliermann who speak openly about it. Their view on socialism includes that the worker will get paid for how hard they work, but even the poorest of citizens will still have income and stability. The idea of socialism appears to be the answer to the American dream, a life with promised wealth. Chicago votes to become socialist rather than capitalist and the novel ends with Jurgis' growing hope of his American dream coming
true.
In the year 1906,Upton Sinclair published the eyeopening novel, "The Jungle". The fictional novel became immensely popular that not only the American people were reading it, but the twenty sixth president of the United States, Theodore Roosevelt, also engaged in reading it. The fictional novel takes place mainly in Chicago, where a family of twelve immigrants move from Lithuania to the United State of America in hopes of achieving their version of the "American dream". Once the family arrives in America they realize how difficult it is to escape poverty, let alone be considered wealthy. The novel addresses the American dream, poor working conditions, and socialism.
From the start, of the novel there is talk about success in America. Ona, her finance Jurgis, and the rest of both their families decide to move to …show more content…
America in order to have a better future. Throughout the book the family struggles to reach ends meet, working for what they can get. Jurgis works in a meat packing factory, where he mades very little profit, although he is making the most out of any of his relatives, it is still not enough.When putting a down payment on a house is too expensive, the youngest children are expected to start to work as well. Moving to America did not suddenly make Jurgis or his family richer, but rather they went into extreme poverty living off every penny, thus their idea of the American dream is never achieved.
Next, a major point seen in the book is the harsh working conditions of the meat packing business, where Jurgis worked.
The factories were extremely unsanitary, there were numerous injuries, and dangerous working conditions. Sinclair depicts the gruesome aspects of factory labor, such as human limbs getting caught in the machines and still being packaged along with the other meat. "The Jungle" changed the way food is distributed now, after the novel was published the FDA (food and drug administration) was established to inspect food quality.
Finally, Jurgis hears about the idea of socialism, a system in which the government regulates the economy. Jurgis learns about socialism from a preacher, Mr.Lucas, as well as Nicholas Schliermann who speak openly about it. Their view on socialism includes that the worker will get paid for how hard they work, but even the poorest of citizens will still have income and stability. The idea of socialism appears to be the answer to the American dream, a life with promised wealth. Chicago votes to become socialist rather than capitalist and the novel ends with Jurgis' growing hope of his American dream coming
true.