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the jungle by upton sinclair american dream
examples of life of immigrants in sinclair's the jungle
literary analysis on the jungle by upton sinclair
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The Jungle by Upton Sinclair
If you are or you know someone that is an immigrant to this country, then you
know the struggles and hardships that one must face. Forget the language barrier,
problems such as no money, no food or shelter, even no job are all brutal circumstances.
All these problems are tough to surpass, and doing so is a task in itself. In The Jungle
Upton Sinclair portrays all the problems that a Lithuanian family must encounter to
survive. This novel reflects the time period, the conflicts around the country, and the
conflicts of a family struggling to survive. A truly great novel in my opinion, The Jungle
should be read by everyone for enjoyment, and even for knowledge.
The main characters in this novel are a immigrant family from Lithuania. The
family consisting of Jurgis and Antanas Rudkus, Ona and Elizabeth Lukoszaite (with all
six of her children), and many personal friends and enemies of the family. The Lukoszaite
family have come to America to gain wealth after their recent death of their father. Jurgis
who is madly in love with Ona comes along with his father to America. A family from the
poor roots of Lithuania come oversees to seek great wealth and success in the United
States, escaping the slums of their native country. The setting is in Chicago, in the town
of Packingtown.
Escaping poverty in their native country, with a heartbreaking loss of a family
member, the entire group packs up and heads for the highway so to speak to achieve
wealth in America. The novel begins with a lovely wedding between Ona and Jurgis. The
reception followed tradition, but the younger generation didn’t participate in the usual
customs of a wedding. This just went to show how different the two countries really are.
Struggling to pay the cost of the reception, everyone must leave early to go to work the
next morning, including the wife and groom. Of all the family members, Jurgis is the most
suited for the job because he is physically fit and has a workers attitude. The children are
to go to school, and the women would have to find a job. With the help of Jonas, who is
the brother of Elizabeth, the family finds a rotten apartment in a rat infested, run down
building. Jurgis decides to spend the remaining of their money to buy a house because a
Instead, he found that the same poverty that existed in Lithuania existed in America. His family put all of their money together to purchase a very modest home, only to find that if they missed one payment, they would lose the home. This follows very closely to what actual immigrants to America experienced. The early 20th century was a rapidly growing time and people flocked from all over the world to come to America where most ended up in major cities such as Chicago. It was in these cities that multiple families were forced to live in broken down tenement buildings because they could not earn a living wage
Such is the case of Jurgis Rudkus and his extended family, consisting of cousins, in-laws, and their multitude of children. Natives to the country of Lithuania, Jurgis and his family decide that, after Jurgis and his love, Ona, marry, they will move to Chicago to find work in order to support their family. Soon after arriving to Chicago, they come across Durham’s, a meatpacking factory located in the slums of Chicago. Many of the family members begin holding jobs at Durham’s, ranging from painting cans, to cleaning meat. Over time, however, Jurgis and his family begin to notice that cleanliness, as well as the workers’ overall health, is often, if not always, overlooked. This, as well as the acts of crooked business leaders, begins to corrupt the family and soon leads them into turmoil.
that befell their families. “She joined the radical 31st of January Popular Front, in which
A while later Jurgis and his family were amazed with the idea of buying a house. Jokuba suggested them to rent a space in a boarding house but the place was very filthy without any accommodations. Rooms were crowed of immigrant families like Jurgis. The space was too small that they could only have a stove and a few mattresses on the floor. Unfortunately, this family was falsely deceived like others immigrants in their arrival. They had much desire to achieve the American Dream that they rushed on things and did not get informed correctly. This idea of becoming home owners without enough resources sounded very superficial. “Their good luck, they felt, had given them the right to think about a home… (Sinclair 33).” They were a large family and the place they got was not quite comfortable for them. These reasons were not sufficient for them to rush and spend the money they brought from Lithuania. They were new comers in this neighborhood and they did not know the language to understand the advantages and disadvantages of buying a house. In Lithuania, they lost their home and they decided to adventure to American instead. The decision to leave Lithuania was wrong and very hasty of this family. In their country they lost almost everything but they still had each other. They came to America seeking for a dream that later turned into a nightmare. Their mistake was taking a risk without conceiving the idea of
From the point of view of history, The Jungle, is both a comment on and a product of its own times. Those times most definitely need to be viewed in relation to what happened in the last half of the nineteenth century. This incredible time period saw the making of great industries and great fortunes (for those who were in control of the industries).
There are many characters in The Jungle. These characters vary widely in their professions, social status, and economic status. The main character in the novel is a Lithuanian named Jurgis Rudkus. His wife is Ona Lukoszaite, also a Lithuanian. Their son is named Antanas. Mike Scully is a powerful political leader in Packingtown. Phil Connor is a foreman in Packingtown, “politically connected” (through Scully), and a man who causes much trouble for Jurgis. Jack Duane is an experienced and educated criminal who is also “politically connected”. A man called Ostrinski is a half-blind tailor who teaches Jurgis about Socialism. There are also the members of Ona’s family, each of whom play minor roles in the story. The story opens with the feast at Jurgis and Ona’s wedding in America, but soon flashes back to the time before they left Lithuania. Jurgis met Ona at a horse fair, and fell in love with her. Unfortunately, they were too poor to have a wedding, since Ona’s father just died. In the hopes of finding freedom and fortune, they left for America, bringing many members of Ona’s family with them.
Bennet sisters all live with their parents at Longbourn. A new neighbor comes to live in
Willa Cather's novel My Ántonia dramatizes the effect the frontier has on both native-born people and immigrants that come to the West in search of new beginnings. The story centers around two families living in a remote area of Nebraska from completely diverse backgrounds. This tale suggests that regardless of where a person comes from, the trials and tribulations of living under such tough conditions will ultimately impact his/her future existence. Cather's characters, no matter the age or heritage, are continuously re-defined, as if reborn, into a new life by surviving the harsh realities of the frontier. Much of the creation of these characters takes place in the very first book of the story, with the middle books only showing the individuals sense of disconnection from the land from which they've come to make their living. They either love the frontier life, or they seek to escape it and create a new life for themselves elsewhere. The final book reunites the two main characters, Jim and Ántonia, and brings them full circle: back to the place where it all began.
Guy, Lili, and their son, Little Guy, live in a one-room shack in Haiti. They get excited when Little Guy gets to play a revolutionary at school, and Guy gets extra work cleaning bathrooms at a plantation, in
No country is without its needy. In the United States alone, somewhere around 280,000 and 600,000 men, ladies, and youngsters are destitute every night, as indicated by contrasting evaluations. They are without changeless cabin due to neediness, absence of reasonable lodging, low wages, substance misuse, dysfunctional behavior, or abusive behavior at home. In numerous different nations, be that as it may, common distress, war, and starvations realize vagrancy. Toward the start of the twenty-first century, there were more than eleven million destitute around the world (Morris, 2008, p.208). While numerous depend on destitute safe houses, particularly in winter months, an extensive number discover asylum in autos, deserted structures, on meshes,
From the start of the Civil War until the 1920's Chicago was home to the countries largest meat packing facilities; Philip Armour, Gustavus Swift, and Nelson Morris. As much as 85 percent of consumer meat in the US came from Chicago's vast packing plants. Behind the companies were around 25,000 employees, making up almost half of the entire US meatpacking work force. Most of the employees were underpaid immigrants who spoke little to no english and made a meager one cent an hour. The highest an employee could aspire to was being a "butcher" who were considered the most skilled workers and made up to fifty cent an hour. Workers slaved away in gruesome, unsafe conditions for ten to twelve hours a day, six days a week. Laboring through the ear deafening shrieks of animals a slaughter, treading over slick blood soaked floors, suffering in unventilated rooms and constantly breathing in the vile, putrid smell of every that was the slaughter house. In 1904 the meatpacker union in Chicago went on strike and demanded better wages and working conditions, but the strike didn't even slow down p...
culture and during an important event such as a wedding it is not unusual to
Differences in culture make country has its own traditional customs. Wedding, an extremely important event on one's life, has specific ritual observances. However, thanks to the cultural exchange, Vietnam wedding customs and those of a foreign country – America, have both similarities and differences.
...church, a courthouse, or a wedding venue. Both bride and groom exchange wedding rings and kiss before the witnesses and their families. Flowers are thrown at the newlyweds when they leave the place of ceremony. The banquet party happens in a restaurant where the bride’s and groom’s families, their relatives, and guests are sharing their joy and celebration. Dancing in the party is the loveliest part of the American wedding culture and happens at every American wedding. In addition, at the end of my husband’s coworker wedding party, I saw the guests enjoyed dancing happily around the newlyweds until late in the night to share the joy of happiness to the newlyweds.