Upton Sinclair's 'The Jungle'

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The Jungle, by Upton Sinclair, is a literary work that illustrates a world that was not too far removed from the reality of the day, describing the harsh realities and exposing the callous side of human nature. A depressing realization of how unregulated capitalists corporations and monopolies treated human beings as wage slaves with complete disregard for the workers' well-being. Throughout the book, Sinclair displays the struggles of an immigrant family in order to bring to light the failings in American society. Upton Sinclair was a well-known author and “muckraker” journalists in the Progressive Era. The term muckraker characterizes what is known today as “Investigative Reporting”. Sinclair was recognized for writing realistic fiction …show more content…

The children are put into school and the other members of the family soon find jobs. Jurgis is happy with his job and America, and views his complaining co-workers as lazy, but he soon realizes that America is plagued by corruption, dishonesty, and graft. Jurgis and his family are forced to work in unsafe environments for long hours with low pay. Jurgis and his family are cheated out of his money several times. Ultimately the children are forced to leave school and go to work to help the family survive. This virtually traps the children in a cycle of poverty they will never break free from, ensuring that they will always have dead-end, crushingly low-wage …show more content…

Jurgis makes good money working in the fields during harvest, but he is unable to save very much of his money so he enjoys it while he has it. When winter comes, he is forced to return to the city where he gets a job working in the phone tunnels under Chicago. He elects not to purchase a winter coat as he will be working underground all day and sleeping at night. Shortly after starting work he is injured by a service train in the tunnels. After he is discharged from the hospital, he is homeless and turns to sitting in bars to keep warm. One night he is befriended by a wealthy young man who takes Jurgis back to his home. The wealthy man gives Jurgis a one hundred dollar bill for taxi fare. Later, Jurgis pays for a beer with the one hundred dollar bill at a local bar, when the bartender short changes Jurgis. Jurgis gets into a fight with the bartender and Jurgis is sent to jail for the second time. While in jail Jurgis meets a man he had previously met when Jurgis was in jail the first time. Jack Duane was an experienced criminal who told Jurgis that he was in jail on trumped up charges. After Jurgis is released from jail, he turns to a life of crime. Jurgis learns about the connections between criminals, police, politics, and big business. Jurgis developed into a member of this corrupt organization and eventually gets involved with politics. Working for a criminal named Scully, Jurgis takes a

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