Summary Of Upton Sinclair's The Jungle

“…And then there was the condemned meat industry, with its endless horrors. The people of

This book shows the horrific working conditions and unsanitary conditions in Chicago's meatpacking industry. Sinclair's descriptions of conditions and procedures in the meatpacking plant led to subsequent reforms in food safety regulation. From the killing beds to the fertilizer plant, the meatpacking plant is not a place one would like to work at, it is a place of blistering cold and burning heat, a place where a man might accidentally fall and end up in the canned food. Sinclair uses descriptions of food and diseased meat to reveal the disregard capitalist owners have for the safety of American citizens. He also portrays the grotesque physical harm done to workers, who lose fingers, cut themselves and get blood poisoning, have their skin eroded by low pH acid, and lose limbs. Sinclair uses the industrialized brutality of the animals to symbolize the ultimate pain and discomfort the workers are

The workers that operated on the kill floor were to shovel the guts and fetuses down the hole in the floor. The workers under the kill floor would take the fetuses and use them for more meat. The meatpackers still process carcasses from cattle that died from sickness or injury. These cattle weren’t supposed to be processed and sold because these carcasses so the companies didn’t lose money off of those cattle (Sinclair, 1906). Canneries used many tricks to pass the spoiled meat into “edible” product. If a worker were to fall into one of the vats of chemicals and no one noticed their bodies could be processed with the meat as if it was cattle carcasses to make fertilizer or

Upton Sinclair took interest in fiction at an early age by writing fiction stories as a young boy to writing adventure stories and jokes to help support himself through college. He was the winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1943 and focused on writing fiction stories about real world industrialist views. Upton Sinclair’s fiction “The Jungle” entwines the reality of the dangerous and legal conditions of meat industry workers and consumers in Chicago while narrating the lower-class lifestyle of an immigrant family relocating from a small town in Europe to America in search for a better living. During their hardship and unsuccessful process of finding this “better” lifestyle, the horrors and unsafe conditions of the meat packing industry are legitimately exposed. Back in that time, the occupation of factory working or the meat packing industry was popularly considered the source of family income. From young to old, these men, women, boys and girls were under paid and worked in terrible and unsafe conditions. Sinclair also focused on factors that women went through for employment. Many people felt as if Sinclair was fond of exaggeration while writing this book but the most important thing is that this book imposed change in America.

The Jungle, by Upton Sinclair, was a novel written to expose the harsh conditions of the meatpacking industry. The novel also describes the struggles of a family living in America.The novel changed the way many looked at society. Fortunately, that was Sinclair’s purpose of the novel. In other words, Sinclair included many themes for the novel like “The American Dream”, capitalism versus socialism, and even the horrors of the meatpacking industry.

The Jungle was a book written by Upton Sinclair in 1906 about the terrible conditions and manipulation immigrants faced in the United States in Chicago and other industrialized cities in the US. The novel was centered upon a Lithuanian family who heard stories of America and the better life it had to offer. Excited about all the opportunities in America, the family of 13 including Jurgis Rudkus, Ona Lukoszaite, Elzbieta Lukoszaite, Marija Berczynskas, Jonas, Antanas Rudkus, Little Antanas Rudkus, Stanislovas, Kotrina, Vilimas, Nikalojus, Juozapas, and Kristoforas, packed their bags and moved to America, the “land of opportunity.” There they found opportunities where, more often than not, they were manipulated by people. The book discusses the horrors inside the meat-packing industry that would turn some vegan and make most meat eaters cringe, but; nonetheless, keep eating. Using imagery and connotative diction to amplify the characters, plot, and theme in his novel, The Jungle, Upton Sinclair is able to successfully capture the reader’s emotions and reveal the unsanitary environments, unfair working conditions, and unethical business practices in America's meat-packing industries.

The Chicago stockyards, where the immigrants live and work, are described as a vile and nauseating place. The ditches in the stockyards and in the town were filled with a stinking green liquid. “Swarms of flies” hung over the stockyards and “blackened the air” (Mookerjee 79). “The strange, fetid odor, of all the dead things of the universe” was rampant in the stockyards (Mookerjee 79). Sinclair then goes on to explain that it isn’t just the conditions of the stockyards and the atmosphere of where the workers live and conduct business he describes what ghastly objects went into the meat that serve the American public. Sinclair effectively displays the grotesqueness and barbaric sanitation conditions by commencing the novel by explaining about the “rotten hams and rat adulterated sausage” (Bloodworth 59). Old sausage that had been deemed not able to be processed that contained significant traces of borax and glycerine that had been thrown on the floor and dumped into several different hoppers would be reprocessed and served to the American public as if it were new, fresh meat (Bloodworth 59). The reprocessing and fraudulent claims that the meat was pure were grotesque lies made by the meatpacking companies. One of the most fundamental claims that Sinclair makes to demonstrate the horrid conditions is that occasionally some of the workers would fall into the cooking vats, “ and when they were fished out,

Jurgis ends up finding a job fairly quickly at a meatpacking company and it’s not the best but he’s content because he’s bringing in money and so does the rest of the family, Jonas, the brother of Ona’s stepmother, Teta Elzbieta and as do Marija Berczynskas, Ona’s cousin. At this point, Jurgis positive about his future in the Americas, and denies Teta, Ona, and the younger children to work. They’ve decided that they needed to move on up in the world and find a house since they now make enough money, the family signs an agreement to purchase a house but finds out that it is a rented house. Adding onto this swindle, they had an interest rate to pay including the rent which resulted in Ona,

The family begins to have good luck, both Jonas and Marija begin to work. The group is presented with an offer for a house, which they take without understanding the fine print. The entire family continues working, with Jurgis quickly learning all of the horrible things that occur in the factories. Soon after the wedding described in the beginning occurs and life goes on afterwards. Old Dede Antanas dies from sickness. Their first winter begins and they are not prepared for what happens. Hours are cut, so all of the family is being paid less than half of what they were usually making. Jurgis joins the union and the rest of the family follows. Jurgis becomes a citizen and learns more of the political corruption that occurs under him. Soon after this Ona gives birth to a boy, who is named Antanas. Later, Jurgis hurts his leg on the job which progressively gets bad enough that he is bedridden to allow it to heal. While Jurgis is bedridden, Jonas leaves the group without notice, causing the family’s income to decrease further. After his leg heals, Jurgis finds a job at the fertilizer plant. Ona starts to become sick and despondent, which worries Jurgis. Jurgis questions her repeatedly and learns about what Connor had done. Jurgis assaults Connor for his crime and is sent to prison where he meets Jack Duane, a charismatic criminal. Jurgis is sentenced to a month in jail for the assault of Connor. When Jurgis is released he comes

“The Jungle” is a novel by a renowned author by the name of Upton Sinclair. He is an American author who had an interest in addressing the improper conduct of the political and business class. He was born on September 20, 1878, in Baltimore, Maryland. As an author, he was able to publish several novels addressing important issues in the society. His novels include “The Springtime and Harvest,” which was his first novel in 1901 and “The Jungle” among many others. Through his work and dedication, he was also acknowledged as an activist who was ready to address and highlight any social injustice that infringed human rights (“The Jungle”).

Alcohol seems to relieve him of his pain, troubles and allows him to forget all about them. When he is away from all the agony, he feels he is the “master” of his life again. (114) When Jurgis gets to know that Connor, Ona’s boss, sexually harassed and raped her, he gets furious and attacks Conner. He is put in jail for his actions and the judge does not give him a fair chance to explain himself. Due to his poor English, he is unable to clearly explain to the Judge that Conner abused his wife by threatening her that she and every member of her family would lose their jobs. The judge puts Jurgis in jail for thirty days, and Jurgis is terrified and mourns, "What will my family do?" [...] I have a wife and baby, sir, and they have no money—my God, they will starve to death!" (139). The judge and the justice system are corrupt and bring forward another evil of industrial capitalism. The judge does not believe Jurgis and favors Conner, who is more powerful and has more money. Jurgis, in the end, realizes that he cannot “work hard” and climb the social ladder because capitalists have rigged the system and no matter how much he tries, he cannot improve his

During this time Jurgis father dies due to a sickness and in the conditions in which he was working hard labor. After the baby was born he was named Antanas in honor of his father. Jurgis has an injury in his job and was not able to work for almost 3 months and gets frustrated because he’s not able to work and charges all his frustration on his family especially with Stanislovas when he doesn’t want to go to work when there were snowy mornings. After the death of Teta Elzbieta’s youngest son, Kristoforas due to the consumption of rotten meat, Jurgis refused to help out with the funeral

Lastly, some workers aren’t allowed to take a break just to use the restrooms. Some of the employees are forced to pee on the floor near the meat that people would eat soon. And they are still working, so they don’t have enough time to stop and wash their hands which is another problem with the assembly line going so fast.

A report from the American Meat Institute shows that the U.S. is home to about 6,000 meatpacking plants. Millions of jobs all over the country are made through meatpacking plants. These low paying, risky jobs are swept up by men and women, these people unknowing of what exactly they have gotten themselves into. The meatpacking, today, has become one of the most dangerous jobs in America.

The Jungle is a novel written in 1906 by Upton Sinclair. It is about a man named Jurgis Rudkus and his wife Ona Lukoszaite who have recently immigrated from Lithuania to chicago. They decided to move to a part called Packingtown were at the time most immigrants moved their. Packingtown is a ruthless, dangerous place. They are known for the meat packing in that town. They decide to have their wedding at a saloon somewhere in Packingtown. They then realize they are in debt to the saloon owner and must find a job. However, getting a job in this town is very hard. However, with Jurgis's energetic and persistent personality he finds a job in no time. His wife Ona eventually finds herself a job as well. They buy a house and pay off the saloonkeeper with some help of Ona’s step-mom Teta Elzbieta. The house they bought is horrible it is in shambles and way overpriced. So they decide to have all of Totas kids move in to help with the higher cost of living. The youngest of the kids got a job as well his name is Stanislovas. The family then realizes how hard the work is their. It requires break-backing labor, and even death sometimes. Corruption and unsafe working area’s lie around every corner of businesses in Packingtown. They soon experience this first hand when Jurgis’s father die’s on the job. Then winter came and that is the worst time of the year. As described in the book at Jurgis job the meat is packed whether it is cold or