The Jungle (1906)

In 1906 Upton Sinclair published The Jungle, often cited as America's best proletarian novel, to international acclaim. At home and abroad readers were horrified by the large-scale poverty and social injustices revealed. The Jungle was one of the first works which jointly depicted the rampant corruption of corporate and political America. By uncovering greed as the driving force of capitalist America's expansion, Sinclair's writing illustrated how community-based social values were being twisted within America's new industrial economy. Focusing on the indignities suffered by immigrants struggling in Chicago stockyards, this novel explores fundamental social welfare themes, helping to justify the need for social intervention and suggesting why social work emerged quickly after The Jungle's publication as a professional calling. In this exposT on midwest cattle stockades, Sinclair offers a multi-layered investigation of how American life looked in this century's first decade by incorporating such dominant themes as the American work ethic, social control, religious values, noblesse oblige, the underclass, and the deserving versus the undeserving poor. In synthesizing these diverse concerns Sinclair renders a gripping tale of Chicago's working poor in 1906 beginning with a splendid immigrant wedding scene and ending with a rallying cry for the explosion of socialism.

Near the beginning of The Jungle Sinclair evokes tales of the old w

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it to America's industrial mores. His ability to separate himself from the false values of his new country is slow in coming. His demise is guided by the levels of social control he experiences. It is hard for him to resist the pull of peer pressure. Jurgis seeks escape from his oppressive life in liquor (167). Yet Ona's life is equally oppressive. Ridden by guilt, finally she confesses to her husband that in order to save her job and help keep the family financially afloat, she was forced to sleep with her boss (181). In a response of fury, Jurgis immediately seeks revenge. Wild-eyed, he hops a streetcar off of Ashland Avenue, and barrels into the offices of Ona's boss. Possessed of a beast's strength, he lunges, attacking him like a tiger. Before they can pull him off of the boss, he bites him on the cheeks (183). Their blood is now more intimately drawn together than ever before. After Juris is tried, punished by several days hard labor to pay for his legal expenses, and released from jail, he tries to return home only to find it rented by a new family (213). The tone of the novel again darkens. Discovering that his wife and family are now temporarily camped out at Aniele's house, he trudges the two miles to that
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Some common words found in the essay are:
Upton Sinclair, Harvester Trust, Jurgis Rudkus, Catholic Lithuanian, Defining Jurgis, Packingtown Unsophisticated, Ashland Avenue, Scully Jurgis, Herbert Gans, Lukoszaite Completely, religious values, jurgis family, american dream, social control, noblesse oblige, social welfare, undeserving poor, chicago ours, jurgis struggles, harvester trust,
Approximate Word count = 1869
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page)

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