The Jungle Upton Sinclaire
Upton Sinclair's The Jungle takes place in Packingtown, an area of Chicago, around the turn of the 20th century. This book takes an intimate look at an immigrant family facing the hardships of a laborer's life, trying to fight the hollowness of the American Dream, how capitalism essentially breaks a family apart. The main goal of The Jungle is to exploit capitalist world and try to persuade the reader that socialism is the way out of the evils of capitalism. This book also uncovered the dangerous and unsanitary conditions of the meat packing plants that sold diseased and rotten meat to unsuspected customers, which led to various acts to guarantee sanitary conditions. Upton Sinclair uses a naive Lithuanian immigrant family in this novel to reveal the troubles and difficulties they have when they come to American expecting high wages and a good life. The hypocrisy
The only business owner who showed some decency to his employees was, of course, a socialist. The government was not a part of the American people's life. At the end, Jurgis realizes that capitalism is brutal, inhuman, and unjust. However, what's missing is a good description of capitalism and the good things that have made it work. Besides revealing the horrors of the meat packing industry, there is a bias political message, socialism. Living day by day, not knowing if your job will be available through the season, and worrying about providing food for your children was how life was. He wrote this book representing all capitalist politicians and business owners as corrupt and evil people, wanting to devour all that came their way. Corruption, which is portrayed as a direct result of capitalism, is a main theme throughout the book. Upton Sinclair clearly wanted to put a bad feeling in the reader's mind. It leads to the destruction of children and the break down of family values and traditions. of the American Dream is exposed and they find themselves in a land of exploitation and prejudice. Upton Sinclair could have explained capitalism slightly more, but since the book was written at the beginning of the 20th century, he did not know the government would evolve, nor could he predict it. It made me realize how much I take for granted the FDA and Pure Food and Drug Acts. The family becomes subject to swindles, manipulation and rape by a boss, not what they subscribed to. When buying their first house, there were countless hidden costs and fees they did not know about.
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