THE JUNGLE
The Jungle by Upton Sinclaire is set in America during the early 1900's. Mainly in Packingtown, Chicago. A small town made up of a few stores and two big meat processing plants. The story tells us about immigrants seeking the concept of the America dream. They end up working in harsh conditions in the meat factory that are not sanitized, and treat animals with such cruelty. The major theme of The Jungle is to preach what good socialism can come and how it is the solution to everyone's problems.
Many European immigrants migrated to America because they believed their lives would change for the better and that the new would could bring nothing but happiness. The main character, Jurgis Rudkus and his family moved to Chicago to find a better life. They believed in American jobs, and that they have excellent wages and working conditions, along with benefits and safety.
English: Splitting backbones and final inspection ...
English: A 1911 Industrial Worker (IWW newspaper) ...
English: Source: http://www.chicagob2b.net/links/p...Instead, Jurgis who got a job at a slaughter house found out the hard way that it was nothing close to the dream he pictured. Many things are going on like crime, corruption, politics and big businesses. Jurgis and his family are having a hard time adjusting.
There were many hardships for Jurgis and people alike him who worked in the meat packaging industry. People were forced to work long hours, with poor pay, and were often cheated out of their money. Workers would catch horrible food diseases. Butchers often cut themselves being forced to move at a fast pace. If the wounds got infected they would end up dying from blood poisoning. They sold diseases meat inside the state. Another aspect of the novel was the cruelty towards animals. Animals were shipped across the country in freight cars. Many of them died on the trip. For the...