The Jungle

A detailed Summary of The Jungle


In Upton Sinclair's novel The Jungle not only symbolized an era where dirt and filth ran rampant in meat packing industry, but it also exposed people to the natural human desire of greed, power, and corruptions. This in turn was a socialist transformation itself. Sinclair also provides the meaning to the phrase "wage slavery" in different ways.

In the novel Sinclair tells a story about a man name Jurgis, a Lithuanian immigrant who gets married to young lady named Ona Lukoszaite, who's also a Lithuanian immigrant. At the wedding there are saloon-keepers who cheats the family on liquor and beer, claiming that the guests consumed more than they actually did. Since the family had enough sense not to argue with these powerful people they decided to do as they were told. Since Jurgis felt that he was strong enough to work off the money that was owed to these people he decided to work harder.


He persuaded the American people that many regarded with suspicion and hostility. Sinclair makes readers sympathize with their social values by emphasizing the fact that they are a Lithuanian "alien". Sinclair portrays the practice of selling diseased and rotten meat in order to position big businessmen as corrupt liars.

They will certainly be over two hundred dollars, and maybe three hundred; and three hundred dollars is more than the year's income of many a person in this room....in ice cold cellars with a quarter of an inch of water on the floor- men who for six or seven months in the year never see the sunlight from Sunday afternoon till the next Sunday morning - and who cannot earn three hundred dollars in a year.(Sinclair 12)

Jurgis was being paid $1.50 for twelve hours of labor. Marija, family member of Jurgis gets paid almost two dollars a day. His job is to sweep the guts through trap do

Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 615
Approximate Pages = 2 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: Novels

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