Jurgi Upton Sinclair's The Jungle

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The Jungle The Jungle takes place in Packingtown, Chicago in the early 1900’s. Jurgis, his fiancée, her family and his father emigrate from a small town in Lithuania to Packington, Chicago to get married and start a new life. Jurgis and his new wife, Ona, are having a feast to celebrate their marriage. Everyone drank and danced until three in the morning, knowing they would have to work the next day. At the end of the feast, they found that they were over a hundred dollars in debt to the saloonkeeper. Jurgis easily gets a job in a packinghouse and soon after, Majia, Ona’s stepmother, Jonas, Ona’s step uncle, and Antanas, Jurgis’ father find jobs as well. They were tired of living in a small rundown apartment with several other tenants and decided to look for a home of …show more content…

For instance, when Jurgis was working in the packinghouse. The place was absolutely filthy. There was blood everywhere and the workers barely ever got breaks in between their fourteen to sixteen hour shifts. Their bosses did not even care about their safety. They would just replace the workers if they got hurt or if they got too old. Another prime example would be their housing situation. They lived in a rundown tiny house that they could barely afford. They were screwed over by the realtor because he said that there was no interest on the house when there really was. There was no heat and the walls were so thin that they had no protection from the brutal winters. However, the people were not that great either. When Jurgis went to trade in his hundred-dollar bill for smaller bills, he was only given ninety-five cents. Enraged, Jurgis attacks the bartender. A police officer rushed into the saloon and arrested Jurgis. After telling his side of the story and pleading not guilty, the court ruled him guilty of assault. He was sent off to jail for ten days and was fined. This goes to show that in America, people also shallow and

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