The book, The Jungle, written by Upton Sinclair, has portrayed how conditions and social norms of the early 1900’s helped shape society through social reform. Sexism, racism, and class, shaped the experiences and choices of the immigrants in The Jungle throughout the book. The huge difference between the classes was the most significant of the three. Sinclair used the story of one immigrant and his family to help show what was going on in society at that time, to raise awareness, and to promote socialism. Sexism played a big role in society at the time that The Jungle took place (provide date). Jurgis, the main character of the story, was said to be a brute, where his wife, Ona, was petite and fragile. Back then, women were seen as the weaker sex, so it is no surprise that Ona is described as fragile and Jurgis is described as strong. The gender roles in society at that time led Jurgis to believe that he, a male, was supposed to be the bread winner while the women, Teta Elzbieta and Ona, were supposed to stay at home and tend to the house and the children. Jurgis was …show more content…
The wealthy white men had money and recourses, and the poor immigrants did not, so the white business men virtually controlled the city and the courts. When Jurgis found out about Connor raping his wife, he attacked him. Jurgis was arrested, and because the poor immigrants didn’t have a voice in the court system back then, The Judge would not believe him when he explained that Connor raped his wife. Instead, the Judge sided with Conner with no proof at all, and Jurgis was put back in jail, and he had to pay for the costs of the trial. It would have been easy to send the immigrants to prison any time they stepped out of line because they could not afford lawyers, and did not have much of a say in the court system because they weren’t white. They were seen as less than whites and that they needed to be put in their
In the books, The Jungle by Upton Sinclair and Plunkitt of Tammay Hall, they both focus on how life was like in America during 1905. But they show it in different perspectives. In the book The Jungle, the characters in it are attempting to live the American Dream after migrating from Lithuania to The United States. And in the Plunkitt of Tammay Hall, it is about a sentor named Geroge Washington Plunkitt, who shares his secrets on how to be the best Politican. Throughout both books, they both focus on many of the same issues, yet view them different. The three reoccuring themes I saw in bth books were, government corruption, social class conflicts, and Urbanization. Through out this paper, I will be analyzing the differences between the two books and these three themes.
The difficult living situations for many people in the early 20th century were discussed in the novel The Jungle, written by Upton Sinclair. The book describes an immigrant family’s struggle to survive after moving to America. The family experiences unsafe working conditions, dangerous child labor and poverty. Sinclair uses these images to shed light on some of America’s troubles, to disparage capitalism and to promote socialism.
Sinclair’s The Jungle, is his fictionalized report of Chicago's Packingtown. It traces a family of Lithuanian immigrants in Chicago, and describes the horrifying living and working conditions they endure. Through Jurgis, the protagonist, and his family, Sinclair unfolds the tragedy of suffering of all Packinghouse workers in their pursuit of the American Dream. He gives a detailed description about their ordeals, from their lodging at boardinghouses to their buying of cheated house,...
“In twentieth-century America the history of poverty begins with most working people living on the edge of destitution, periodically short of food, fuel, clothing, and shelter” (Poverty in 20th Century America). Poverty possesses the ability to completely degrade a person, as well as a family, but it can also make that person and family stronger. In The Jungle, by Upton Sinclair, a family of immigrants has to live in severe poverty in Packingtown, a suburb of Chicago. The poverty degrades the family numerous times, and even brings them close to death. Originally the family has each other to fall back on, but eventually members of the family must face numerous struggles on their own, including “hoboing it” and becoming a prostitute. The Jungle, a naturalistic novel by Upton Sinclair, reveals the detrimental effects that a life of poverty exerts on the familial relationships of immigrants in Chicago during the early 1900’s.
Blacks were driven out of skilled trades and were excluded from many factories. Racist’s whites used high rents and there was enormous pressure to exclude blacks from areas inhabited by whites.... ... middle of paper ... ...
In the book, The Jungle, the readers comprehend a traditional American story of the tragic lives of immigrants coming to this country in search of new life, and instead finding greed and corruption. People who came into America in the time period of the late 1800’s to early 1900’s experienced a whole new world not quite what they were expecting. Living conditions and homes were not treated as well as the lower class American homes were. Wages were at an all time low with a decreased purchasing power of immigrant’s money. Everywhere they turned, someone was there waiting to cheat them. The government, political machines, and even everyday merchants on the streets treated immigrants
The increase in population due to the Great Migration led Chicago to be the nation’s fastest growing city. In the city, homicide rates increased dramatically. The nature of homicide among African Americans in Chicago changed when the traditional impulsive violence between young boys became family violence or fights with acquaintances. Essentially, the Southern African Americans who moved to northern cities for freedom still experienced discrimination in jobs and housing from whites living in the neighborhoods prior. Many of them became frustrated about this and proceeded to demonstrate that through violence. In result of the increased violence, juvenile courts were developed. To address the concerns of juvenile delinquency, Chicago initially advocated courts to punish them for the acts of violence. The courts were filled with cases of violence between races due to the increasing racial tensions in neighborhoods throughout Chicago. Often, racist comments would be made, or an African American would fight against segregation or speak out and there would be a fight. Acts of violence became more and more common throughout the city and the juvenile courts were only one way to attempt to solve it. In Standing at Armageddon: A Grassroots History of the Progressive Era, it is said that the violence in Chicago was “the
Even though whites and blacks protested together, not all of them got punished in the same ways. Even though it wasn’t folderol committed by either race, racists saw it as this and would do anything to keep segregation intact. Sometimes, the whites would be shunned, by society, and not hurt physically. While the blacks, on the other hand, were brutally kille...
From the very beginning, Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle enthralls the reader with an anticipation that makes one want to continue reading. Upon further research of the author, it is clear he is a passionate writer at heart; though not always successful. The novel is best known for exposing the highly unsanitary conditions of the meat packing industry, run by corrupt political machines, as well as the severity and harshness faced by immigrants during this time. However, Sinclair’s true goal was to promote his new-found socialist principles amidst the growing businesses and harsh labor conditions existing to the lower class.
The Jungle is a book that was written by Upton Sinclair in 1906. Upton Sinclair was a muckraker which is a fancy word for journalist that they used back in 1900. The purpose of The Jungle was to show the conditions of where the workers lived, how they lived, and how little they worked in order to get paid almost nothing.
The Jungle brought about great change in the American meatpacking industry. Upton Sinclair opened up the eyes of people all over America. His novel became a classic muckraking story that started the reformation of meat in America. Without Sinclair, those horribles things that were going in the packing houses would still be happening. Though Sinclair did not originally intend for all this to happen, the people of America should be grateful to the change his book brought
Society set a standard many years ago that in a relationship, the woman depends on the man. In The House on Mango Street, woman tend to trust and not have power in relationships. Sandra Cisneros develops the theme that women are inferior to men. This is based on men’s view on power and women accepting their role through the motif of gender roles throughout the novella The House on Mango Street.
In the United States, democracy has always been a key concept, and as effective as this may seem the idea was not used to its full potential, especially in the industrial era. Immigrants from out of the US had no say on issues in the country they now lived in. Also, American born citizens also struggled with letting their voice be heard, and staying in the lower class. These men were often referred to as "the working men of America" to which Upton Sinclair dedicated his book, "The Jungle." His dedication also reached the lives of immigrants, making sure to expose very little wages and horrible working
The Jungle Book theme is loyalty and family because even tho their willingness to defend or fight. Mowgli repeatedly shows loyalty in killing Shere Khan and in standing up to the villagers. Baloo and bagheera is also loyal when saving Mowgli from the monkeys and saving mowgli from king louie so the theme is loyalty and family.
Rudyard Kipling’s original story of The Jungle Book presented a very distinct group of characters in contrast to virtually all other jungle people in the book. The Bandar-Log were seen as lawless, careless, and mostly mindless individuals who were social outcasts and pariahs. Disney’s film adaptation of Kipling’s tale held this concept, while also giving the monkey people strong characteristic typically connected to African-Americans. This creates a racist undertone in the movie that is absent from the original story’s source.