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The jungle by upton sinclair analysis
A literary analysis of the jungle by upton sinclair
A literary analysis of the jungle by upton sinclair
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The Jungle Socialism
During the late 1800's and early 1900's hundreds of thousands of European immigrants migrated to the United States of America. They had aspirations of success, prosperity and their own conception of the American Dream. The majority of the immigrants believed that their lives would completely change for the better and the new world would bring nothing but happiness. Advertisements that appeared in Europe offered a bright future and economic stability to these naive and hopeful people. Jobs with excellent wages and working conditions, prime safety, and other benefits seemed like a chance in a lifetime to these struggling foreigners. Little did these people know that what they would confront would be the complete antithesis of what they dreamed of.
The enormous rush of European immigrants encountered a lack of jobs. Those who were lucky enough to find employment wound up in factories, steel mills, or in the meat packing industry. Jurgis Rudkus was one of these disappointed immigrants. A sweeper in slaughter house, he experienced the horrendous conditions which laborers encountered. Along with these nightmarish working conditions, they worked for nominal wages, inflexible and long hours, in an atmosphere where worker safety had no persuasion. Early on, there was no one for these immigrants to turn to, so many suffered immensely. Jurgis would later learn of worker unions and other groups to support the labor force, but the early years of his Americanized life were filled, with sliced fingers, unemployment and overall a depressing and painful "new start."
Sinclair, has shown in a dramatic style the hardships and obstacles which Jurgis and fellow workers had to endure. He made the workers sound so helpless and the conditions so gruesome, that the reader almost wants a way out for Jurgis. Sinclair's The Jungle is a "subliminal" form of propaganda for
Socialism. At a time in our nations history where the rich were very wealthy, and the poor were penniless, Sinclair's portrayal of socialism in regards to the laborer is very appealing to a jobless, hungry, indigent man.
Sinclair's vision of socialism, wasn't as flawless and beneficial as it seemed.
Upon his 1906 publishing of The Jungle, Sinclair was coined as an avid “muckraker” when President Roosevelt addressed an audience in April of that year. When asked whether or not the novel provided a realistic account of workers conditions within the Chicago meat packing industry, Roosevelt accused Sinclair of being a liar in an attempt to discredit him. A large part of this was credited to Roosevelt’s personal distaste for Sinclair’s apparent link to the Socialist party but, Roosevelt was also unaware that Sinclair had worked undercover at the plant to gather first hand and accurate accounts. The Jungle shined light on the poor working conditions of workers in a meat packing facility. Throughout the novel, Sinclair gave gruesome examples of what workers went through each and every day. Each department of the facility was faced with its own risks and challenges, “There were the wool pluckers, whose hands went to pieces even sooner than the hands of the pickle men; for the pelts of the sheep had to be painted with acid to loosen the wool, and then the pluckers had to pull out this wool with
Capitalism underwent a severe attack at the hands of Upton Sinclair in this novel. By showing the misery that capitalism brought the immigrants through working conditions, living conditions, social conditions, and the overall impossibility to thrive in this new world, Sinclair opened the door for what he believed was the solution: socialism. With the details of the meatpacking industry, the government investigated and the public cried out in disgust and anger. The novel was responsible for the passage of The Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906. With the impact that Sinclair must have known this book would have, it is interesting that he also apparently tried to make it fuction as propaganda against capitalism and pro-socialism.
Built off of the backs of immigrants, it is the very same people that are poorly mistreated but are the reason for the country's booming economy. Yet, a century ago these migrant workers who devoted their health and time to the factories receive a poor man’s salary. They worked long strenuous hours in horrible conditions and would often get injured during the process. The corporation had no compassion towards its laborers. This extract from Sinclair’s novel The Jungle explains the terrible conditions in which employees worked: “...your hand slips up on the blade, and there is a fearful gash. And that would not be so bad, only for the deadly contagion. The cut may heal, but you never can tell,” (Sinclair, 12). Mikalos, a character in the novel, is used in this instance to personify the way in which the employees had to conduct their job. They had to focus on working as fast as humanly possible even if they were injured. The character states that he accidently made a laceration while deboning an animal. Even though his injury is significant, he is not to breathe a word of it to his employer. The employer cares not of the accident nor of the worker wasting valuable time chatting about “frivolous” events such as their health. It did not matter if a laborer lost a finger, the only thing that mattered to the businessmen was making more money. This was how life was working in the factory and it shows that the industries
Discuss how Upton Sinclair portrays the economic tensions and historical processes at hand in the late 19th and early 20th centuries
Even before the beginning of the twentieth century, the debate between socialists and capitalists has raged. In The Jungle, by Upton Sinclair, he portrays capitalism as the cause of all evils in society. Sinclair shows the horrors of capitalism. In The Gospel of Wealth, by Andrew Carnegie, he portrays capitalism as a system of opportunity. However, both Carnegie and Sinclair had something to gain from their writings; both men had an agenda. Capitalism and socialism both have advantages and pitfalls; when capitalism is adopted using certain socialist ideals, a truly prosperous society exists.
Cohen, Rich. The Fish That Ate the Whale:The Life and Times of America’s Banana King. New
An eight month battle of the British Empire and France against the Ottoman Empire resulted in the Gallipoli Campaign. This Campaign began in April 1915, the same time World War 1 was taking place. The British and French began a naval campaign to force a passage through a narrow area located in northwestern Turkey, known as Dardanelles, because they wanted to secure a sea route to Russia. This plan failed and the Ottoman Empire was prepared for what was to come. The failure of the Allied naval and land operations were essential factors in the Ottoman victory at Gallipoli.
“Happiness lies in the joy of achievement and the thrill of creative effort. When you reach the end of your rope, tie a knot and hang on.”
"Immigrants and the American Dream." Society 33.n1 (Nov-Dec 1995):3(3). Expanded Academic ASAP. Thomson Gale University. 26 Sep. 2006.
Stern, Carol Simpson. "Cathedral: Overview." Reference Guide to Short Fiction. Ed. Noelle Watson. Detroit: St. James Press, 1994. Literature Center. Web 29 Apr. 2014.
The effects on individuals has thus far revealed only part of the whole picture. When focus is shifted to workers with family situations, reports are revealing that time constraints are also connected to the shared working time between parents in households, with dual-earner based households and single parents meeting intensified challenges. Among these parents, women are even today continuing to take on the biggest share of family based responsibility and caretaking. This is thus making women workers, or single fathers, feel even more pressure than their workforce counterparts who have no children. The separation between workers who have no children and mothers or fathers with caretaking responsibilities has led to yet another growing divide that demands a change in policy that will address the specific conditions of workers and their families.
With the high cost of living, it is far-reaching for many mothers to seek employment because whenever they fail to work, they cannot bring their households out of poverty. The above section has illustrated the manner through which maternal employment influences the child in terms of money investments and quality time. The session has also touched on how maternal employment influences quantity of time. One factor that we all accede to is the fact that once a mother is working, she will be able to support he children with the necessities that they require in life. The necessities include both the basic requirements as well as other needs such as security health and education. The only problem with maternal employment is that the mothers do not spend much time with their children. As a matter of fact, some mothers leave their children with others to take care of them completely in order to make ends meet. To ensure that the situations do not get out of hand, several mechanisms should be put in place to ensure that the mothers are supported. For starters, the fathers should increase the time that they spend with their children. This in a way helps in bringing out the best out of their children as a whole. Stakeholders have in recent past given credit to fathers because they have increased their level of participation in children affairs. Nevertheless, the fathers should raise the manner in which they interact with the children; this is to mean that they should take their interactions with the children to greater levels thereby taking part in the activities that concern the children more often.
At the 1904 Olympics in St. Louis Thomas Hicks used raw egg, Brandy, and injections of strychnine to win the marathon race. This event caused most people to realize that performance enhancing drugs need to be outlawed, for the safety of the athlete and the spectator both. It wasn't until 1928 that the IAAF (athletics) became the first International Sport Federation (IF) to ban doping (use of stimulating substances). And not till 1966 the UCI (cycling) and FIFA (football/soccer) were among the first IFs to introduce doping tests in their respective World Championships. It was in 1967 that the International Olympic Committee (IOC) instituted its medical commission and finally set up its first list of banned substances.
Many other developed countries recognize that maternal employment plays important role in defining the direction of changes in society. In those countries, many different public policies are placed to insure support for working mothers. However, U.S. is way behind on implementing those types of policies. In fact, U.S. is the only developed country that does not...
To round it off, we can say ‘so much, so little’, that the world has really become a smarter place to live in. There was a time when Home Automation techniques were a stuff of Star Wars and one could just dream of it. Fast forward the time machine by some decades and enter into this modern era of DLNA and Living Tomorrow, wherein even your car as sophisticated as an Audi is connected with your Siri and that everything moves on its own. There is a day not far away that we could see ourselves heading to some Skynet sort of happenings or an Avatar may be...