The jungle book review

Sinclair's The Jungle

Upton Sinclair's describes the struggles of immigrant life in his novel The Jungle. The book opens with a wedding scene between Jurgis Rudkus and Ona Lukoszaite, a young couple from Lithuania. They celebrate with their extended family in the backroom of a saloon in the Packingtown district of Chicago, the new home of this collection of Lithuanian immigrants. The story then switches to the arduous journey the Lithuanian families undertook in order to make a better life for themselves in America. However, when they arrive in Chicago's Packingtown, the living conditions are filthy and oppressive. Jurgis readily finds work but his father is unable to find employment. Ona's family has trouble making ends meet, and Ona eventually finds work wrapping ham. Jurgis and Ona eventually get married, which brings the plot back to the opening wedding scene. Unfortunately, the young couple was expecting the traditional monetary gifts from relatives at the wedding, but receives little from their Americanized younger relatives. To add to their financial troubles, the conditions of the slaughterhouses and packing industry become almost unbearable, especially during the harsh Chicago winters. The poor living and working conditions eventually break the body and spirit of Jurgis's father Dede Antanas. Eventually, Jurgis becomes active in his union, learns English, and becomes a citizen. Ona's cousin Marija falls in love with a musician. However, truly happy times are hard to come by in Packingtown; Marija loses her job -- twice -- and Ona's pregnancy weakens her already delicate health. Ona dies after prematurely giving birth to her second child.

Ona's death and the increasingly oppressive, unjust, and dangerous working conditions break Jurgis and he turns to alcohol for solace. He wanders and becomes a tramp and a beggar, abandoning his family. When he tries to get his life back together, he is only met with more obstacles. He lands himself in jail several times and gets involved with criminal Jack Duane and the corrupt politician Mike Scully. In the meantime, to feed her family, Marija has turned to prostitution and drugs. Devastated by these various calamities, Jurgis finally finds salvation and hope in socialist politics.

Sinclair makes poignant social and political commentary with his novel The Jungle. The American Dream is portrayed as an abject illusion that crushes the spirits of those who chase after it. Immigrants come to America in search of financial success and an improvement in their lives but are met with corruption and oppression. Capitalism is portrayed as the root cause of the problems faced by working class people, regardless of their race or ethnicity. The Lithuanian families are but one example of how insidious capitalist greed can be.

The plight of the working class is symbolized by the slaughterhouses of Packingtown; the animals represent the millions of workers being crushed by the giant machine, grinding them down. Like animals, they live only to be led to the slaughter. The pervasive cans of rotting meat symbolize corrupt politics and the rotten capitalist system. They also represent the inhuman living and working conditions faced by the immigrants and all working class Americans.