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... (363)
The Jungle, considered Upton Sinclair’s greatest achievement, shows the deplorable conditions in meat packing plants, as well as moving the reader on the path to socialism, something in which he truly believed in. In order for Sinclair to give accurate details in the book, he spent over a year researching and writing about the conditions on the meat packing plants in Chicago. This first hand experience allowed for Sinclair to see the plight of the “wage-slaves. ...
The Jungle was originally serialized in a socialist newspaper, entitled Appeal to Reason. ... Brett said the following of The Jungle:
“[The Jungle] will set forth the breaking of human hearts by a system which exploits the labor of men and women for profit. ... (Bloodworth 48)
This is very truthful, as it accurately describes how Sinclair leads the reader towards socialism through the various literary aspects in the novel- such as characters, conflict, point of view, theme, and style. ... According to many socialist, including Sinclair, large things such as plants and mills should be either divided into small units so that work can coincide in a single person or a family, or collective ownership (Ebenstein 242). ... In the beginning of the book Sinclair writes “[Ona had] a husband who could solve all problems, and who was so big and strong! ... This narrator is used during Sinclair’s summary narrative. ... A prime example of this is when Sinclair describes the process of killing hogs and making them into a variety of products. ... Through this technique, Sinclair is able to show the effects of capitalism through the eyes of a variety of people using a god-like narrator. ... This narrator is like an aside in a play; it is just like Sinclair stepped into the story to deliver a message to the reader. This narrator is used when Sinclair feels that a traditional narrator is not enough. ... This is evident in when Sinclair writes:
If he had been able to buy all the newspapers of the United States the next morning, he might have discovered that his beer hunting exploit was being pursued by some two score millions of people, and had served as a text for editorials in half the staid and solemn businessmen’s newspapers in the land. ...
During the course of the novel, Sinclair puts forth a plethora of themes, some major and some minor. One major theme is materialism and unyielding competition have made 1900’s America into a metaphorical jungle. Theme is generally regarded as the main way to put across an idea, so Sinclair uses this to its full extent. When Sinclair describes the thousands of people waiting to just get a chance at getting employment, he shows that the naturalistic nature of the packing yards. He shows that the people have little chance of getting employment, or even surviving in the brutal jungle of Chicago. These naturalistic lives are something that Sinclair wishes do to away with, and replace it with democratic socialism. ... So under socialism, Sinclair argues that the naturalism would be gone because the common people have a chance for survival. So during the course of the novel, Sinclair uses theme to illustrate his point. ... This was probably Sinclair’s main theme in the novel. ... After socialism made serious gains in Chicago and other areas of the country, Sinclair foreshadows bright futures for socialism in the future.
Approximate Word count = 2709
Approximate Pages = 10.8
(250 words per page double spaced)
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