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Title: The Jungle (Bantam Classics) by Upton Sinclair, Morris Dickstein ISBN: 0-553-21245-1 Publisher: Bantam Pub. Date: 01 October, 1981 Format: Mass Market Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $5.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.85 (182 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: The Horrors of Meatpacking
Comment: I read The Jungle about 15 years ago as a sophomore in high school. And yet, flashes of the book still come to me. The horrible story of how sausage was made, the way the meatpackers dealt with spoiled meat by taking out the bone, where the meat was most spoiled and using the rest of the meat anyway, etc.
Sinclair wrote this book as a socialist parable to reveal the horrors of American capitalism. He thought that describing the meatpacking industry, an industry that Americans would really care about, would do the trick. As a result, Sinclair researched the industry for a relatively short while and then wrote his book. Perhaps he picked an industry that was too important to Americans because the book touched off a firestorm of reform about meatpacking, but no one was really interested in his socialist theories (with good reason, of course).
The book tells the story of Lithuanian immigrant Jurgis and his family. Jurgis is a strong capable man who instantly gets a job in the meatpacking industry upon arriving in Chicago. There, he sees first hand the unsanitary and cruel meatpacking industry. This part of the book most grips the reader. In order to show that socialism is for everybody, Sinclair takes Jurgis away from this job, gives him an even lowlier job, then makes him a hobo, the puts him in management, etc. None of this works as well as the first part.
Of course, some of the horror stories apart from the story of meatpacking itself also give chills. But the main reason to read this book is for the compelling story of the meat industry in early 20th Century America.
Rating: 5
Summary: How the Other Half Lives
Comment: Millions of immigrants from around the world came to the US between the years 1870 and 1920¡¯s with a promise of a better life, a taste of the ¡®American Dream¡¯. These immigrants had come to America, yearning to be free and comfortable but were soon forced into waged slavery and slums. Upton Sinclair, author of The Jungle, wanted to ¡°expose the social, political, and economic problems¡± that a typical immigrant family faces, ¡°¡¦how the other half lives,¡± Upton Sinclair exclaimed. In this novel, a family of nine, like the million others, came from their homeland to take a stab at prosperity in the states in vain.
For this reason, Sinclair wanted society to feel a little remorse for the hundreds of immigrants dying for the progress of this country. His style of writing is very powerful and is a very enduring read, evoking pity and sympathy into the readers¡¯ hearts. Sinclair¡¯s descriptive and sanguinary writing lets the reader take a peak into the factories, showing us what wasn't supposed to be seen. Upton Sinclair gave social economic change an initial push. After reading Sinclair¡¯s book, President Teddy Roosevelt issued the Pure Food Act and labors were given a sanitary work environment.
In contrary with our history books, Sinclair focused on only one, out of a million, family¡¯s struggle to exist in this merciless society. In history class I¡¯ve leaned about these immigrants¡¯ struggles, but when I read this book, I realized that textbooks only touched the surface of the strife and obstacles the limited immigrants went through. I do recommend this book because I have enjoyed it immensely myself.
Rating: 4
Summary: A wonderful and accurate historical portrayal of immigrants.
Comment: This book is a wonderful look into the lives of an immigrant family in the early 1900's. Upton Sinclair was assigned to do an expose on the meatpacking industry in Chicago. The amazing part, what some people do not realize, is how factual the book really is. Since the book was published, only one discrepancy from the truth has been found; the inspector wore a different uniform. Sinclair's original topic was to inform the world of how "workingmen", as called by Sinclair, of the time were treated in the meatpacking plants of Chicago. Instead, the public centered on his description of how the meat was processed and reacted to that part of the story. This is one of the direct causes of the passing of the Pure Food and Drug Act. Sinclair is noted as saying, "I aimed for [the public's] heart, and hit their stomach."
The novel itself chronicles a Lithuanian family who immigrates to America in an effort to make a better life. Though this is not a factual family, many of it hardships were shared by families of this time period. The story is told through the experiences of the protagonist, Jurgis Rudkus. Jurgis is a good man at heart and tries his best to support his family. His efforts are met only with defeat. In many instances his family is taken advantage of because they cannot speak the language and do not understand the culture. Sinclair did a wonderful job describing the horrific conditions of immigrants and the "workingmen" in this time period.
The scenes in the meatpacking facilities get quite graphic and gruesome at some points. Though this may disturb some, I believe it does a good job of giving the story some meat, no pun intended. The original basis of the story was to expose bad working conditions. These horrific incidents suffered by workers are described quite well, from losing of fingers while working, to falling into the vats of cooking meat and never being retrieved. I believe that all the gory details were described very well and were written in a realistic way that added to the story's purpose, which was to expose the meatpacking industry.
It seems Sinclair had a hard time ending the book. In the last few chapters, Socialism is advocated as the answer to all wrongs. Sinclair, being a Socialist himself, may have wanted to add some of his own ideas to the end in order to try to sway the public's belief. I believe this detracted from the book and left the story dangling. Other than this fact, the entire book is well written, and I highly recommend it. The Jungle kept me intrigued, which many classics do not do, and I do not regret reading it in the least.
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Title: The Jungle (Cliffs Notes) by Richard P. Wasowski ISBN: 0764586750 Publisher: Cliffs Notes Pub. Date: 15 December, 2000 List Price(USD): $5.99 |
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Title: Uncle Tom's Cabin (Bantam Classics) by Harriet Beecher Stowe, Alfred Kazin ISBN: 0553212184 Publisher: Bantam Pub. Date: 01 January, 1983 List Price(USD): $5.95 |
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Title: The Grapes of Wrath: John Steinbeck Centennial Edition (1902-2002) by John Steinbeck ISBN: 0142000663 Publisher: Penguin Books Pub. Date: 03 January, 2002 List Price(USD): $15.00 |
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Title: The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, Matthew J. Bruccoli ISBN: 0684801523 Publisher: Scribner Book Company Pub. Date: 01 June, 1995 List Price(USD): $12.95 |
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Title: Death of A Salesman by Arthur Miller ISBN: 0140481346 Publisher: Penguin USA (Paper) Pub. Date: 06 October, 1998 List Price(USD): $10.00 |
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