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nityaji 's review for:
The Jungle
by Upton Sinclair
I have always been curious about this book,having heard it described as an expose of the meatpacking industry in Chicago in the early 1900's. The Jungle is much more than an expose of the meatpacking industry; it is an account of the capitalistic greed that condemned thousands of immigrants to a life of poverty and suffering.
A family of Lithuanians arrive in America and head for Chicago because they have heard tales of the good pay and opportunities there. Innocent and naive, they soon realize that pay is better here because the cost of living is higher. Work in the stockyards is hard, the pay is low, and if you are injured on the job there are no benefits or compensation. Workers are inevitably injured because the pace is frantic in order to increase profit.
Uris, the main character, is a strong, confident, able young man who finds work his first day in Chicago. He plans to marry his fiancee who also came from Lithuania as soon as they have money saved.
Within a few short years his dreams have been realized and then destroyed. Injury, illness, and horrible calamities ruin everything Uris holds dear.
Unions are just forming, but alongside them are the corrupt officials controlling the politics of Chicago.
The book ends on a major socialist note, with the story of Uris giving way to a political lesson on socialism. I missed hearing more of the human story, but overall I loved this book and I find its political message just as valuable and current today as it was back when it was written.
A family of Lithuanians arrive in America and head for Chicago because they have heard tales of the good pay and opportunities there. Innocent and naive, they soon realize that pay is better here because the cost of living is higher. Work in the stockyards is hard, the pay is low, and if you are injured on the job there are no benefits or compensation. Workers are inevitably injured because the pace is frantic in order to increase profit.
Uris, the main character, is a strong, confident, able young man who finds work his first day in Chicago. He plans to marry his fiancee who also came from Lithuania as soon as they have money saved.
Within a few short years his dreams have been realized and then destroyed. Injury, illness, and horrible calamities ruin everything Uris holds dear.
Unions are just forming, but alongside them are the corrupt officials controlling the politics of Chicago.
The book ends on a major socialist note, with the story of Uris giving way to a political lesson on socialism. I missed hearing more of the human story, but overall I loved this book and I find its political message just as valuable and current today as it was back when it was written.