The Jungle and Muckraking
by Matthew Cox

The Jungle by Upton Sinclair shows the plight of immigrants and destitute people in Chicago during the early 1900’s. Jurgis Rudkus, a Lithuanian immigrant and protagonist, is exploited by corrupt businessmen and political leaders. His family also suffers from poverty, financial loss, and death. The main character becomes a corrupt foreman but losses his job. However, the Socialist Party in Chicago helps Jurgis find a good job and benefits. Although teaching the book is difficult, there are many ways to put it in terms that the students will understand. For example, teachers can focus on the literary period and Sinclair’s purpose as a muckraker. The book lead to federals laws that improve sanitation in the meatpacking industry. Students can understand other themes in the story including naturalism and socialism. Also, they can compare and contrast the ideas in the book to ones in other novels. Learners can enjoy exploring the connections that Sinclair had with other socialist writers and artists. Upton Sinclair writes The Jungle to expose the harsh living conditions of immigrants in the early 1900’s.

The plot of the Jungle by Upton Sinclair revolves around Lithuanian immigrant Jurgis Rudkus (Pink Monkey). He comes to America to create a better life for himself. It starts with a flashback to a wedding between Jurgis and Ona Lukoszaite in a bar in Chicago’s Packingtown. The next chapter returns to the home country a Lithuanian lady, Elizabieta, has a brother who says that he wants to move to America. Another Lithuanian, Jokubas Szedvilas, introduces Jurgis’s family to a slummy part of Chicago where they will live. The protagonist, Jurgis and Jonas soon get work. Dede Antanas, Jurgis’s father, suffers from prejudice and is not able to fine employment. Rudkus’ family live in a run down boarding house owned by Aniele Jukniene. Jurgis wants to buy his own house. He sees and advertisement in a news paper for a home. However, the agent is dishonest and demands more money. Jurgis does not understand the terms of the housing agreement. The rest of the family takes up work to pay for the expenses. Ona wraps hams. Stanislovas, Elzbieta’s youngest son, fills lard cans.

Jurgis and Ona become bankrupt shortly after their wedding. At marriage parties in Lithuania, guests leave money for the bride and groom. However, the Americanized younger guests do not following the wedding tradition. This explains the opening scene.
After starting their Jobs, the family realizes the true horrors of Packingtown. The labor conditions are harsh and bosses treat their workers horribly. Dede can only get work by bribing a supervisor in a meat packing plant. However, he is overworked and dies from exhaustion. Winter is a bad time to work. Snow covers the streets and makes walking hard. Also, the factories do not have heat. The only positive thing in the winter is Timosius, a violin player at the wedding party, falling in love with Marija.

She does not fare to well by losing her job when the factory shuts down. It reopens, but Marija gets fired after her pay is cut and she demands her rights. Jurgis joins a union and learns English. Ona gets pregnant and has trouble from her supervisor. The boss runs prostitution and uses women at the factory. Mrs. Rudkushas a baby boy. His parents name him Antanas after Jurgis’s father. Ona does not recover her health because she goes back to work after a week.
Jurgis sprains his ankle at work and the factory will not take responsibility for the accident. Jonas leaves the family and disappears. Jurgis goes back to work at the killing beds and his supervisor refuses to hire him again. He gets a job at the fertilizer plant, the worst working place in town. Elzbieta’s son, Kristoforas, dies after eating a contaminated sausage. Ironically, she has to take job there to support her family. Ona expects another baby and becomes depressed. Jurgis tries to bury his problems at work with alcohol.

Ona does not come home from work one night. She tells her husband that she spent the night with her friend Jadvyga because heavy snows shut down the street cars. Jurgis later finds out that his wife is lying about her whereabouts after work. Ona’s supervisor, Phil Connor, forces her to sleep with him. Her husband beats up Connor and gets sentenced to thirty days in jail. In incarceration, Jurgis meets Jack Duane, an educated safecracker. After getting out, the protagonist discovers that his family is evicted from their home and is back at Aniele Jukiene’s rooming house.

When Jurgis come too Aniele’s place, he sees Ona give birth prematurely and dying. He begs a midwife to help. Neither Ona nor the child survives. Her husband drinks for two days and leaves the house. After returning, Elzbeita asks him to find work to support Antana. Jurgis cannot find work because he is blacklisted for attacking Connor. He finds a job as a harvester through the union after weeks of searching. However, the job lasts little more than a week.

When Jurgis returns to Packingtown, he gets works at a steel mill with help from a settlement officer who saw Juosapas, Elzbiet’s son, looking for food in a dump. The family earns money and is able to afford a better home and food. However, Anatas drowns in the sewage filled street neat the rooming house. Jurgis is devastated and leaves his family to live as a hobo. He is happy living this way, but the cold winter forces him to return. Rudkus works for digging tunnels by digging freight tunnels. The protagonist gets hurt in an accident and goes to the country hospital.

After recovering, Jurgis has no money and cannot find work. He tries all everything to survive, including begging. The main character meets Freddie Jones, a young drunk and the son of a wealthy packer. Jones takes Jurgis to his mansion and gives him a 100 dollar bill. When Rudkus makes change at a bar, the bartender tried to cheat him. They get into a fight and Jurgis gets arrested again. He meets Jack Duane again in jail. Both men become partners in crime. Duane has connections with organized crime, politicians and business leaders. Rudkus is soon recruited by Buck Halloran and Bush Harper. They are two men who work for Mike Scully. The main character begins to work for the Democratic party. Scully helps Jurgis get a job in Packingtown. Jurgis repays Scully by helping one of Mike men become an alderman. When strikes disrupt the packinghouses, Jurgis becomes a strikebreaker. Eventually, he becomes a corrupt boss.

Jurgis happens to meet Connor one day and assaults him. Rudkus get arrested again. He asks Harper to bail him out. Bush tells the protagonist that Connor works for Scully and is politically powerful. He gives all of his savings to Harper as a bribe for his help. Homeless and destitute again, Jurgis lives out of soup kitchens and homeless shelters. One day, he meets Marija. She works in a brothel to support herself, her kids, and Elzbeita. The main character wants to find a job before he meets Elzbeita. During his searches, Jurgis finds a Socialist rally. The speaker tells the audience about the benefits of socialism. He is the Polish scientist Ostrinski. The intellectual helps Rudkus and teaches him about socialism. Jurgis gets a job as a hotel porter and goes back to Elzbieta.
The hotel manager, Tommy Hinds, is a strong Socialist. Rudkus improves himself and studies Socialism. His two favorite writers on the philosophy are Lucas and Schliemann, whom he meets. Jurgis strongly believes in a society in which wealth is not controlled by corrupt capitalists. The presidential election of that year show significant gains for Chicago’s Socialist Party. The book ends at a speech where a speaker encourages his party to support socialists and move Chicago away from the packers.

High school aged students are usually interested in the unclean conditions in the meatpacking industry as depicted in The Jungle. Also, learners often times are interested in why the book is written, the public reaction to it, and how it lead to federal legislation. Teachers say that the most difficult part teaching the book is explaining the political implications. It should be taught as a novel on politics. Letting students compare it to other political novels will let them understand the political viewpoints of Sinclair. The teacher can judge the story with criteria involving political and social considerations.

Although Upton’s literary style is hard to explain, teachers can focus on many different aspects of the novel. For example, he uses crude language to show the harsh living conditions. For example, Sinclair uses vivid images to describe poverty, harsh working conditions, or the issues that Jurgis faces. Educators can also concentrate on the three separate but related literary movements that the writer is involved in. Firstly, the novel comes from the muckraking period. Writers in this time expose corruption and social problems through their writings. Theodore Roosevelt coined this term. This idea is similar to the Man with the Muckrake in Pilgrim’s progress. Other famous muckrakers include Lincoln Steffens who writes the Shame of the Cities. Ida Tarbell writes the History of the Standard Oil Company in 1901 to show the devastating effects of monopolies and corruption in big business.

The Jungle is part of the naturalist movement. All 21 chapters of the book have the form and content of naturalism in the period. The psychological aspects in the story follow the plot. This is characterized by the way Jurgis’s family break down into disorder. Literary characters with similar issues include the female protagonists in Maggie by Stephen Crane, McTeague by Frank Norris, and Sister Carrie by Theodore Dreiser. Such characters are victims of social and economic forces beyond their control. These pressures have a mechanical or sinister tone.
The ideas of naturalism turn into socialism in the last four chapters. This lets Sinclair end his book in a happy way. Teacher should explain to the students that the writer is a socialist and uses his writings to promote his beliefs. Upton connects himself with a group of artists, writers, and socialists that live in Greenwich Village. Such people include Floyd Dell, Randolph Bourne, Lincoln Steffens, Max Eastman, and John Reed. They publish The Masses, a radical socialist magazine. Socialistic writers know that they can use fiction and journalism to spread their views. Sinclair views of capitalism are common with socialists in the early 1900’s.

Educators may compare various themes or ideas in the book for exercises in writer, or questions and answers. For example, the attacks of wage slavery in The Jungle are similar to criticism of slavery against African Americans in Uncle Tom’s Cabin. Students can compare and contrast the similarities and differences between the meat packing industry and other businesses. They can also see the false way that money provides a false sense of security. Classes might discuss the way that The Jungle and other novels portray immigrants. Another way to teach literature is to compare and contrast this work to the pieces of other muckrakers including The Shame of the Cities and the History of the Standard Oil Company. Students can explore the connections between Sinclair and other radical writers including Max Eastman and John Reed.

Upton Sinclair writes The Jungle to expose the harsh living conditions of immigrants in the early 1900’s. The plot centers on the Lithuanian immigrant Jurgis Rudkus. He is exploited by dishonest capitalists and politicians. He also has family issues including illness, poverty, and deaths. Jurgis faces other issues including arrest and being homeless. For a short time, he is a company foreman who mistreats workers. After losing his job, Jurgis joins the Socialist party of Chicago. They help him to find a job and improve his life. Although Sinclair’s writing style makes classroom discussions hard, teacher can help the students understand the book. For example, they can assist students with understanding the themes of naturalism and socialism in the story. Also, learners might enjoy learning how Sinclair acts as a muckraker and exposes harsh working conditions. The book promotes federal laws improving sanitation in meatpacking companies. Pupils may enjoy comparing and contrasting themes of the book to ones in other writings. Also, students could like understanding the way Sinclair connected to other writers and artists of his time.



Works Cited

“The Jungle by Upton Sinclair.” Pink Monkey. 2008. 25 March 2008.
http://www.pinkmonkey.com/booknotes/monkeynotes/pmJungle06.asp

Wilson, James. “Upton Sinclair (1787-1968) Georgetown.edu. 2008. 25 March 2008
http://www9.georgetown.edu/faculty/bassr/heath/syllabuild/iguide
/sinclair.html