FREE ESSAY ON THE JUNGLE

THE JUNGLE

The Jungle--a review 
As I opened the cover of The Jungle, I anticipated reading a tragic story about the
cruelness inflicted upon a poor, working-class family. I had read an excerpt from the
novel and had conversed with people who had read it; I thought the story was going to be
solid, and perhaps even entertaining. I was incredibly wrong. The beginning of the story
started out slow, as it was just another "American Dream" type story. Jurgis and family
came to the States seeking a better life and freedom from their homeland's injustices.
The story had potential, but the redundancy of the descriptions wore old. I only need to
hear once or maybe even twice how cold the winters were, or how evil the packing bosses
were. The only parts that I thought had any value were the descriptions of the working
facilities and what foulness and corruption were found within. Such descriptions were
there solely for the shock or disgust of the reader. The end of the story was extremely
confusing. I can understand why Jurgis left his family after the death of his young wife,
and then the death of his only son. After his time in the country and working for the
political machines of Chicago, he became interested in the idea of socialism. With the
introduction of a socialist Jurgis, I wanted to put down the book. Where had the whole
socialist movement came from? I felt it made absolutely no sense to be in this story. The
story, at that point, needed to concentrate more on the reunited family of Jurgis rather
than the radical ideas circulating throughout Chicago. Upton Sinclair painted an accurate
historical picture with The Jungle, but he wrote it without a sensible plot, with
redundant and ambiguous details, and with no appeal as a readable story. I recommend
leaving this book on the shelf for someone else to stumble through; I was not impressed.
crzyninja7@aol.com 
Bibliography
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