Literary Analysis The Jungle

The Jungle  by Upton Sinclair

General:

1. This novel follows the life of Jurgis and Ona, newly wed immigrants from Lithuania who travel to America and end up in the city of Chicago in hopes fro a better life, but sadly this is not the case. They face endless adversities and struggle continuously  These difficulties vary from Jurgis's struggles in the working world, (dangerous and unsanitary conditions, injury, and layoff) to Ona being forced to sleep with her boss. All of these challenges and more wear down on Jurgis  and his family, as they are all forced to work. Several die or leave. Jurgis visits prison several times, first for attacking Ona's boss, and comes back to Ona perishing in labor giving birth. It is too much for Jurgis, and he abandons his family. He bounces between jobs and ends up doing henchmen work for Mike Scully and makes a good living. But another visit with Ona's ex-boss has him in jail again. When he is released all his hope is gone and all his attempts at a better life have been crushed. He wanders into a rally for some sort of movement promoting the rule of the workers. Jurgis embraces the idea of these socialists, and the novel ends with the chant "Chicago will be ours!" Upton Sinclair wrote this novel to show a lot of the horrors of the under world in the industrial revolution  and who a few rose on the backs of many and what those underclass workers had to deal with.
2. The theme of this novel is that many people were treated unfairly during the industrial revolution. Sinclair subjected his main character to many of the atrocities people were experiencing to show his readers the truth of things.
3. Sinclair's tone is critical. At every corner, Jurgis is unjustly wronged and can not get a break. By having all these horrible things happen to a completely honest man and writing with a style that shows the wrongs, Sinclair's tone helps support his theme and attempt to change things.
4. 

• Symbolism- Jurgis symbolizes many of the workers and their struggles during this time period.
• Indirect characterization- Sinclair lets Jurgis's morally straight actions show he is a good man.
• Title- The novel's title suggest an extremely competitive area.
• Setting- Sincliar chose a setting where he feels will have the biggest impact on people and where he feels is heavily effected.
• Point of View- By  having Jurgis be the narrator we get to see things through and read about them in a more personal way, helping the horrors strike closer to home.
• Tone- Sinclair writes with a real critical tone, really showing all the things he finds wrong in Chicago during the industrial revolution.
• Allusion- Sinclair ends the novel with the possible solution to Jurgis's problems, and we are supposed to know that the rally he attends is a socialist rally.
• Plot- The events of the novel continue to go against Jurgis and the plot that strongly disfavors Jurgis really spells out the life of the common worker.
• Situational Irony- Every time when we Expect Jurgis to get ahead in life, he is immediately knocked right back down, whether it be losing his job, getting swindled out of some charity money he received  or getting injured he can't get ahead.

Characterization

1. I feel Sinclair uses only indirect characterizations to describe his main character Jurgis. It is told solely through Jurgis's thoughts and actions, and that is how we learn about who he is, a man who will attack someone who harmed his wife, and also a man who is not above turning to crime when things get to tough.

2. Sinclair's syntax doesn't change throughout the novel except for when he is trying to imitate how another person would speak to someone like Jurgis. When this happens, Sinclair's syntax becomes taxing, because often the people feel like they are communicating with someone lower than them, a lowly foreigner who can't speak English or a more friendly diction when Jurgis talks to someone who sympathizes or is going through the same ordeal.

3. Jurgis is dynamic. when he arrived in Chicago, he had one goal; provide a better life for his family. Though not his fault, he was forced to abandon that goal. He eventually left his family and could only attempt to provide for himself. It is a really sad character shift.

4. I meet a person. All the troubles and horrible things I read about through Jurgis's eyes let me come away as this was a real person. Such as when he finally caught a break when a wealthy man felt sorry for him and gave him one hundred dollars. Jurgis was finally getting some luck. But when he tried to break it, he was robbed and only given ninety five cents back. My heart fell for Jurgis there.

vocab list ten

aficionado-an ardent devotee; fan, enthusiast.
browbeat-to intimidate by overbearing looks or words
commensurate-corresponding in amount, magnitude, or degree
diaphanous-

very sheer and light; almost completely transparent or translucent.

emolument-profit, salary, or fees from office or employment
foray-a quick, sudden attack:
genre-a class or category of artistic endeavor having a particular form, content, technique, or the like
homily-an inspirational saying or cliché.
immure-to shut in; seclude or confine.
insouciant-free from concern, worry, or anxiety; carefree; nonchalant.
matrix-something that constitutes the place or point from which something else originates, takes form, or develops
obsequies- funeral rite or ceremony.
panache-a grand or flamboyant manner; verve; style; flair
persona-

a person's perceived or evident personality, as that of a well-known official, actor, or celebrity; personal image; public role.

philippic-any speech or discourse of bitter denunciation.
prurient-having, inclined to have, or characterized by lascivious or lustful thoughts, desires,
sacrosanct-extremely sacred or inviolable
systemic-of or pertaining to a system.
tendentious-having or showing a definite tendency, bias, or purpose
vicissitude-

a change or variation occurring in the course of something.

technology use and how it affects thinking

extensive Internet/media/technology has effected how I think, and i am not sure if it is for the better. It seems like a lot of the stuff i use has the goal of trying to make it so i do not have to think. When i search something, the computer completes it for me. Websites that i often go to come up as favorites that i didn't make, as if the computer is suggesting what i should do instead of me. When i am using technology, a lot of the time i am just in a mindless manner, barely comprehending what i see, let alone thinking much about its meaning. Lastly, i feel that generations that grew up with the use of technology have a lot less general information stored in their heads, frankly because it is stored somewhere else and easily accessible. There is no need for us to remember much cause we can find the answer easily without the knowledge, but i feel that when i talk to older people, they didn't have that privilege, forcing them to commit many more things to memory.

Vocab List # 9

Abortive: failing to produce the intended result
Bruit: spread a report or rumor widely
Contumelious: scornful and insulting behavior
Dictum: a formal pronouncement from an authoritative source; a short statement that expresses a general truth or principle
Ensconce: establish or settle
Iconoclastic: characterized by attack on established beliefs or institutions 
In medias res: a narrative that begins somewhere in the middle of a story rather than the beginning 
Internecine: destructive to both sides in a conflict
Maladroit: ineffective or bungling; clumsy
Maudlin: self-pitying or tearfully sentimental, often through drunkenness 
Modulate: exert a modifying or controlling influence on
Portentous: of or like a portent; done in a pompously or overly solemn manner
Prescience: the power to foresee the future
Quid pro quo: a favor or advantage granted in return for something
Salubrious: health-giving, healthy; pleasant, not run-down
Saturnalia: the ancient Roman festival of Saturn in December; an occasion of wild revelry
Touchstone: a standard or criterion by which something is judged or recognized 
Traumatic: emotionally disturbing or distressing; relating to or causing psychological trauma
Vitiate: spoil or impair the quality or efficiency of; destroy or impair the legal validity of.
Waggish: humorous in a playful, mischievous, or facetious manner

Vocab list 8

Abeyance-(N.) A state of temporary disuse or suspension.

Ambivalent- (Adj.) Having mixed feelings or contradictory ideas about something or someone.

Beleaguer- (V.) Beset with difficulties

Carte blanche- (N.) Complete freedom to act as one wishes or thinks best.

Cataclysm- (N.) A sudden violent upheaval, esp. in a political or social context

Debauch- (V.) Destroy or debase the moral purity of; corrupt.
(N.) A bout of excessive indulgence in sensual pleasures, esp. eating and drinking

éclat- (N.) brilliant or conspicuous success

Fastidious- (Adj.) Very attentive to and concerned about accuracy and detail

Gambol- (V.) Run or jump about playfully

Imbue- (V.) Inspire or permeate with a feeling or quality: "imbued with deep piety".

Inchoate- (Adj.) Just begun and so not fully formed or developed

Lampoon- (V.) Publicly criticize (someone or something) by using ridicule or sarcasm.
(N.) A speech or text criticizing someone or something in this way

Malleable- (Adj.) Easily influenced; pliable

Nemesis- (N.) The inescapable or implacable agent of someone's or something's downfall

Opt- (V.) Make a choice from a range of
possibilities

Philistine- (N.) A person who is hostile or indifferent to culture and the arts, or who has no understanding of them

Picaresque- (Adj.) Of or relating to an episodic style of fiction dealing with the adventures of a rough and dishonest but appealing hero

Queasy- (Adj.) Nauseated; feeling sick

Refractory- (Adj.) Stubborn or unmanageable

Savoir-faire- (N.) The ability to act or speak appropriately in social situations.

I am a bit ambivalent of Hamlet right now. I'm not sure if i like it or not. I have an inchoate understanding of it at least, but shakespeare often beleaguers me wtih his writing style and its hard for me not to opt out. Finishing romeo and juliet was an eclat for me because i managed to read it fastidiously, even though this shouldn't be hard and i began to gambol when i was finally done with it.

Back to hamlet, reading it imbuesbe with queasy savior-faire because i struggle to discuss it fluently. Someone could easily lampoon me if i ever had to. Thanks to help from preston i know that in the royal family their has been a cataclysm because hamlet's father has died. His uncle has married hia mother and they arehave a refractory attitude towards hamlet. They dont like that he is stuck in a period of abeyance after the accident. Thoguh hamlet says he will be better and act like a prince, he is not malleable to their wishes. He doesnt have carte blance from his elders but acts as if he does anyway. He discovers his fathers ghost and learns the truth of his fathers death, how his uncle debuached the sanctiy of the throne by killing him with posion. He decides to take revenge on his uncle. 

Pre hamlet questions

1.  I know very little about hamlet, but i do know the lion king was based of it so i guess its a story about a child who's father was killed by his uncle and how he deals with that.
2. I know Shakespeare wrote all his plays in iambic pentameter, likes long soliloquies and monologues, and often times is very dirty.
3. Because he is very difficult to understand.
4. Maybe recreating Hamlet ourselves could make it more remember-able.  

study strategies for vocab mid term

for me flashcards have always been the way to go when it comes time to learn words or terms. lucky i have all the flashcards for all the words so far, so i got my Thursday night planned. Normally i just go through them one at time. When i have gotten a word correct a couple of times i put it in one stack. When i get a word wrong i put it in another stack, and go through that stack over and over until there are none left, and then i go through the whole thing one more time to make sure i know them all.