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.