I like books. I like reading them and I like talking about them. Title: The Jungle
Author: Upton Sinclair
Setting: Chicago’s “Packingtown” at the turn of the 20th Century
Characters: Jurgis, a Lithuanian immigrant seeking the American Dream; Ona, his wife; 50-some-odd relatives, most with difficult names; Packingtown, the slaughterhouse and factory district, and Socialism, a political ideology.
Main Problem/Conflict: THE AMERICAN DREAM IS JUST THAT - A DREAM!
The streets of Packingtown are not, as some had been led to believe paved in gold. In fact, they are not paved at all.
Jurgis and his giant family come to America with the hopes of a better life. They end up in the slaughterhouses and meat packaging plants of Chicago, which is not a very pleasant place. Jobs are hard to come by. Once their attained, the working conditions are wretched, the pay is poor, and there is no job security.
Initially the adults are able to find work and earn enough to feed the family, purchase a house, and allow the younger kids to go to school, but it all goes wrong thanks to injuries, illness, and inconsistent work. And then things go bad for Jurgis and his kin. Very bad.
Conclusion: EVERYBODY DIES! Some in childbirth, some by drowning on those previously mentioned unpaved streets, some are eaten by rats. Those that don’t die succumb to drugs, prostitution, or socialism. It’s all very dreadful.
Did you like this book/Would you recommend it to a friend?: Like most people, I’m sure, I first heard of The Jungle in a U.S. History classroom. We were told how this one book singlehandedly changed the food industry in America - that prior to its publication there was no regulation and the quality of food was deplorable at best. But this book - this one book - pulled back the curtain on food production, particularly that of meat products, and turned a generation to vegetarianism.
As such, I was under the impression that The Jungle was “Food, Inc. - The Book”, that it would provide an in-depth, behind-the-scenes, docudrama-esque expose of the meatpacking industry.
It’s not. I mean, that’s not what it’s about.
To say that The Jungle is about revealing the evils of the meatpacking industry is like saying Harry Potter is about wands. I mean, yes wands are important to Harry Potter and two wands in particular take on the weight of characters, but in no means are the books ABOUT wands. Likewise, The Jungle discusses the horrors of the slaughterhouses, and their vileness is crucial to the story, but this book is not about how sausage is made (some ingredients: Pork, rancid pork, rats, dirt, Mitch).
No! This is the tale of a naive young man and his struggle to survive in the corruption of capitalist America! Death! Injury! Starvation! All because the factory owners are greedy and won’t give a hard-working man a fair wage! How can this system of degradation be defeated? Who will free Jurgis from his chains?
SOCIALISM TO THE RESCUE!
Did you know that The Jungle was originally serialized in a socialist newspaper? And that Sinclair ran for governor of California on the socialist ticket twice?
So yeah, this book was less “Food, Inc.” and more, well, I can’t think of a movie that glorifies socialism. Sorry.
I would recommend The Jungle, sure. But I would also recommend that History teachers do their due diligence and explain that while this book disgusted a nation, that was not its intent.
