Essay on The American Dream in The Jungle by Upton...

Muckraking, â€Å"to search for and expose real or alleged corruption, scandal, or the like, especially in politics† (dictionary.com). Upton Sinclair gained fame in the early 1900’s from his muckraking novel, The Jungle, describing the life of a young Lithuanian immigrant, Jurgis, living in Chicago in pursuit of the American dream. Jurgis found out that America isn’t as good as it appeared; with higher wages came more expensive goods, and with cheaper houses came higher interest rates. The Jungle, a fictional novel, tells of the real horrors of working in a Chicago meat packing factory. Sinclair had gone undercover, in a meat factory, for seven weeks to gain the information necessary to write the book. Throughout the novel, there are hints of†¦show more content†¦Rockefeller, Andrew Carnegie, Henry Ford, Cornelius Vanderbilt, and JP Morgan along with the formation of unions. The Jungle, from 1906, has been deemed as â€Å"a classic denunciation of indus trial capitalism and one of the most revolutionary novels of the age† (wordsocialism.org). In the â€Å"Progressive Era†, Sinclair’s ideas were at the center of the social movement, due to the brutality of the time period, The Jungle was not easily published. â€Å"The aesthetics of a novel include the way an author uses elements of style, such as imagery, irony, and paradox, to enhance characters, plot, and theme. From this perspective, The Jungle is not considered quality literature.† (cliffsnotes.com) Others thought that Sinclair only wrote the novel as propaganda for his political career, or as a simple muckraking novel. He was not thought to write nonfiction, so his words could not always be trusted. For these reasons, Sinclair was not considered a serious author. Sinclair was an expressive socialist, and showed his beliefs in his novels. In The Jungle, Sinclair frequently referenced socialism and how it would fix all the problems created through capitalism. â€Å"Capitalism is not the problem.Show MoreRelatedMy Favorite Book is The Jungle by Upton Sinclai610 Words   |  2 Pagesimpressed me as The Jungle by Upton Sinclair. To me this book is one of the finest books in the world. In fact this novel is so remarkable that it made history and changed the course of events. The Jungle’s excellent qualities have made it my favorite book. Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle was first published in the United States in 1906. This book became an immediate success as it portrayed the corruption within American business and government. Sinclair based the novel on the American meatpacking industryRead MoreThe Jungle by Upton Sinclair: Fame for the Wrong Reason Essay2798 Words   |  12 Pages1900’s America begin to transform rapidly. Many immigrants started moving to the United States in the early 1900’s with the hopes of living the â€Å"American Dream.† However, that glittering and gleaming American lifestyle is merely a distant ideal for the immigrants living in Packingtown, the meatpacking district of Chicago. Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle portrays life through the eyes of a poor workingman struggling to survive in this cruel, tumultuous environment, where the desire for profit amongRead MoreBrief Survey of American Literature3339 Words   |  14 PagesBrief Survey of American Literature 1. Beginnings to 1700 Great mixing of peoples from the whole Atlantic basin Bloody conflicts between Native Americans (or American Indians) and European explorers and settlers who had both religious and territorial aspirations - Native American oral literature / oral tradition - European explorers’ letters, diaries, reports, etc., such as Christopher Columbus’s letters about his voyage to the â€Å"New world†. - Anglo (New England) settlers’ books, sermonsRead MoreAmerican History Eoc Study Guide5327 Words   |  22 PagesAmerican History EOC Study Guide 1) Reconstruction: A plan to reconstruct the society after the Civil War. This divided the south (except Tennessee) into 5 military districts under the control of the U.S. Army. It was the attempt to reconstruct the south, readmit the southern states back into the Union, and change the life of African Americans. (pg. 414) 2) Freedman’s Bureau: Congress created this in March of 1865 in order to provide help for thousands of poor black and white southernersRead MoreFeminine Mystique12173 Words   |  49 Pageshappened? When did women decide to give up the world and go back home? Friedan asked herself. Questions like those have engaged historians since the 1970s, but they were not ones housewives of the 1950s were encouraged to ask. For a red-blooded American to doubt something as sacred as the role of housewife and mother was to show symptoms of mental disorder rather than a skeptical or inquiring mind. Whatever the label attached to such feelings — neurosis, anxiety, or depression — most people assumed