The Jungle1 essays

The Jungle1 essays I feel extremely fortunate that as a whole, working today families do not experience as many tragedies as the characters in Upton Sinclairs The Jungle experienced during the beginning of the 20th century. While reading The Jungle I learned that the rights and welfare of the average American working man and woman have dramatically increased over the past hundred years. Although some of the same social, economic, and political problems still occur in our society, the problems are far less prevalent than they were during the time Sinclair The novel follows the lives a large Lithuanian family during the early 1900s that immigrates to the United States in the pursuit of freedom and happiness. The family of eleven took what little money they had with them to the United States with the hope of escaping poverty and providing a better life for their children. After a long, arduous journey across the Atlantic Ocean, the family arrived in New York and was swindled out most of their savings by police who were supposed to protect them. The family continued to travel to Chicago (Packingtown), where they finally settled down. Upon arrival in Packingtown, the family found that the cost of living in the United States was far more expensive than in Lithuania. To further add to the familys dismay, they learned that the only employment available to non-English speaking, uneducated, and hardworking immigrants like themselves in Packingtown was scarce, unstable, arduous, and dangerous. Packingtown was designed to make families dependent on working in factories. When an employee in a factory hurt themselves or was fell ill, they would quickly be tossed aside and filled with a fresh worker. Employers in Packingtown demanded 16 hour workdays from their employees and rewarded them with ...