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Upton Sinclair's The Jungle
Jurgis came to American in search of better life but coming to America just made his life worse. They move to a town called Packingtown in Chicago.
First major turning point in Jurgis is life when Ona slept with Philip Conor to keep her job and her whole families’ jobs. He attack Connor and was put in jail. In jail he meet Jack Duane an educated man from the south who told him story about his adventures. He was a working man too and felt that the world was injustice but he wasn’t going to bear it patiently, he was going to strike back and strike harder. This made Jurgis think about how should strike back too.
Second major turning point in Jurgis life when Ona dies and then Antanas dies. Ona is labor in with a child and Jurgis wants to know what is wrong with her. The woman tell him to leave and come back later. When Jurgis comes back they tell him that she died while she was in labor. Jurgis going into a deep depression until Teta Elzbieta convinces him to think of his son and look for a job. Not long after Jurgis finds a job Antanas drown in the mud. This destroys Jurgis and he comes a hobo.
Third major turning point in Jurgis life is getting involved with Mike Scully. Mike Scully gets Jurgis a job at the stockyards again and want him to join the union. Scully wants Jurgis to support a Republican candidate and get people to vote for the Republican candidate. This is a good time in Jurgis life.
The Jungle written by Upton Sinclair is a propaganda novel which tells the plight of a Lithuanian family who comes to America with hopes of having a better live. They live in Chicago, in a town called Packingtown, where the meat industries are. Jurgis starts out with a positive view of the life in America and believes that if he works hard, he can accomplish anything. In the end of chapter 1 Jurgis said to Ona “Leave it to me; leave it to me. I will earn more money-I will work harder.” However, through the beginning he is cheated and his view of the America dream fades away. Sinclair’s purpose of writing this book was to show the American people how corrupt and evil capitalism was. He then wrote in this book how the solution was socialism and to join unions. Then together rise up against the government and the industries to make the country healthier, safer and cleaner. Sinclair didn’t get his message through to the people. The book shows the Americans how disgusting and unsanitary the meat packing industry was. In making this book the people more aware of what they are eating and how it was made.