Summary Of Jungle By Upton Sinclair

The Jungle By Upton Sinclair is about the struggles of Jurgis Rudkus and his family they were immigrate that suffered and went through a hard times throughout their time in United States. Nothing came easy for him, he had to work hard and go through hell. He had so many dreams and hopes while coming to America, thinking it was going to be easy and fun. Him and his family thought by coming to the United States they are going to make a lot of money and have a great life.

Little did they know that there was a lot of unemployment going on in the U.S. Many people were starving and homeless. When Jurgis got to Chicago he married Ona Lukoszaite, she was also an immigrate. They both came to Chicago with their family members. Jurgis father was is very ill and by working it was just making him worse but he wasn't about to give up on his job just because he was sick he needed to suppose his family in any way possible.

They wouldn't afford to have the father be unemployed.Around this time labor was unfair. The meat factory was nothing like what people expected it to be. The pay, the hours and the working condition was bad. Their work stations were dirty and unsafe.

The pay was very little, people worked long hours and it was very easy to get hurt working in the factory. If you were to get hurt you would end up losing your job and if you were hurt permanently you would remain unemployed because there was no way you would be able to work in that condition. Once they were hurt hundreds of unemployed men would fight to replace him. The workers had a few rights.

The harsh conditions was a common thing around this time.The workrooms at the meatpacking factory weren't heated and dangerous in the winter. Men usually suffered from frostbite around the winter time. The workers themselves didn't care about is the meat was clean or not. They simply just wanted to get paid and go home. In the book it states "This is no fairy story and no joke; the meat will be shoveled into carts and the man who did the shoveling will not trouble to lift out a rat even when he saw one." When work wasn't going so well workers still had to show up for full time but they were only paid for the hours when there was work to do.

There were times during the year were work was slow and was closed down which means there was a lot of starving families. It was illegal labor but the workers wouldn't do anything about it if they wanted to keep their job.The reason why immigrants came to America in the first place was for a better life, new start and a job. Little did they know life in America wasn't all that great. There was a lot of people unemployed and the people who had helps weren't being paid much.

Immigrant families came to America in order to find new type of jobs. Jobs that paid well. They called this the "American Dream."The public had no idea how filthy and dangerous there food was.

In order for factories to make a few extra money they would sneak a cow that's be listed as not fit for food and harmful, poison, and there was a chance hundreds of people well become ill they didn't care it was just for their benefits. The meatpacking factory had so many secrets behind it and people had to idea. The meat was unsanitary and so was the factory itself.  It was disgusting how there no sanitation and no one tried to regulate on this situation to get rid of it or solve it somehow.

There wasn't a health department to keep up on how clean the work place is as we do now and days.Their living conditions were dirty it wasn't a safe or healthy place for a human being to live at and they were often full in a room, maybe hundreds and it would be filled with people that have diseases, who were sick. The living conditions added to their misery onto their new life and "American Dream." When they first come to America, they move into an overcrowded living space provided by the factories. But they were getting sick off all the dirtiness and crowded area. One day they see a ad in the paper for houses and Jurgis wife Ona realizes that they can afford the rent for the place so they go for it and move into the house. It wasn't in the best condition but it was better than living in the places the factories were providing for people.

The rent wasn't easy paying for they soon start struggling to pay the rent.With the family struggling because they have no money it ruins their bond. Jurgis and Ona started to push away from each other and the more they pushed away from each other situation get even more harsh. Jurgis finds out that his wife Ona was being raped and that lead Jurgis into beating up her boss.

The outcome of beating his wife's boss ended him up in jail. But later on Ona told the truth on why she was sleeping with the boss. She said that if she didn't do it he was going to fire her from her job and make sure the same goes for her family members that they are jobless and that they all will be starving.Something like this happened to a lot of women and they didn't stand up for themselves because they didn't want to take the chance of losing their jobs and becoming homeless and starve. At one point Ona was a prostitute, later on Marija became one as well. When in jail Jurgis couldn't bear the thought of his family out on the streets suffering while he get three meals a day and is in a warm room.

The whole time he was in jail his family didn't visit him once, not one family member. Without Jurgis the family last there home and everything they had. They went back to living where they did when they just came to United Sates. Jurgis gets out of jail and returns to his family to find that Ona his wife has died from giving birth.After the death of his wife and child Jurgis has a hard time getting over it.

The family was starving the begged him to get himself together and get a job. So he got himself together and went out to get himself a job little did he know that the wife's Ex boss was black mailing him and wasn't able to a job. But one of his buddy said they will get him a job at the Harvester Works. Jurgis loved that idea because he knew working there was a great job with good pay. There wasn't any mistreating employs or dirty workrooms everything was the way it should be.

Now we was getting his life together he was even going to school at nights to improve his English. Jurgis was taking care of Elizabeth's children.Jurgis life changed after the death of his wife and child and how he thought. Soon he abandoned his family and went on his own he wanted to escape the blackmail list he was on for beating the wife's Ex boos. He had been through too much ever since he moved to United States. Everything he thought about and dreamed for went out the window.

His dreams were crushed and he was losing hope in the "American Dream." He left his job at the Harvester, he went to the country to the farmhouses and became selling  potatoes and apples from farms. After awhile he left that to and went back to Chicago. He went to get his job back at the harvester but wasn't able to get it back.

He was avoiding his family he didn't want to see them or speak to them.  He then finally gets a job after at digging tunnels for telephone wires. The only way he got the job was by lying to the man that was interviewing him and saying that he has never worked in Chicago before.His job is dangerous and unsafe and the workers aren't treated right at all. Jurgis was injured by getting smashed by a loaded car and was fired because he is hospitalized and can't work. He was in the hospital during Christmas and didn't seem to mind.

He was actually somewhat happy about it because most likely he would have spend it at the saloon since that's what he did on his free time.

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