The Jungle and Figurative Language Olivier Lang 11th Grade

Throughout history, there have been books that shocked the world and turned many ideals upside down. Upton Sinclair’s 1906 novel, The Jungle, was one of these cases. It sent a shiver down typical Americans’ spines when the author described the horrendous working and living conditions of the factory workers of that time. The story follows a group of twelve, immigrating from Lithuania, and their experiences in Industrial Revolution era Chicago with a primary focus on Jurgis. The book rather quickly reveals the falsehood of the promises the United States gave to all who crossed Lady Liberty, saying one can start from the bottom, then make millions through hard work. How the country once called the greatest in the world, shattered thousands, perhaps millions, of souls. Though the group starts off as happy to be in a big city where jobs were supposedly plentiful; by the end of the book, the majority of the group is dead, with the remaining few broke, basically on the streets. Their spirit is shattered and left to rot like so many before them. While the book did not bring much change to the conditions workers labored in til several decades after it was published, but it still had an impact on Americans through the language of the...