the jungle essay topics

'The Jungle' Questions for Study and Discussion

Upton Sinclair's Banned Book

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M.A., English Literature, California State University - Sacramento
B.A., English, California State University - Sacramento

The Jungle is one of the greatest (and most controversial) works by Upton Sinclair. . Dedicated to "the Workingmen of America," the novel detailed the unhealthy conditions of the meatpacking industry and eventually led President Theodore Roosevelt to pursue new federal legislations.

Here are a few questions for study and discussion to think about before and after reading this work.

What is important about the title: The Jungle ?
What are the conflicts in The Jungle ? What types of conflict (physical, moral, intellectual, or emotional) did you notice in this novel?
How does Upton Sinclair reveal character in The Jungle ?
What are some themes in the novel? How do they relate to the plot and characters?
What are some symbols in The Jungle ? How do they relate to the plot and characters?
Is Jurgis Rudkus consistent in her actions? Is he a fully developed character? How? Why?
Do you find the characters likable? Are the characters persons you would want to meet?
Does the novel end the way you expected? How? Why?
What is the central/primary purpose of the novel? Is the purpose important or meaningful?
Why is the novel usually considered a work of protest literature?
How essential is the setting to the story? Could the story have taken place anywhere else?
What is the role of women in the text? How are mothers represented? What about single/independent women?
Would you recommend this novel to a friend?
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by Upton Sinclair

The jungle themes, muckraker journalism.

Sinclair's The Jungle is one of the most important examples of early twentieth century muckraker journalism. Taking their name from a term first used by President Theodore Roosevelt, muckrakers sought to expose the corruption within business and government. They did so by publishing articles and books describing, often in horrifying detail, the conditions of corruption and the ways in which it affected the lives of those both directly and indirectly involved.

The Jungle exemplifies this muckraker style in its often gory depictions of life in a meat packing factory. Sinclair writes of how the meat packing industry exploits its workers, many of whom are uneducated and poor. He also gives examples of the unsanitary conditions in which much of America's food was made. Muckraking journalism inspired public outrage and catalyzed a number of reform movements in the early twentieth century.

Sinclair was exposed to Socialist politics as a young writer and quickly became convinced by the movement's premise. Socialism is an economic theory that promotes worker ownership of the resources of production. Sinclair came to see capitalism as a vicious system of economics that exploits the masses in order to make the elite few rich. Capitalists hoarded resources and wealth for themselves, while millions of workers and laborers suffered in poverty and dangerous working conditions.

Sinclair conceived The Jungle as a Socialist novel. The plights of the novel's protagonists demonstrate the evils and corruption of unrestrained capitalist economies. Jurgis and Ona Rudkus, as well as their immigrant friends and family, live in dire poverty. Their lives are at risk when they go to work, if they are able to find work. These conditions are the result of a company that seeks to maximize the speed and efficiency of labor with no regard to how such methods of production affect the lives of workers. The novel is a sustained argument that workers must gather collectively in order to assure rights and dignity for all individuals.

Social Darwinism

Social Darwinism is a theory from the social sciences that argues that one can understand society in evolutionary terms. Just as Charles Darwin proposed that, in nature, the strongest members of a species survive and then carry those survival traits to new generations, Social Darwinism argues that the strongest and most fit members of society survive while the weaker members naturally die from a lack of resources. Social Darwinism has been a controversial proposal because it ignores traits of human benevolence.

Sinclair proposes that the reader see Packingtown in terms of Social Darwinism. The title of the book, The Jungle , alludes to the idea that in an environment such as Packingtown, certain members of society will survive while other weaker members will not. Sinclair also uses metaphors of nature, such as how winter's cold kills those trees which cannot find light, to describe the process through which economic and societal forces push the weaker members of Packingtown into sickness and death. Throughout the novel, Sinclair describes this process pejoratively.

Wage Slavery

Sinclair describes the plight of the immigrant working class in Packingtown as that of wage slavery. Sinclair writes that the immigrant population was "dependent for its opportunities of life upon the whim of men every bit as brutal and unscrupulous as the old-time slave drivers." Immigrants had no real ability to break out of the economic cycles that kept them figuratively chained to their jobs.

This cycle of poverty and slavery was perpetrated by the capitalist owners of the packing plants and the corrupt politicians of local government. These capitalists would purposefully keep wages low and keep the people in poverty. Those without jobs would then be desperate for any work, and because the immigrant populations kept growing, the demand for work kept wages even lower. On the other side, politicians and local businessmen conspired to take the wages away from these immigrants through scams and poor quality products. An immigrant was thus a slave to the economic conditions that he could not control.

American Naturalist Writing

The Naturalist school of writing was an important literary movement in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Literary Naturalism portrayed the effects of environment upon a character. While most literature works to develop a kind of personal history, or interior psychology that helps to drive narrative, Naturalism is concerned only with the natural world and its effects upon narrative and characters. A few of the most famous Naturalists were Emile Zola, George Gissing, Theodore Dreiser, and Stephen Crane.

Sinclair's novel is a prime example of the American school of Naturalist writing. Jurgis Rudkus has very little interior life in the novel because Sinclair wants the reader to observe in detail the ways that Jurgis's environment affects him as a man and as a character. Jurgis has little interior motivation, and what motivation does exist (i.e. feeding his family) is not comprehensively explained. Instead, Jurgis's plight is a function of the industrial machine and the natural break down of the body caused by such natural and social systems. Jurgis's character cannot be separated from the capitalist environment that creates him.

Abuses of the Food Industry

Although it was not Sinclair's chief purpose to expose the abuses of the food industry when writing The Jungle , the outcry over the production and selling of the meat became the novel's defining legacy. In the novel, Sinclair blames the mechanisms of capitalism on the tricks that the meatpackers use to sell spoiled and contaminated meat. In an effort to squeeze every dime that they can out of the meat packing process, the packers encourage short cuts and unsanitary conditions in order to avoid wasting money.

While the workers perpetrate this contamination of the food supply, Sinclair does not blame them for their actions. The workers are so abused themselves by the system that they do not have the power to change the conditions of the factories. The public became so upset over the abuses of the industry that the Pure Food and Drug Act was passed by Congress and was soon signed into law by President Teddy Roosevelt.

Art and Propaganda

In an essay from 1925, Sinclair writes, "All art is propaganda. It is universally and inescapably propaganda; sometimes unconsciously, but often deliberately, propaganda." Sinclair is honest and upfront that his writings have a specific purpose: to influence people to act in a particular moral way. Sinclair believed this ideal of writing was exemplified by Tolstoy, who is briefly mentioned in one of the novel's closing chapters.

The Jungle is the best American representation of this belief in the role of art as propaganda. Sinclair believed that art is not created simply for the sake of creating something beautiful in the tradition of previous ages. A novel should make specific moral claims of how people should behave. In the case of The Jungle , Sinclair uses vivid scenes of violence and despair to illicit specific emotional responses from his audience. In this way, his novel becomes a method of propaganda. Sinclair believed that all art works in this way, even if the artist does not intentionally mean for it to be used as such.

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The Jungle Questions and Answers

The Question and Answer section for The Jungle is a great resource to ask questions, find answers, and discuss the novel.

What is the main assumption underlying the author’s thinking?

The author main thinking is the whole article or essay that you are reading anywhere. The author is doing an explanation for the depth of their mind that they want to explain in front of the world. If the students who wish to become a writer in...

What loaded language does the author use throughout the passge

What passage are you referring to?

In Chapter One, a crisis occurs when the family cannot raise the money needed to pay for the wedding. This results in increased hardships and a darker mood for the family with Jurgis’s promise to “work harder.”

Study Guide for The Jungle

The Jungle study guide contains a biography of Upton Sinclair, literature essays, a complete e-text, quiz questions, major themes, characters, and a full summary and analysis.

About The Jungle
The Jungle Summary
Character List

Essays for The Jungle

The Jungle essays are academic essays for citation. These literature papers were written primarily by students and provide critical analysis of The Jungle by Upton Sinclair.

"The Jungle: Fiction, History, or Both?"
Upton Sinclair's Indictment of Wage Slavery in The Jungle
Preying on the Immigrant Experience: Sinclair's The Jungle
The (Literal) Jungle: Symbolism and Meaning in Sinclair's Narrative
Muckrakers: Differing Styles in Upton Sinclair and Eric Schlosser

Lesson Plan for The Jungle

About the Author
Study Objectives
Common Core Standards
Introduction to The Jungle
Relationship to Other Books
Bringing in Technology
Notes to the Teacher
Related Links
The Jungle Bibliography

E-Text of The Jungle

The Jungle e-text contains the full text of The Jungle by Upton Sinclair.

Chapters 1-5
Chapters 6-10
Chapters 11-15
Chapters 16-20
Chapters 21-25

Wikipedia Entries for The Jungle

Introduction

The Jungle Book

50 pages • 1 hour read

A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

“Mowgli’s Brothers”

“Kaa’s Hunting”

“Tiger! Tiger!”

“The White Seal”

“Rikki-tikki-tavi”

“Toomai of the Elephants”

“Her Majesty’s Servants”

Character Analysis

Symbols & Motifs

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

Compare and contrast the “Law of the Jungle” with the rules Mowgli learns in the human village. How do their different values relate to the historical context of The Jungle Book ?

Analyze the songs and poems included at the end of each story. How do they relate to the themes of the overall stories? Why do you think Rudyard Kipling includes them?

What is the role of gender in The Jungle Book ? How are female characters portrayed? What is different about gender between human and animal characters?

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The Jungle Book Essay Topics & Writing Assignments

Essay Topic 1

Foreshadowing is used by Kipling throughout The Jungle Book. Give three examples of foreshadowing and how it is used to tell events yet to come.

Essay Topic 2

Compare and contrast the wolf pack's mistrust of Mowgli and the loyalty of Mowgli's friends, Baloo and Bagheera.

Essay Topic 3

Describe Shere Khan as an antagonist.

Essay Topic 4

Compare and contrast the monkey people and Kaa. How are they the same? How are they different?

Essay Topic 5

Describe the theme of friendship and what it means, focusing on Chapter two. Give examples of its value to Mowgli.

Essay Topic 6

How does Kipling illustrate the carelessness of youth in Chapter two? In what ways does Mowgli's behavior exhibit that?

Essay Topic 7

Compare and contrast Mowgli's life in the village compared to life in the jungle.

Essay Topic 8

Describe Mowgli as the protagonist of the stories. Define protagonist, and compare/contrast...

(read more Essay Topics)

(approx. 2 pages at 300 words per page)

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The Jungle Essay Examples

Analysis of the main message in upton sinclair’s the jungle.

Upton Sinclair a muckraker, aimed to inform the nation of the ferocious living conditions of immigrants through his narrative “The Jungle” referencing the title to the lifestyle of most as they are forced to adapt an inhumane way of living. Newcomers live in jam-packed premises...

The Jungle by Upton Sinclair: the Struggles of the Working Class in 1900s America

A house across the river from the beautiful Chicago scenery, a beautiful family, and a wealth of opportunities are what Jurgis Rudkis and his family had initially thought of America. Many migrants traveled hundreds and thousands of miles abroad in cramped, dense, disease-ridden ships with...

Analysis of Upton Sinclair’s Fundamental Points in the Jungle

In “The Jungle” Upton Sinclair had two compatible goals in mind: to simulate outrage at the practice of selling diseased meat to the public and the sympathy for laborers who worked in the unsanitary conditions of warehouses. However, in “The Jungle” Sinclair places psychologically shallow,...

Analysis of the Main Topics in the Jungle and Fast Food Nation

In the book, The Jungle and Fast Food Nation, there were several points that were brought up about the values, beliefs, political ideas, and institution. These topics played an important role in both of the books, as many people just like the family in, The...

The Impact of Upton Sinclair on Society with His Novel the Jungle

By the turn of the 20th century, a major progressive reform movement had emerged in the United States. Spearheading the consumer protection movement, although not intending to do so, was author Upton Sinclair. His bestselling novel, The Jungle, was the catalyst for enacting change. It...

Analysis and Reflection on the Jungle by Upton Sinclair

The Jungle, by Upton Sinclair is a novel written in 1906 detailing the life and conditions that people in the early twentieth experienced. It more specifically details the experiences of Jurgis Rudkus and his family as they leave from Lithuania to the United States in...

The Jungle by Upton Sinclair: a Timeless Classic

The Jungle, a timeless piece made famous by its gruesome yet addictive content, is considered a nationwide classic. With background from the vintage, appalling, meatpacking industry, the novel provides a first hand view of what went on in the early 1900s in the meat packing...

The Lessons Learned from the Jungle by Upton Sinclair

In the novel, The Jungle, written by Upton Sinclair, he described how immigrants lived in the early twentieth century. He wrote the novel to bring awareness of how bad immigrants were treated in America. Sinclair wrote about the harsh conditions of how they lived and...

Analysis of How Upton Sinclair Conveys His Beliefs in the Jungle

The 1906 novel ‘The Jungle” written by Upton Sinclair depicts the exploitation and harsh conditions of the lives of immigrants within industry ran cities in the United States of America. The main character Jurgis and his extended family which include his wife Ona, her cousin...

Research of Comparative History of Major Developments in Fast Food Nation and the Jungle

Fast Food Nation and The Jungle discuss the working conditions for workers in United States factories during the 1900’s. Both books talk about the shortcuts that were taken in the factory and in the fast food restaurants. Fast Food Nation mainly describes the employees working...

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About The Jungle

Rudyard Kipling

United Kingdom

Children's book

An epic adventure about Mowgli, a man-cub raised by a family of wolves. Mowgli finds he is no longer welcome in the jungle when fearsome tiger Shere Khan, who bears the scars of Man, promises to eliminate what he sees as a threat.

A major theme in the book is abandonment followed by fostering, as in the life of Mowgli, echoing Kipling's own childhood. Another important themes are of law and freedom; Reception, Adaptations.

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