The Jungle

The Jungle is a 1906 novel written by the American journalist and novelist Upton Sinclair (1878–1968). Sinclair wrote the novel to portray the lives of immigrants in the United States. Many readers were most concerned with his exposure of practices in the American meatpacking industry during the early 20th century, based on an investigation he did for a socialist newspaper. The book depicts poverty, the absence of social programs, unpleasant living and working conditions, and the hopelessness prevalent among the working class, which is contrasted with the deeply rooted corruption of people in power. A review by the writer Jack London called it, "the Uncle Tom's Cabin of wage slavery." The main character in the book is Jurgis Rudkus, a Lithuanian immigrant trying to make ends meet in Chicago. The book begins with his wedding feast after his marriage to the 15-year-old Ona Lukoszaite, also Lithuanian. The second chapter describes their lives and extended families in Lithuania.