The Jungle, by Upton Sinclair, is the story of an immigrant’s life in industrialized America. By writing this book Upton Sinclair is attempting to show people that Socialism is superior to Capitalism. Whether Sinclair’s views on the matter are right or wrong are not important. What is of value is whether or not Sinclair does a good job of convincing the reader of his opinions and ideas. In that sense Sinclair does an excellent job and inevitably succeeds. Upton Sinclair is a convincing writer because he creates characters that the reader can sympathize with and he allows them to be hurt and torn apart by an unforgiving society. He writes about every horrific thing that could happen to one person and says that in a Socialist society these kinds of things would never happen. He is basically presenting to the reader every terrible thing that can happen in a Capitalist society and then showing all the great things that will come to be in a Socialist society. Sinclair wrote all this because he believed one person really could change society, and he did just that, becoming a muckraker in the process. He wanted to show how people were being used like animals to make the industries rich while the workers were thrown away when they were no longer needed.The Jungle depicts the life of Jurgis Rudkus as he decides to leave everything he has in Lithuania and move to America with the woman he loves and some members of his and her family. They make it to America and are overwhelmed by all the new things they see. Things begin well for Jurgis; he quickly finds a job, as do the other family members. The family saves up enough money to buy a house and Jurgis and Ona get married but their good fortune does not last long. The family finds out from one of their neighbors that their “dream” home is really an old house that has been repainted. They learn about the hidden costs of the house which include interest and tax...
