The Jungle is a 1906 novel written by American journalist and novelist Upton Sinclair (1878-1968). Sinclair wrote the novel to describe the harsh conditions and immigrant lives exploited in the United States in Chicago and similar industrial cities. Its main purpose in describing the meat industry and its working conditions is to promote socialism in the United States. However, most readers are more concerned with his exposure to health violations and unhealthy practices in the meat packing industry of America during the early 20th century, which strongly contributed to the public outcry that led to reforms including the Act of the Meat Inspection. Sinclair famously said of the public reaction, "I shoot the public heart, and I accidentally hit her in the stomach."
This book describes the poverty of the working class, the lack of social support, the harsh and unpleasant life and working conditions, and the desperation of many workers. These elements are contrasted with the corruption of those in power in power. A review by writer Jack London calls it "The Uncle Tom's Cabin of wage slavery."
Sinclair is considered a muckraker, or a journalist who exposed corruption in government and business. In 1904, Sinclair had spent seven weeks collecting information while working in disguise at a meatpacking plant in a Chicago storage area for newspapers. He first published the novel in serial form in 1905 in the socialist paper Request of Reason and published as a book by Doubleday in 1906.
Video The Jungle
Ringkasan plot
The main character in this book is Jurgis Rudkus, a Lithuanian immigrant who tries to meet his needs in Chicago. The book begins with his wife Ona and her wedding party. He and his family live near the livestock and meat packs, where many immigrants do not know much English. He took a job at Brown Butcher's house. Jurgis thinks the US will offer more freedom, but he finds harsh working conditions. He and his young wife are struggling to survive. They fall into debt and fall prey to swindlers. Hoping to buy a house, they drain their savings on down payment for a sub-standard slum, which they can not afford. The family was eventually expelled after their money was taken.
Jurgis expects to support his wife and other relatives, but ultimately all - his sick woman, his children, and his father - are looking for a job to survive. As the novel progresses, work and family means are used to stay alive slowly leading to their physical and moral decay. Accidents in workplaces and other events keep families closer to disaster. Jurgis's father died as a direct result of unsafe working conditions at the meat packing plant. One of the children, Kristoforas, died of food poisoning. Jonas - the other adult man left in addition to Jurgis - disappears and is never heard from again. Then the injury resulted in Jurgis being fired from the meat packing plant; he then took a job at the Durham fertilizer factory. The family difficulty accumulates when Ona confesses that his boss, Connor, has raped her, and makes her work dependent on her giving her sexual help. In retaliation, Jurgis attacks Connor, resulting in him being arrested and imprisoned.
After being released from prison, Jurgis discovers that his family has been expelled from their home. She finds them living in a boarding house, where Ona is giving birth to her second child. She died in childbirth at the age of 18 from blood loss; the baby is also dead. Jurgis has no money for a doctor. Soon after, her first child drowned in a muddy road. Jurgis leaves town and starts drinking. His short visit as a hobo in rural United States shows him that no real escape is available - farmers divert their workers when the harvest is over.
Jurgis returns to Chicago and holds the succession of the labor work and as a cheat. He floated without direction. One night, he wanders to a lecture given by a socialist orator, where he finds community and purpose. After a socialist associate hired him, Jurgis placed his wife's family. He discovers that Marija, Ona's cousin, has become a prostitute to support the family and is now addicted to morphine; Stanislovas, the eldest of the children at the beginning of the novel, has died after being locked at work and eaten alive by rats. Jurgis then continued his support of his wife's family. The book ends with another socialist rally, which follows several political victories.
Maps The Jungle
Character
- Jurgis Rudkus , a Lithuanian who immigrated to the United States and fought to support his family.
- Ona Lukoszaite Rudkus , Jurgis's teenage wife.
- Marija Berczynskas , Ona's cousin. He dreamed of marrying a musician. After Ona's death and the neglect of the Rudus family, he became a prostitute to help feed some surviving children.
- Teta Elzbieta Lukoszaite , Ona's stepmother. He took care of the children and eventually became a beggar.
- Grandmother Swan , other Lithuanian immigrants.
- Dede Antanas , Jurgis's father. He contributes jobs despite his age and poor health; died of lung infection.
- Jokubas Szedvilas , a Lithuanian immigrant who owns a grocery store on Halsted Street.
- Edward Marcinkus , Lithuanian immigrants and family friends.
- Fisher , a Chicago millionaire whose spirit helps the poor in the slums.
- Tamoszius Kuszleika , the violinist who became Marija's fiancee.
- Jonas Lukoszas , brother of Teta Elzbieta. He left the family in bad times and disappeared.
- Stanislovas Lukoszas , eldest son of Elzibeta; he started working at 14.
- Mike Scully (original Tom Cassidy ), "Democratic Party boss" from the warehouse.
- Phil Connor , the boss at the factory where Ona works. Connor raped Ona and forced him into prostitution.
- Miss Henderson , Ona is clearly visible in the conference room.
- Antanas , son of Jurgis and Ona, otherwise known as "Baby".
- Vilimas and Nikalojus , the second and third sons of Elzbieta.
- Kristoforas , son of Lumpuh Elzbieta.
- Juozapas , another Elzbieta paralyzed son.
- Kotrina , Elzbieta's daughter and Ona's stepbrother.
- Judge Pat Callahan , a crooked judge.
- Jack Duane , the thief encountered by Rudkus in prison.
- Madame Haupt , a midwife hired to help Ona.
- Freddie Jones , son of a rich beef baron.
- Buck Halloran , Irish "political worker" who oversees voice buying operations.
- Bush Harper , the man who worked for Mike Scully as a union spy.
- Ostrinski , a Polish immigrant and socialist.
- Tommy Hinds , the Hinds's Hotel socialist owner.
- Sir. Lucas , a socialist minister and a traveling preacher.
- Nicholas Schliemann , a Swedish philosopher and socialist.
- Durham , businessman and second employer Jurgis.
Publishing history
Sinclair published the book in serial form between February 25, 1905 and November 4, 1905 in Appeal to Reason, a socialist newspaper that had supported Sinclair's secret inquiry the year before. This investigation has inspired Sinclair to write a novel, but his attempt to publish the series as a book meets with resistance. An employee at Macmillan writes,
I advise without hesitation and without hesitation the publication of this book is a grim and horror that is not tolerated. One feels that what is at the bottom of his ferocity is not the desire to help the poor as a rich man's hatred.
Five publishers turned down the job was too shocking. Sinclair wanted to publish his own short version of the novel in the "Career Edition" for customers when Doubleday, Page went up; on February 28, 1906 the Doubleday edition was published simultaneously with the 5,000th Sinclair who appeared under the footsteps of "The Jungle Publishing Company" with the Socialist Party symbols embossed on the cover, both using the same plate. In the first 6 weeks, the book sold 25,000 copies. It has been in print ever since, including four self-published editions (1920, 1935, 1942, 1945). Sinclair dedicated the book "To the Workingmen of America".
Copyright (in some countries) expires after 100 years, so now there are (as of March 11, 2006) a free copy or "public domain" of the book available on Project Gutenberg's website.
Uncensored edition
In 2003, View Sharp Press published an edition based on the original serialization The Jungle on Appeal to Reason , which they described as "Uncensored Original Edition" as Sinclair intends it. The preface and introduction say that commercial editions are censored to make their political messages accepted by the capitalist publisher. Others have argued that Sinclair has made his own revisions to make the novels more accurate and appealing to the reader, correcting Lithuanian references, and efficiently to remove the tedious parts, as Sinclair himself said in the letter and memoirs of American Outpost ( 1932).
Reception
Upton Sinclair intends to expose "hell of exploitation [from typical American factory workers at the turn of the 20th century]", but public reading remains on food security as the most pressing issue of the novel. Sinclair acknowledged that his celebrity came "not because the public cares about workers, but only because people do not want to eat tuberkular beef." Some critics associate this response with character, most of which, including Rudkus, have an unpleasant quality. The last part, about the socialist demonstration attended by Rudkus, was later denied by Sinclair. But the description of meatpacking contamination attracts the reader's attention.
Sinclair's report of workers who fall into rendering tanks and herded along with animal parts into "Pure Leaf Sheep Leaf" grips the public. Poor working conditions, and exploitation of children and women along with men, were taken to reveal corruption at meatpacking plants.
British politician Winston Churchill praised the book in its review.
In 1933, the book became the target of the burning of Nazi books because of Sinclair's support for socialism.
Federal response
President Theodore Roosevelt described Sinclair as a "madman" because of the writer's socialist position. He wrote privately to journalist William Allen White, expressing doubts about the accuracy of Sinclair's claim: "I have a total disgrace for him, he is hysterical, unbalanced, and dishonest, three quarters of the things he says are absolute falsehoods. the rest is only the basis of truth. "After reading The Jungle, Roosevelt agreed with some of Sinclair's conclusions. The president wrote "radical action must be taken to remove the greed and selfish efforts of the capitalist side." He commissioned Labor Commissioner Charles P. Neill and social worker James Bronson Reynolds to go to Chicago to investigate some meatpacking facilities.
Learning about the visit, the owners asked their workers to clean the plant thoroughly before the examination, but Neill and Reynolds still struggled with his condition. Their oral report to Roosevelt supports much of what Sinclair describes in the novel, except for claims of workers falling into rendering vats. Neill testified before Congress that the men only reported "things like that show the need for legislation." That year, the Bureau of Animal Industry issued a report that rejected Sinclair's most severe accusations, characterizing them as "deliberately misleading and wrong", "deliberate and deliberate statements about facts", and "obscure absurdity".
Roosevelt did not release the Neill-Reynolds Report for publication. His administration handed it over to Congress on 4 June 1906. Public pressure led to the passage of the Law on the Inspection of Meat and the Law of Pure Food and Drugs; the last to establish the Bureau of Chemistry (in 1930 renamed the Food and Drug Administration).
Sinclair rejected the law, which he regarded as an unjustified gift for the great meat packers. The government (and taxpayers) will bear the examination fee, estimated at $ 30,000,000 annually. He complained about a public misunderstanding of the subject of his Cosmopolitan magazine in October 1906 saying, "I am directing the public heart, and I accidentally hit her in the stomach."
Adaptations
This novel version of the movie was made in 1914, but has since been lost.
See also
- Workers' rights in the American meat packing industry
Footnote
Further reading
- Bachelder, Chris (January-February 2006). " The Jungle at 100: Why is good book reputation Upton Sinclair getting bad". Mother Jones Magazine .
- Lee, Earl. "Forest Defense: The Uncensored Original Edition" . View Sharp Press . Ã,
- ÃÆ'ËÅ"verland, Orm (Fall 2004). " The Jungle: From Peasant Lithuania to American Socialist". Realism of American Literature . 37 (1): 1-24. Ã,
- Phelps, Christopher. "The Fictitious Suppression of Upton Sinclair's The Jungle ". hnn.us .
- Young, James Harvey (1985). "The Falling Pig to Privy: Upton Sinclair's The Jungle and the Meat Inspection Amendment of 1906". Medical History Bulletin . 59 (1): 467-480.
External links
- The Jungle , available on Internet Archive (first edition book)
- The Jungle in Project Gutenberg (plain text and HTML)
- The Jungle public domain audiobook on LibriVox
- The Jungle continued in The Sun newspaper from Florida's Digital Libraries Library
- PBS special report marks the 100th anniversary of the novel [1]
- The Medill School of Journalism from Northwestern University revisits The Jungle [2]
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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