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| View Larger Image | The Jungle (Enriched Classics)
by Upton Sinclair
| | List Price: | $5.95 |  | | Available: | Usually ships in 24 hours | | | | | Sales Rank: | 3926 | | Studio: | Pocket | | | Binding: | Mass Market Paperback | | Number Of Pages: | 480 | | Publication Date: | April 27, 2004 | | Publisher: | Pocket |
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EDITORIAL REVIEWS |
Product Description
ENDURING LITERATURE ILLUMINATEDBY PRACTICAL SCHOLARSHIP Upton Sinclair's unflinching chronicle of crushing poverty and oppression set in Chicago in the early 1900s.
EACH ENRICHED CLASSIC EDITION INCLUDES:• A concise introduction that gives readers important background information • A chronology of the author's life and work • A timeline of significant events that provides the book's historical context • An outline of key themes and plot points to help readers form their own interpretations • Detailed explanatory notes • Critical analysis, including contemporary and modern perspectives on the work • Discussion questions to promote lively classroom and book group interaction • A list of recommended related books and films to broaden the reader's experience Enriched Classics offer readers affordable editions of great works of literature enhanced by helpful notes and insightful commentary. The scholarship provided in Enriched Classics enables readers to appreciate, understand, and enjoy the world's finest books to their full potential.SERIES EDITED BY CYNTHIA BRANTLEY JOHNSON |
CUSTOMER REVIEWS (Average Customer Rating: 4.0 based on 8 reviews)
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"The Jungle" Review: 
"The Jungle" by Upton Sinclair clearly states how people wanted to live the American Dream; which was unfortunately extremely hard in those types of conditions. The setting of the story takes place at first in Lithuania and then the family then moves to Packington, a meat-packing sector of Chicago in the early 1900s, in hope of living better lives and being successful. The conflict that occurs during their stay in Chicago are that Jurgis and his family attempt to pursue the "American Dream", but certain situations come up and interfere their successfulness. The main events that happen are that Ona's boss rapes her, Jurgis has to spend Christmas in jail away from his family, and Ona's death during childbirth. As a result of this, Jurgis feels destroyed by capitalism and Jurgis turns to abandon his family and turns to dishonest means to survive. The resolution to all this is that everyone goes their own separate ways and try to survive their own way and the hard way. They learn how hard it is to live and survive by themselves in those conditions.
May 28, 2008 | |
The Jungle
The Jungle is a dreary novel about the failed American dream. It shows readers the shadowy side of early 20th century Chicago and the hardships that immigrants had to go through. Jurgis, a Lithuanian immigrant, illuminates the horrible working conditions and shady business tactics that occurred in America during this time period. He vowed that he would just work harder to make more money, yet the only jobs available to him were those that involved back breaking labor in an unsafe work environment. In an effort to alleviate the situation that his family is in, Jurgis joins a union. The reader begins to see just how corrupt Chicago is at this time. Immigrants were used for their cheap labor while the politicians skimmed off the top. Jurgis sprained his ankle while he was working and the meatpacking factory would not pay him until he came back 3 months later. This kind of unfair business practice ran rampant in America during this time. After a series of deaths in his family and stays in jail, Jurgis becomes one of many criminals looking to make a dishonest dollar. He finally must turn to socialism in order to show his discontent for the happenings in America. I would recommend this book to anybody who is interested in the corruption of early 1900s America. Upton Sinclair shows how hard it actually was for immigrants to make a living and exposes the the unsafe working conditions in which they had to live and work in.
May 14, 2008 | |
Old classic in a safe form 
Of the numerous editions of The Jungle that are in print, this version is reasonably good and presented in a scholarly form. However, this version of The Jungle is not the original form. It has been drastically cut in length, with much of the slaughterhouse gore removed and the ethnic material cut way back. Readers would be better to get the "Uncensored" verion of the novel put out by See Sharp Press.
April 10, 2008 | |
A beautiful literary classic 
Using the word "beautiful" to describe Sinclair's "The Jungle" is a bit tedious, and something of an oxymoron. I mean, let's face it: it's a down-and-dirty book, a brutally honest portrayal of Chicago's turn-of-the-century Packingtown. The novel traces Lithuanian immigrant Jurgis Rudkus and his family, as they seek a new life in America--and fall into a trap of immorality and despair. It is not an easy read, in the sense that the imagery Sinclair uses is not watered down; you are made to wince, you are made sick to your stomach. I cannot imagine what this was like for readers at the time it was published, before the Pure Food and Drug Act (the passing of which was a direct result of this novel). Most of "The Jungle" flows along smoothly; it works very well as a novel, even one with a Socialist agenda (the last thirty pages read like a Socialist pamphlet; but then again, that was Sinclair's point, so we can forgive him for that).
Now for the "bonus features" (obviously, I am of the DVD generation). The "Introduction," which offers a brief bio of Sinclair, as well as a brief analysis of the "protest novel"'s role in literature, is a worthy read. The "Interpretive Notes" are a joke, I'm afraid. The Notes are somtimes helpful (if it weren't for one note, we wouldn't know Sinclair was referencing his friend and fellow Socialist, Jack London), but more often simply get in the way (did we really need a refence stating that the "lake" referred to is Lake Michigan? I mean, it's Chicago, for God's sake!). Kudos to the "Suggestions for the Interested Reader" and "Critical Excerpts" sections, for including listings that actually go against Sinclair's views. Combine that with the "Questions for Discussion," and I'd say that this book would be handy in the classroom. I read it outside of class, for the exerpience (and a pleasant one at that), but I can easily see this edition being used in one of my college literature courses (I'd suggest high school, but let's face it, no high school student would be all that interested). So for you Teachers of the World, I highly suggest using this edition of the text. For those of you who simply want to experience Sinclair's classic novel--by all means, dig in. You'll be a bit squeamish in spots, and you might get tired of having Socialist ideals pounded into your skull, but you'll enjoy the experience, and will hopefully come out a richer person because of it. At the very least, you'll thank God somebody had the balls to take on the Beef Trust, and make dinner time a safer place for the rest of us.
February 29, 2008 | |
An awkwardly muckraking polemic
A century before Barbara Ehrenreich or Alex Frankel, wage slavery was tackled much more radically (if no less awkwardly) by muckraking socialist Upton Sinclair whose polemical story of a Lithuanian immigrant family toiling in Chicago's slaughterhouses led to reforms in food sanitation rather than the revolution Sinclair spent his political career trying to foment.
January 13, 2008 | |
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