Literature Analysis #5

The Jungle Upton Sinclair

General

1.     In The Jungle Jurgis and ona travel from their home country of Lithuania to America to start new better lives. The start their new lives in Chicago but face endless struggles. Their whole family is forced to work hard. Ona is forced to sleep with her boss and Jurgis ends up in prison for attacking the boss. After returning from prison he abandons his family because it is to hard. He feels like there is no way for a better life and Jurgis embraces the idea of socialism when wandering about the city and seeing a rally.

2.     I believe the theme of the novel is unfairity (if that is a word) in the workplace during the industrial revolution.

3.     The tone in this story is most likely critical because Jurgis is always under the lower end of the stick and cannot get a break in the world. The tone helps to create a helplessness in the world.

4.     Sybolism – Jurgis is a symbol for all the workers during the time period

Characterization – Sinclair describes Jurgis both indirectly and directly to truly show Jurgis as a character

Setting – The industrial revolution was a time that showed the true colors of the workplace so it was a perfect time period to tell the story

Point of View – As Jurgis as the narrator we get to see a point of view of the man that was living the terrible life and experience the things that he experienced

Tone – The tone helps to show the things wrong with the city and life itself during the time

Allusion – Sinclair ends the novel with the solution to Jurgis problems and we now know that he really attends a socialist rally

Plot – The plot helps to show the hardships and obstacles that jurgis is constantly going through in his struggle to survive in the new life

Irony – every time that we expect Jurgis to get a break in his life he is constantly being knowcked down and he never does get ahead except for maybe on a few occasions

Characterization

1.     Sinclair uses mostly indirect characterization to describe Jurgis. He is mostly described through his actions and thoughts instead of being blantly described. Because it is told through the first person.

2.     The syntax of Sinclair doesn’t really change that much throughout the story. It does change a little when he is describing the way other people react and treat Jurgis because they are completely different characters in the story. Jurgis is constantly being talked to like he is the lower end of society and isn’t treated with respect.

3.     Jurgis is a dynamic character because when he arrives to America he was set on achieving his goal to have a better life than the one he did back in Lithuania but as time went on he abandons his goal and of attempting with his family and has to struggle to survive.

4.     I felt like although I couldn’t really connect with Jurgis that I had met him and had experienced his hardships that he had experienced in his life.