The Jungle by Upton Sinclair Annotated

The Jungle is the story of Jurgis Rudkus and his family, Lithuanian immigrants who come to America to paintings inside the meatpacking flowers of Chicago. Their story is a tale of complication. They face good sized difficulties: harsh and dangerous working situations, poverty and starvation, unjust businessmen who take their money, and corrupt politicians who create legal guidelines that permit all of this to appear. The story follows the hardships of Jurgis and his own family and the transformation that Jurgis undergoes while he accepts the new political and economic revolution of socialism.The novel begins at the marriage of Jurgis and Ona Rudkus. Marija Berczynskas, a strong and commanding woman, directs the marriage and Tamoszius Kuszleika offers track along with his violin. Although Tamoszius's "notes are by no means true, and his fiddle buzzes at the low ones and squeaks and scratches at the excessive," he is the celebrity of the wedding. Everyone in the slums of Packingtown is invited, and they are presupposed to pay tribute to the family. Many do not, however, and this leaves Jurgis and Ona deeply in debt on the first day of their marriage.Jurgis and Ona got here from the geographical region of Lithuania. Because Jurgis and Ona had been now not allowed to marry in Lithuania and due to the fact Ona's father dies, leaving them with little money, Jurgis makes a decision to move his and Ona's own family to America. Jonas, Jurgis's brother, tells them of a chum who made a fortune in Chicago and they determine to head there. Upon arriving in America, however, they discover that whilst the wages are better, so are the expenses. Several retailers and thieves scam them while they arrive, and shortly much of their cash is long gone.