Diction

• “And this is their utterance; merry and boisterous, or mournful and wailing, or passionate and rebellious, this music is their music, music of home.” (8)
• “…and so a whole family would drift into drinking, as the current of a river drifts down-stream.” (89)
• “It is not my fault if der baby comes mit one arm first, so dot I can’t save it. I haf tried all night…” (208)
• “‘Whuzzamatter wizze dinin’-room doors?’

‘Nothing is the matter sir.’

‘Then why dontcha openum?’” (262)

The diction in The Jungle, like most books, played a large role in the tone Sinclair was using as well as the mood he was attempting to create. One of the points in the novel where this was evident was while describing the music that was being played at the wedding. Sinclair describes the music as merry, boisterous, mournful, wailing, passionate, and rebellious followed by repeating the word music three times. The addition of these words to this section seem to make this sentence almost poetic and much more descriptive than it would normally have been with more bland words. Another form of important diction used by Sinclair in this novel was during dialogue to create a more authentic feel. When he uses distinct dialect that the immigrants in Chicago might really use like haf for have or openum for open them it adds significantly to the realism of the person he is trying to create. Most of the diction in the novel comes from the negative view of capitalism that Sinclair has and his strategy to embody it in Packingtown.