Personal Review
My personal take on this novel was that it was very engaging and was generally easy to understand. The beginning was rather dull, but once the story began to focus more on Jurgis and his trials as a new immigrant in Chicago it became much more interesting, however at the same time, much more gruesome. One of my problems with the story was the excessive death that took place. I do understand that Sinclair was trying to make a statement about the horrors of capitalism for the working class, his killing off of nearly all of those close to Jurgis was simply sad to read through. You may argue that Marija was not killed, but she was forced to become a one armed prostitute addicted to morphine, which isn’t much better.
While Sinclair definitely succeeded in showing some of the negative sides of capitalism, the unsatisfactory feeling I received when the book was over was somewhat upsetting. When I read stories I enjoy ending them on a positive note, and when a book ends with the main character at a communist rally and nothing happening to conclude the book besides the communists shouting that Chicago will be theirs its hard to feel satisfied. If this book had had a little more closure I would have enjoyed it much more.
Although I did not feel this book was very enjoyable to read, its historical significance did help me to feel better about the tragic life that Sinclair put these characters through. If I had a friend who was looking for an enjoyable read I would make the easy decision to keep them away from this novel, however, if I had a friend who wanted a book that had achieved something in its life, The Jungle would be one of my top choices. Even though was not my favorite book, it is important to acknowledge that Upton Sinclair achieved a lot with this book.
I agree with your statement that the death in the novel was excessive, but i feel that Sinclair was looking to disgust, scare, and disturb people into siding with his point of view. Also, the reality is that these seemingly outlandish situations actually occured in some instances at this time. I disagree with you about the ending of the book, I felt that the Socialist speech at the end was uplifting, fulfilling, and inspiring without giving an unrealistic, "fairy-tale" ending.
ReplyDeleteI do agree with Michael at the idea of Sinclair's idea of the gruesome, and perhaps disturbing images that were portrayed were due to the idea that he felt that more people would take his side. However, the idea and living proof that this novel helpeed the lives of the American people was the creation of the Pure Food and Drug Act, which President Franklin D. Roosevelt inacted after being sent an advanced copy of the novel. This story of tragedy was sad, however, it depicted a close connection with the lives of actual immigrants who stopped at nothing to achieve the highly impossible "American Dream". The story is more of an information guide and a mass quota for change rather than a pure and wholesome novel of which we are acustomed to reading. I purely enjoyed this book and I give the greatest respects to Sinclair as he truly did as much as possible to change our nation and help shape it into what it has now become.
ReplyDeleteMiller thats easy for a socialist to say
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