Model Text Analysis—The Jungle by Upton Sinclair

Analysis by Roman Constantine

Wow. I have never actively gasped at a book before until now. The Jungle by Upton Sinclair is a historically important book in American history. In the time of the book (early 1900s), in real life, there were no safety guidelines for meat-packing companies to treat their workers or their product well. The public was so shocked by how the meat that they eat was rotten and disgusting, as described in this book, that government action was taken, partially contributing to the establishment of the Food and Drug Administration. A quote from Sinclair about this book was, “I aimed to hit the public’s heart; instead, I accidentally hit it in the stomach.” From a third-person view that becomes detached to explain the systems in place, to the more emotionally charged diction Sinclair takes on during important moments, Sinclair details and highlights the injustices faced by immigrant families during this time period in the US.

This book's first action is to have its third-person perspective become detached from the main group of characters, instead explaining the very real systems in place. One example was when the protagonist's family first arrived in America. The narration takes on an unusually detached perspective from the family, instead describing the leadership of the city of Chicago. Sinclair describes the, in small detail, the political situation of Chicago as being totally led by Mike Scully, the corrupt politician on all the billboards. This example at the beginning of the story highlights partially how this family doesn’t know anything about the systems in place, and it almost gives a shadowy view of leadership already. Another way Sinclair detaches from the main characters is when he discusses how food in America. In other words, how the sausage gets made. He describes the jobs of these facilities, where people’s hands are filled with tons of cuts when working with cans, how people's thumbs would be reduced to meaty stumps, how people would fall into the boiling vats. These details, described only when the family begins working in the meat-packing industry with relatively little injury, once again highlight the brutality of the little management these workers have. It also foreshadows the much more brutal injuries to come to these characters.

This detached diction goes in contrast with the more emotional diction, almost even taking on a 1st-person view. In the home life, the protagonist, a hard-working man who shouldered the burden of being the breadwinner of the household, desperately loves his wife, Ona. When describing how they wanted to get married, Sinclair takes on a 1st person perspective from the POV of the narrator! “Such a time, of all times, for them to have it, when their hearts were made tender! Such a pitiful beginning it was for their married life; they loved each other so, and they could not have the briefest respite!” In this quote, the emotional tragedy was how these 2 do not have enough money to enjoy the best parts of life, like a marriage. This first-person perspective almost makes the narrator, and by extension us, lament the situation as well. Another example of this was with the birth of Jurgis’s son, Antanas. “Thank God, Antanas was a boy! And he was as tough as a pine-knot, and with the appetite of a wolf. Nothing had hurt him, and nothing could hurt him;” Would you believe me if I said this is coming from the narrator? Jurgis’s sheer joy of having a child bleeds into the narrator's diction in this powerful emotional moment.

“I aimed at the public's heart, and by accident I hit it in the stomach” was Upton Sinclair’s quote on this book. The detached tone simulates hitting the public’s stomach, and the emotional, 1st person tone is shooting at the heart. Overall, this is a wonderful and tragic book that I highly recommend reading. The brutalities of early America, and contrasting them to now, is very interesting and eye-opening. Check out the HIS website to see more analysis like this and exemplary work by other students at HIS!