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- English
- The Jungle
-
- Sinclair's book ,The Jungle probably had to do the most with the fact
- that he himself was a Socialist. He was brought up in Baltimore, and
- his family was considerately poor. His father was not very successful
- at his job and for this reason it seems good to believe he became a
- Socialist because in communist countries it is said that all people are
- treated equal. An opposite of this book would be "éAnimal Farm", which
- Sinclair has probably never read. This other novel shows the bad sides
- of Socialism and it ends with the rules saying, "All animals are
- considered equal, but some are more equal than others". In this book it
- shows that a hard worker is not rewarded and is only disposed of once
- he becomes a burden. The life of Sinclair and his book is reflected
- upon only because he uses his opinions in the book. In his book, he
- made a financial breakthrough and had his first successful novel.
- Sinclair has written many books dealing with the problems of capitalism
- and the solutions of communism which is not fair because he writes
- nothing good of capitalism and it's benefits. He also wrote
- other books on his wisdom he had gained and relegion. He frequently
- tried for office but never succeeded. His publications were originally
- made mostly by publishing them himself.
- The story itself takes place in Chicago with a group of immigrants.
- They come to the U.S. and discover it's a cruel, harsh world. First,
- though, this group goes through a series of trials. The first is a marr
- iage which costs much money, and the second is a death. After this,
- comes a house which is sold to the one couple for three times the value
- of the house. It's at this time that the parents and other groups move
- into this house. One character goes into a meat packing business where
- he learns of unsanitary conditions. The second is a musician which is
- currently down on his luck and his wife goes out to work. After a while
- the first character breaks his arm and loses time at work and is then
- not received back. He learns at this point when you are new, they will
- accept you, but once injured they throw out the crippled. At this point
- this character talks to a Socialist and begins to travel to meetings.
- But first he returns to his job. And at the point of return he becomes
- a manager. After his first Socialist rally, he listens mainly to two
- people, one a ex-professor whose has become a philosopher and the other
- who is currently an evangelist who has become a traveler.