It is the dawn of the twentieth century. Two young Lithuanian immigrants, Jurgis and Ona, hold their wedding celebration in Packingtown, the heart of Chicago's meatpacking district. According to custom, departing guests should give money to help pay for the party and start the newlyweds off in life. But many guests walk out leaving nothing. Ona worries about the couple's debts, but Jurgis calms her, saying, "I will work harder."
Strong and confident, Jurgis begins a job in a meatpacking plant, where he bears the twelve-hour work days, the repellent and dangerous labor conditions, and the pitifully low pay. But when his family is cheated in a housing swindle, when his father is forced to turn over one-third of his pay to the man who hired him, and when a sprained ankle costs Jurgis his job, the American Dream that inspired him veers into nightmare. And worse is yet to come.
Upton Sinclare wrote The Jungle after working undercover in Chicago's meatpacking district for seven weeks. His aim was to draw America's attention to the plight of exploited immigrant workers and usher in a new age of socialism. Indeed, the public was horrified, but not by workers' suffering. Rather, Sinclair's graphic descriptions of the industry's filthy conditions and use of diseased animals quickly lead to passage of the Pure Food and Drug Act in 1906.
About the Author
Upton Sinclair was born in Baltimore in 1878. He enrolled at the College of the City of New York before his fourteenth birthday and began supporting himself through his writing only a few years later. A lifelong socialist, Sinclair ran for governor of California in 1934. His novel Dragon’s Teeth won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction in 1943. He died in Bound Brook, New Jersey, in 1968.
