Envelope Topics for Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle
Written by Jamie Gregory
- Trace examples of how Upton Sinclair manipulates diction in order to characterize the Rudkus family as naïve before they reach America.
- Explain the tone and setting of the first chapter and how it directly contrasts with the tone and setting of the subsequent three chapters. What purpose does this juxtaposition serve?
- The American Dream holds different meanings for different Americans; however, what does that term mean to immigrants? Give examples of what this phrase means to the Rudkus family.
3. Next, trace how the Rudkus family’s vision of the American Dream changes after Jurgis begins to work at the factory.
- Writers typically use exclamation marks for emphasis. In this novel, the reader encounters them repeatedly! Find examples of Sinclair’s use of exclamation marks and comment upon their effectiveness (or ineffectiveness as the case may be).
- Find quotes that represent how Sinclair uses imagery to portray the America that the Rudkus family first encounters, and how that contrasts with what they expected to find.
- While the novel is written from a third person point-of-view, find examples that show when Sinclair might be conveying his own personal opinions through the Jurgis’s voice.
- Give examples showing how Sinclair uses diction to describe the treatment of the animals. How do these examples of diction contribute to Sinclair’s tone?
- Find quotes that show how Sinclair’s portrayal of the treatment of the animals might parallel the treatment of the workers. Why would Sinclair choose to make these two issues parallel?
- Give quotes that illustrate the division of classes in Sinclair’s portrayal of America. What types of work are available for which classes of people? What might these details add to the thematic quality of the novel?
- Note various examples of irony throughout the novel and the meaning Sinclair creates by using this strategy. For example, voting is a premiere example of democracy in action. However, in the novel, how does Sinclair portray the system of casting a vote?
- Find passages that reveal Sinclair’s main purposes for writing this novel. There is more than one possible answer here.
- Some readers believe that Sinclair’s novel is hyperbolic and thus ineffective as a warning. How could so much bad befall one character and his family? Find quotes and passages that support this viewpoint.
- On the other hand, some readers may argue that Sinclair’s novel works as a microcosm, representing the evil that Sinclair wished to expose and to change. Find quotes and passages that support this viewpoint.
- Find quotes and passages that portray the negative side of capitalism as shown through the factory.
- Find quotes and passages that reveal why Jurgis comes to accept socialism as the positive antidote.