It really takes the human touch out of the book and forces the reader to focus on the conditions the characters are in instead of letting the reader develop personal feeling or relationships with the characters themselves. I think Sinclair really did an awesome job at putting the reader's focus right where he wanted it. .
Our story begins with the introductions of characters at the wedding of Jurgis Rudkus and Ona Lukoszaite, two Lithuanian immigrants living in Chicago's stockyards with the rest of their family, Ona's stepmother Elzbieta Lukoszaite (Teta Elzbieta), Ona's cousin Marija Berczynskas, Elzbieta's brother Jonas, Jurgis's father Antanas Rudkus (Dede Antanas), and Elzbieta's six children. After the wedding it flashes back to the history of the family and how they came to America, and all the troubles they had once they were here, mostly troubles dealing with the language barrier and the cheating, swindling corruption of the capitalist society's businessmen. Luckily, since Jurgis is so strong and large he easily finds a job and is introduced to the corrupted society of Packingtown. But no matter what the trial, Jurgis focuses on supporting his family, especially his newborn son Antanas, and believes they can be successful by honest hard work. His solution to every problem is, "I will work harder." But little by little Jurgis begins to learn of the cruel and ruthless ways workers are treated and the horribly unsanitary conditions in which they must work. A man hoping to earn an honest living is out of luck and any honesty or genuine goodness in any person is either worked out of them or they are killed off. The Packingtown gene pool trys its hardest to naturally select for the vilest, cruelest, most evil sides of mankind possibly imagined. But through it all Jurgis naively sticks to his heartfelt motto of working harder. .
As a worker in Packingtown, Jurgis sees behind the scenes all of the disgusting, unsanitary means used to prepare food for the general public.
This comment by Walter Weyl reflects the mammoth social and political changes that emerged during the turn of the previous century. ... An example was a novel by Upton Sinclair called, The Jungle, which was about the shocking conditions in a Chicago meatpacking plant. ...
