The Jungle

The characters experience never ending disappointment and hardships without any redemption, but the story is engaging, moving, and can really tug on your heartstrings and make you feel the desperation and helplessness of the characters. The author shows the human condition (sin) well, but without any true hope, the book is kind of depressing. Also, the last 15% of the book seems to be a shameless plug for Socialism without any resolution showing that Socialism can truly solve the problems that some of the characters claim that it can solve.

I enjoyed the first portion of this book, and then ran smack dab into the author's take on Socialism. I thought that up until that point, it was well written and an interesting tale of the trials which many immigrants to this country faced during the turn of the last century. It was heartbreaking to read of the sorrows and indignities which these people had to pass through, only to run head long into socialist drivel. While socialism is a great theory, you run into lots of problems while trying to implement it, primarily the greed of mankind.

I first read about The Jungle in my 6th grade history book, and it has taken me this long to actually pick it up and read it, but I am so glad that I did. It gets pretty hard to read and a little repetitive in the last few chapters, but the ideas can still be understood if you didn't understand the last bit, so don't worry about it too much. Upton Sinclair is a wonderful writer, and his dedication to muckraking can clearly be seen in the content and passion of The Jungle.