the jungle book for apush test

The Jungle

It exposed unsafe working conditions, exploitation of immigrant labor, and unsanitary practices in Chicago's meatpacking industry.

Sinclair's intended purpose

To highlight the struggles of immigrant workers under industrial capitalism.

Public reaction to The Jungle

Outrage over contaminated meat and unsafe food, rather than workers' exploitation.

APUSH period of The Jungle

Period 7 (Progressive Era), but its themes connect to Period 6 issues of industrialization, immigration, and labor struggles.

Connection to Gilded Age immigration

Immigrants provided cheap labor in meatpacking plants and faced unsafe, exploitative conditions in cities like Chicago.

Connection to Gilded Age urbanization

Rapid city growth led to overcrowded housing, poor sanitation, and dangerous workplaces — problems muckrakers later exposed.

Connection to Gilded Age industrialization

It highlighted how large corporations exploited both workers and consumers with little government regulation.

Reform movements foreshadowing muckraking

Labor unions (Knights of Labor, AFL), Populist movement, early investigative journalists like Jacob Riis (How the Other Half Lives, 1890).

Legislation passed in response to The Jungle

Meat Inspection Act (1906) and Pure Food and Drug Act (1906).

Irony of The Jungle's impact

Sinclair wanted reform for workers, but the laws addressed consumer protection instead.

Connection to the broader Progressive Era

It exemplifies muckraking journalism and spurred government regulation, part of Theodore Roosevelt's Square Deal.

Continuity from Period 6 to Period 7

It links Gilded Age problems (immigrant labor, industrial abuses) to Progressive Era reforms (consumer protection, government regulation).

Main character of The Jungle

Jurgis Rudkus, a Lithuanian immigrant who comes to Chicago with his family seeking the American Dream.

Jurgis's family arrival in Chicago

They struggle to find work, face scams, and are forced into dangerous jobs in the meatpacking industry.

Description of the meatpacking industry

Horribly unsanitary — spoiled meat was repackaged, diseased animals were processed, and filthy conditions endangered both workers and consumers.

Portrayal of immigrant workers

Exploited, overworked, and underpaid, with little hope of escaping poverty. Many suffer injury, unemployment, or death.

Jurgis's family fate

They fall deeper into poverty — family members die, are injured, or exploited; Jurgis loses hope in the system.

Jurgis's turning point

After losing nearly everything, he discovers socialism as an alternative to the capitalist system that ruined his family.

Upton Sinclair's ultimate message

That capitalism dehumanized and destroyed immigrant workers, and that socialism was the solution.