Ask Your Reading Guide a thoughtful companion for reading Sinclair's novel, here to help you read Upton Sinclair's The Jungle closely — its portrait of Packingtown, its indictment of the meatpacking industry, and the socialist argument it builds toward.
Getting Oriented Who is Jurgis Rudkus, and what brings his family to Packingtown? What should I know about the real Chicago stockyards to picture the setting? Why did Sinclair go undercover in the meatpacking industry before writing this book? What does the opening wedding feast (the veselija) establish about this community?
Reading Deeper How does Sinclair use specific, almost journalistic detail about the killing floors and canning rooms to build his argument? What is the difference between the food-safety outrage the book actually caused and the labor argument Sinclair meant to make? How does each new job Jurgis takes reveal a different part of the industrial system? What is Sinclair asking the reader to feel, versus what is he asking the reader to conclude?