The Jungle by Upton Sinclair
Throughout the 1900's there were problems with immigration, cleanliness, the pricing of goods, and the quality of life of the workingmen. Upton Sinclair wrote The Jungle to bring attention to these problems and try to regulate them. In Sinclair's writing, he wrote about many adversities that immigrants had to face when they first arrived in America, and well after they arrived. Jurgis fell trap to the problem of poverty, put his hands in charlatans and swindlers, and had to try to beat the corrupt capitalist system of government in Chicago. Sinclair's solution was socialism. Sinclair proposed at the end of the novel that socialism should replace capitalism, and all the other problems would take of themselves.
Often found in cities similar to Packingtown, a capitalist society, immigrants are not given a fair chance when they come to a free life in America. Packingtown treats the immigrants just as they do the animals that are slaughtered in the meat factories; they are mistreated, diseased, and forced to obey what they are told. For example, in the beginning of the novel, Jurgis and his family find a house, which they are told is new, and decide that they would rather buy it instead of rent a crowded area. However, the retailers did not tell them of the interest on the house, that it was not new, and that if they missed one payment they would be back out on the street that day. The whole family worked, day and night, in order to accumulate money to pay for the house and its interest. Meanwhile, the family still starved. The worst was when Jurgis went to jail for almost killing Ona's boss. This was a time when the family lost their house and lived in the ghetto in an overcrowded room. They were all starving and had no money except for the money they gathered from the children, which was very little, who worked as newspaper sellers. They could not afford anything, they owed money to friends, neighbors, and a doctor who was treating...