Dorthy Day´S Reaction To Upton Sinclair´S The Jungle
Dorothy Day had a curious personality and a very imaginative mind. When she attended the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, she wrote in her biography The Long Loneliness, "my reading began to be socially conscious" (Day 36). It was around this time that she began to read Upton Sinclair's The Jungle. Sinclair was a socialist whom Day most likely would have strongly related to. Day was a part of the Christian Socialist Movement and sympathized with a lot of Sinclair's ideals. At the time she was introduced to The Jungle, Dorothy Day lived in Chicago with her family. Coindentally, The Jungle was set in Chicago, and so Day could further relate to the realities depicted in the novel.
The Jungle dealt with the cruel and shocking truths behind the meat packing and processing business. Day was captivated by the stories of its characters. She was also largely responsible for taking care of her brother, John, as the family expected it of her. In her earlier years, Day would walk with John through the Park to relax and appreciate nature, but as she began to read Sinclair's work, she shifted the strolling routes to the poor district on the West Side of Chicago. While she walked through the district, she would often imagine Sinclair's work in motion, as she let fiction become reality.
Day's curious nature made her want to see first-hand the conditions of life for those who were poor. She adventured through the poor district and looked into the houses and looked into the people, both containing very depressing things inside them. Day did this a lot, and as she did it she would imagine the characters in The Jungle, and imagined their existence in this very alive and very real neighborhood. It would become her childhood that she would fondly look back upon. It would be the kindling that started the fire for her passion and motivation for supporting her ideals and those who share it.
Day reminisced, "I envisaged such scenes as that of the Polish wedding part in Sinclair's story, past houses which were sunk down a whole story below street level" (Day 37). In this, Sinclair formed the very beginnings of the Day we know today. Day continues, "and though my only experience with the destitute was in books, the very fact that The Jungle was about Chicago where I lived, whose streets I walked, made me that from then on my life was to be linked with theirs" (Day 38). It was her first experiences with the poor. Her first face-to-face encounters with the reality of what she had been reading. This had made everything feel more personal to Day, making the significance of Sinclair and similar writers hold a prominent role in the forming of Day's character, and consequently in forming her actions.
For example, not shortly thereafter does Day write in her autobiography, "I wanted everyone to be kind" in response to seeing the good of the Salvation Army and the condition of the poor (Day 39). She then recalls all the "abundance" of good that...
Find Another Essay On Dorthy Day´s Reaction to Upton Sinclair´s The Jungle
The Jungle by Upton Sinclair Essay
1593 words - 7 pages What are the major issues Sinclair addresses in The Jungle? The Jungle by Upton Sinclair is a vivid account of life for the working class in the early 1900s. Jurgis Rudkus and his family travel to the United States in search of the American dream and an escape from the rigid social structure of Lithuania. Instead, they find a myriad of new difficulties. Sinclair attributes their problems to the downfalls of capitalism in the United States
The Jungle, by Upton Sinclair Essay
820 words - 4 pages The Jungle, by Upton Sinclair, became an instant classic in 1906, and has become possibly one of the most referenced books in history and political science classrooms all over the United States, according to Dustin LaBarge (LaBarge para.1). Sinclair's novel has generated worldwide awareness of the repulsive meat-packing industry. I found the book intriguing, because of the detail that was added in to make sure nothing was left out. There were
The Jungle, by Upton Sinclair
1096 words - 4 pages Do you believe this novel has any significance for anyone living in 2011? I strongly believe this novel, The Jungle by Upton Sinclair, is highly significant for anyone living in 2011 because these problems are still existent within our society and many others as well. This novel discusses problems that are crucial not only to our country but to other countries that view the United States as a place of prosperity and success. Throughout the
The Jungle by Upton Sinclair; book review
451 words - 2 pages The JungleBy: Upton Sinclair The Jungle, written by Upton Sinclair in 1906, enlightens the reader about Socialism as a remedy for the evils of capitalism; the immigrant experience and the hollowness of the American Dream. The third-person narrator focuses on what the main character, Jurgis Rudkus, and what he feels, learns, and experiences. Sinclair also shows the social values that affect his characters lives in the past and future, but
Summary of The Jungle by Upton Sinclair
509 words - 2 pages The Jungle The Jungle by Upton Sinclair is about a Lithuanian family living in Chicago in the 1900's. They had faith in the American dream, hoping to start a new and successful life. Unfortunately they were deprived of they hopes and dreams. They were placed in the middle of a society where only the strongest and richest survived. The rich keep getting richer and the poor get even poorer. Jurgis and his family went to extreme lengths just in
Analysis of The Jungle by Upton Sinclair
1050 words - 5 pages Critics often argue that Upton Sinclair, author of many classic American novels including The Jungle, was cynical and bitter even. However if one were to dig just a bit deeper they may realize that Sinclair was spot on in his idea that this "American dream" that our country sells is actually a work of fiction. In his book The Jungle, Sinclair, points out the flaws of the American dream. Many immigrants traveled thousands of miles aboard
Capitalism in The Jungle Upton Sinclair
1766 words - 8 pages "The Jungle" novel was written by an American journalist/ novelist name Upton Sinclair in 1906. "The Jungle" made a big hit and became his best-selling novel because it revealed so well about the economical and social reality during that time. The book mainly described about how unsanitary the meat packing industry was operated in Chicago and the miserable life of the immigrants going along with the industry. Through the story around the life
The Jungle by Upton Sinclair: Fame for the Wrong Reason
3428 words - 14 pages In the early 1900's America begin to transform rapidly. Many immigrants started moving to the United States in the early 1900's with the hopes of living the "American Dream." However, that glittering and gleaming American lifestyle is merely a distant ideal for the immigrants living in Packingtown, the meatpacking district of Chicago. Upton Sinclair's The Jungle portrays life through the eyes of a poor workingman struggling to survive in
Socialism versus Capitalism in The Jungle by Upton Sinclair
1662 words - 7 pages . New York: Bedford/ St. Martin's, 5th ed., 2001. Mau, Vladimir. " The road to 'perestrokia': economics in the USSR and the problem of Reforming the Solviet economic order." Europe-Asia Studies. V48 (March 1996): 207 Nucifora, Alf. "Castro's Cuba: Taking one long look before the U.S. capitalist invasion." Pittsburgh Business Times. V20 (April 20, 2001): 24. "Remodeling Scandinavia: Will economic recovery make the Nordic countries' famous welfare states look good; only after further reform." The Economist. V344 (August 23, 1997): 37. Sinclair, Upton. The Jungle. New York: Barnes and Noble Inc, 1995.
The Misconceptions Of The Jungle By Upton Sinclair
705 words - 3 pages Upton Sinclair had always insisted that The Jungle was misread but did he ever think it could have been miswritten? The style of writing is not effective when addressing issues in a capitalistic society but proves to be very effective when exposing the secrets of the meatpacking industry. The novel is not remembered for being a classic work in literature but rather an important book in history in that it changed
An Analysis Of The Jungle By Upton Sinclair
1412 words - 6 pages In the early 1900's life for America's new Chicago immigrant workers in the meat packing industry was explored by Upton Sinclair's novel The Jungle. Originally published in 1904 as a serial piece in the socialist newspaper Appeal to Reason, Sinclair's novel was initially found too graphic and shocking by publishing firms and therefore was not published in its complete form until 1906. In this paper, I will focus on the challenges faced by a
The Jungle By Upton Sinclair, And How It Captures The Zeitgeist Of The Early 1900's
1789 words - 7 pages really happened at the time. In The Jungle, Sinclair effectively catches the zeitgeist of the early 1900's in American history. He portrays the feelings of immigrant workers coming to America and captures the struggle they go through to achieve a piece of the American dream. Sinclair uses Jurgis as a symbol for the typical immigrant worker of the time to describe what the 1900's were really like.Sinclair captures the main element of the zeitgeist
"The Jungle" By Upton Sinclair Essay
1341 words - 5 pages Upton Sinclair. The Jungle. New York: Signet Classic. 1960.The Jungle by Upton Sinclair is a novel set in Packingtown, the meatpacking sector of Chicago. The time is set in the beginning of the twentieth century. Upton Sinclair tells the story of an immigrant named Jurgis and his family that come to America in search of wealth and the good life that they hear so much about. They believe so much in the American dream. However, life in America
1328 words - 5 pages Thematic essay on "The Jungle"Basicly describes the capitalistic ways of governenment during the progressive area manifested into the meat packing section of Chicago. Vividly describes the hardships of imigrants in the early 1900's. What is the theme of The Jungle? What is Upton Sinclair's purpose behind this book?Title: The JungleAuthor: Upton SinclairThe Jungle as named by Upton Sinclair is an interesting story, describing the hardships
1118 words - 4 pages Upton Sinclair wrote The Jungle with an unabashed message in mind. Using his powerful descriptions of the repugnance of the meat packing industry as his vehicle, Sinclair conveyed his position of socialism and lamented the plight of the working-man.The Jungle's main character, Jurgis Rudkus, immigrates with his family to America from Lithuania with hopes of living the "American Dream". Instead, their dream is torn apart by the dreadful cruelties
Coral Reef Conservation in Different Oceans
Do Social Institutions Benefit the Needs of Society or Hinder the Needs of Society?
Battles That Changed the Outcome of the American Revolution
Conformity and Rebellion in Antigone Essay
History of Chemistry through the Ages
Achievement Has No Colour in The Queen of Palmyra by Minrose Gwin
Politics and The English Language in George Orwell´s Animal Farm
Gender Differences throughout History Essay