The Jungle

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Book Reviews and Synopses

Upton Sinclair

The Jungle

Sinclair, Upton. The Jungle. Signet Classics. N.Y., New York. 1906.

Sinclair’s classic novel, The Jungle is an intensely dramatic and original story of insanity. The dauntingly gruesome writing and spine-tingling occurrences in the story exhilarates readers over the years of praise and criticism The Jungle has received.

The Jungle focuses on an old man, Albert; past retirement age, though still working at construction sites as the result of being a workaholic since the day he was old enough to start his job as a construction worker. The younger men that worked with him didn’t take any notice of him, while he, too, went about his work, ignoring them.

As soon as Albert’s latest job, fixing one of the city’s roads, was completed, his employer immediately had a brand new task to drop into his hands. A tower of colossal architecture was to be built in the place of a forest - one so big and crowded with life that it was often called “The Jungle.” Not only was Albert given the responsibility to destroy the wildlife necessary to build the outrageously large building, but he would also be put in charge of the project. He would have to endure the cooperation of the other construction men working on the nuisance with him. Albert told himself too many times that the job was impossible.

But the job was possible, which was his problem. It was only impossible to complete without Albert losing his mind. He had always worked better alone, and was not for a fact “thick” with the other men. They were too different. Albert was old and too ignorant to see any good in them. He saw them all as superficial, immature nitwits that didn’t want to work - a problem he came across during the project. Not only is Albert faced to deal with this problem, but he was too outraged at their irresponsibility to notice. It became so hard for Albert to stand doing most of the work and being talked back to that he loses his sanity completely.

The Jungle’s popularity comes mainly from Sinclair’s ability to put you in the place of a psychotic individual. It is amazing the feeling of fear that comes from reading The Jungle. The ending will make readers’ hearts stop and blood freeze. Sinclair has written another asset to classic American literature.

4 out of 5 stars.

Contributed by C. Corazza

April 17, 2012