The Jungle is a gritty exposé of the American meatpacking industry in the early 1900s, told through the eyes of Jurgis Rudkus, a Lithuanian immigrant chasing the American Dream in Chicago. Hoping for a better life, Jurgis and his family are quickly crushed by brutal labor conditions, poverty, corruption, and exploitation. The novel reveals the dark underside of capitalism, where workers are treated as disposable and the system is rigged against the poor.
What begins as a story about the immigrant struggle turns into a powerful critique of industrial greed and social injustice. Sinclair originally aimed to highlight labor abuses but ended up sparking national outrage over food safety, leading to major reforms like the Pure Food and Drug Act.