History Literature / TheJungle

* IdiotBall: Jurgis knew his family needed his income to survive and knew that beating up Ona's boss would land him in jail for a good long while. But he did it anyway. If he hadn't done that, he wouldn't have set off the chain of tragedies which he so bemoans later in the book. Then again, it's hard to be objective about the situation when someone's raped your wife and forced her to prostitute herself.

* MamasBabyPapasMaybe: It's unclear whether the child Ona dies giving birth to is actually Jurgis's child or her boss/rapist Phil Connor's.

* TragicStillbirth: Ona's second child ends up stillborn due to labor complications. Ona dies in childbirth as well, which is devastating for Jurgis.

* TragicStillbirth: Ona's second child ends up stillborn due to labor complications. Ona dies in childbirth as well, which is devastating to Jurgis.

[[SimilarlyNamedWorks No connection to]] ''Literature/TheJungleBook'' by Rupyard Kipling.
It also [[TropeMakers likely inspired]] the NightmarishFactory trope.

It also likely inspired the NightmarishFactory trope.

* InfantImmortality: {{Averted}}.

* NotSoSimilar: The book points out that not all leaders in the socialist party are same thinking or interchangeable, fair enough, but then goes on to say that the leaders in the Democrat and Republican parties are, in a bit of a double standard.

* TraumaCongaLine: What Jurgis experiences. His father dies and then they have to quickly come up with money to pay for his funeral. The children all have to be pulled out of school to work to support the family, one by one, in spite of their hopes that they would get a decent education. Then Jurgis finds out that his wife Ona has been repeatedly submitting to rape by one of her former bosses to ensure financial security for the family and is now pregnant as well. Jurgis punches out the boss in revenge and goes to jail for it. When he finally gets out, he finds out that his family has been evicted from their house and are now living in a garret. To make matters worse, he can't find work and when Ona is in labor, he goes to find a midwife, who charges a fee that Jurgis can't afford. A short while after the midwife gets there, she tells them that there's nothing she can do and both Ona and her child die. A short while after that, Jurgis's child, the only thing he has left of Ona, drowns when he plays in the street. Jurgis leaves for a while from the stress he's gone through and to look for work and when he gets back, he finds out that Marija has become a prostitute and little Stanislovas is dead.
** Essentially, the entire book.

->''"I aimed at the public's heart, and by accident I hit it in the stomach."''

* ChildByRape: Quite possibly [[spoiler:the child Ona dies giving birth to, given the numerous times she went to visit her former boss for him to rape her, combined with the possible lessening of hers and Jurgis's sex life.]]

* ATragedyOfImpulsiveness: Jurgis beating up Ona's boss indirectly led to all the tragedy of the rest of the book. He had reason for his actions, but even a modicum of thought would have told him that it was a bad idea which would only end with horrible consequences. And he does the ''exact same thing'' again later, once more rendering him out of work.

* DeathByChildbirth: Ona dies giving birth to her second child

* HumanResources: Sinclair's account of workers falling into rendering tanks and being ground, along with animal parts, into "Durham's Pure Leaf Lard"

* InfantImmortality: Averted.
* InherentInTheSystem: The narration points out several times that the small predators on the workers are being preyed upon by larger predators and on up the ladder, and that this is a natural result of captialism.

* JesusWasWayCool: In an argument between two advocates of socialism about whether or not Christianity is benefit or a detriment to society, Schliemann (the anti-Christianity debater) admits that he has no problem with Jesus himself.
* NightmarishFactory: Meat packing industry

* ScreamingBirth: Ona. Justified, since the baby comes out arm first. This is fairly uncommon in real life, and is almost invariably lethal without a C-section.

* NotMakingThisUpDisclaimer: "This is no joke and no fairy story" precedes the descriptions of what is going into the food. Despite the fact that Sinclair was indeed making up, or at least greatly exaggerating much of what he says about the meat.

The book was intended to expose the terrible reality of immigrant life, end exploitation of industrial workers, and to promote socialism. However, most readers were concerned only with the revolting conditions in the meat packing industry.

* NotMakingThisUpDisclaimer: "This is no joke and no fairy story" precedes the descriptions of what is going into the food.

* ArtisticLicenseHistory-The infamous claim that workers fell into rendering vats, were ground up and sold with the meat has no evidence of actually happening [[https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/The_Jungle]]. This is a political tract, not an unbiased presentation of facts.

* DeadGuyJunior: Little [[spoiler:Antanas]], the first child Ona and Jurgis have together.
* DeathByChildbirth: [[spoiler:Ona]] dies giving birth to her second child
* DefiledForever: [[spoiler:Ona]] considers herself to be this as a result of what she does in an effort to ensure the family's financial security. Also, [[spoiler:Marija]] tells Jurgis later on that now that she has gone into the prostitution business, she won't be able to get work anywhere else. It is also played up for drama as this, even if it's not stated outright.

* INeedAFreakingDrink: Jurgis, after [[spoiler:Ona's death.]]

* ThePromisedLand: Chicago. Of Cynical Flavour B.

* SomeoneToRememberHimBy: [[spoiler:Little Antanas, for Jurgis, but not for long.]]

* ATragedyOfImpulsiveness: Jurgis beating up Ona's boss indirectly led to all the tragedy of the rest of the book. He had reason for his actions, but even a modicum of thought would have told him that it was a bad idea which would only end with horrible consequences. [[spoiler:And he does the ''exact same thing'' again later, once more rendering him out of work.]]
* TraumaCongaLine: What Jurgis experiences. [[spoiler:His father dies and then they have to quickly come up with money to pay for his funeral. The children all have to be pulled out of school to work to support the family, one by one, in spite of their hopes that they would get a decent education. Then Jurgis finds out that his wife Ona has been repeatedly submitting to rape by one of her former bosses to ensure financial security for the family and is now pregnant as well. Jurgis punches out the boss in revenge and goes to jail for it. When he finally gets out, he finds out that his family has been evicted from their house and are now living in a garret. To make matters worse, he can't find work and when Ona is in labor, he goes to find a midwife, who charges a fee that Jurgis can't afford. A short while after the midwife gets there, she tells them that there's nothing she can do and both Ona and her child die. A short while after that, Jurgis's child, the only thing he has left of Ona, drowns when he plays in the street. Jurgis leaves for a while from the stress he's gone through and to look for work and when he gets back, he finds out that Marija has become a prostitute and little Stanislovas is dead.]]

[[caption-width-right:327:[[BlatantLies We've got fun and games]].]]

* ATragedyOfImpulsiveness: Jurgis beating up Ona's boss indirectly led to all the tragedy of the rest of the book. He had reason for his actions, but even a modicum of thought would have told him that it was a bad idea which would only end with horrible consequences.

* NoOSHACompliance: Ditto. TruthInTelevision, real factory conditions like this were a big part of the reason OSHA was created. All other Sinclair claims could be verified except the HumanResources.
** Actually OSHA was more about winning political Brownie Points than securing worker safety. Factories can only be as safe as the wealth of a nation allows and the safety of factories had been steadily improving at a rate that didn't change after OSHA was introduced. This is discussed [[http://youtu.be/9mPEdkN5UoU?t=4m13s here]].

** Then again, the Democrat and Republican parties have almost the same political ideology. Much more so than, say, Social Democrat and Marxist-Leninist parties.

** Then again, the Democrat and Republican parties have almost the same political ideology.