Synopsis of the Book "The Jungle"
Synopsis of the Book "The Jungle"
The book begins with two people getting married, Ona Lukoszaite and Jurgis Rudkus Two Lithuanian immigrants who have recently arrived in Chicago. They have the wedding in the traditional Lithuanian style. Following the wedding there is a large celebration held near the Chicago stockyards. Food, beer, and music fill the hall. Following Lithuanian tradition, hungry people lingering in the doorway are invited inside to eat their fill. The musicians play badly but, do to the general festivity, no one seems to mind. The highlight of the celebration is the acziavimas, the guests, linking their hands, form a rotating circle while the musicians play; the bride stands in the middle and each guy in the circle takes turns dancing with the bride. Twords the end of the celebration the bride was beginning to become worried that people were not going to pay any money for the vast celebration. Back in those days a the cost would be over 300 dollars much more than most men made in one year. Of you were late for you job by one minute you would be docked for and hours pay, if you were late 20 minutes you would loose your job. This meant standing in line for up to two weeks waiting for another job.
The reason that the couple decided to move to America was because of Teta Elzbieta's brother Jonas knew of a man who made a fortune in America, inspiring the family to work to make the trip possible. Jurgis worked for months to save money to help pay for the cost of the voyage. He finally reached his goal of money and they made the journey. Little did they know that they would have to work twice as hard to keep up in America.
Upon arriving Jokubas takes the family on a tour of Packingtown. They gaze in awe to see pens packed with tens of thousands of cattle, pigs, and sheep. The suffering of the animals, which will all be killed by the end of the day, upsets even Jurgis. But the flurry of men working fills Jurgis with wonder. Jokubas notes sarcastically the signs regarding the sanitation rules. The government inspector who checks the slaughtered pigs for signs of tuberculosis often lets several carcasses go unchecked. Spoiled meat is specially doctored in secret before it is scattered among the rest of the meat...