Middle School  Writing and Discussing the Works of Upton Sinclair

Pre-reading Activities
1. List three of your favorite foods. Then describe where you think they come from and how you think they get to your dinner table. After you study The Jungle, pick one of the foods you listed and do some research about how it is prepared for human consumption. Were you correct, or were there things you did not know?

2. Brainstorm a list of rights to which you believe employees of a company are entitled. As you study The Jungle, think about the conditions in which Jurgis and others must work. Which of your rights do they enjoy? Which are they denied?

3. What do you think of when you think of the word "jungle?" The book you are about to study is titled The Jungle. How do you think Chicago, an urban city, will be like a jungle?

Points to Ponder as you Study
1. The main character, Jurgis, lives in a neighborhood named Packingtown. Compare and contrast Packingtown to your neighborhood.

2. In Chapter 14, Sinclair writes, "She was part of the machine she tended, and every faculty that was not needed for the machine was doomed to be crushed out of existence." How does the meatpacking industry Sinclair describes dehumanize its workers?

3. How were minors your age and younger affected by the environment of Packingtown?

Responding with Writing
1. Upton Sinclair's style of investigative journalism was derided by President Theodore Roosevelt as "muckraking." The term has endured, however, coming to mean journalism that exposes hard truths people need to know. Is there a problem in your neighborhood or city that is important to you and that you feel people need to know about? Write a letter to the editor of your local newspaper detailing the problem and expressing your opinion.

2. Sinclair narrates the book from the third-person omniscient perspective. How would the book have been different if it was written from the first-person perspective of Jurgis? Find your favorite scene. Rewrite it, imagining it from Jurgis' point of view.

3. What positive effects did the publication of The Jungle have? Why do you believe it endures as a "classic?" Can you think of any modern muckrakers?