The Jungle: a negative uptopia

"There is one kind of prison where the man is behind bars, and everything that he desires is outside; and there is another kind where the things are behind the bars, and the man is outside." (Sinclair 321). Picture being in a world where there is no childhood, they have to work fulltime to provide money for their family, and while the children and adults are at work, they have working conditions that are so horrible that it makes them want to throw up. This is a description of a dystopian society, which is a state where the condition of life is extremely bad as from deprivation, oppression or terror. Upton Sinclair's The Jungle is an example of this type of society. It is revealed through symbolism, the controlling of society, and the inhumane conditions.

In the novel, The Jungle there are three important...