The Jungle

The Jungle, has been an interesting book so far. I am slowly getting pulled in and attached to the characters. I can not personally relate to being immersed into a culture of which I do not understand nor speak the language of but I can only imagine the fear and unease that would come with that. I can only imagine what it would have been like for Jurgis and his family if they did not run into there old friend who had been in America for a long time. Luckily for them he showed them the ropes and helped them settle in. I found the part where they were going to buy a house to be very interesting. They were so responsible with what little they had and gave great thought to their purchase before making it. I compare that to the housing collapse very recently in the early 2000s. It is quite common in America to buy a home but even today if things go south you can be financially ruined. With the recent recession many families lost a lot to include their home and almost six years later things are not getting better all that quick. So I really found this part of the story interesting and relevant to today. This book is slowly working the reader into how gross the meat packing industry is and I fear it will only get worse. In fact the whole town seems to be a slum all owned by a few wealthy people who probably live towns away in prosperity.