Grade 8 Humanities: Week of 1/16/2017 Life in the Concrete Jungle

By , 01/16/2017

 

Dear Families,

After spending many weeks as an embedded reporter in the Chicago Stockyards, Upton Sinclair eventually wrote The Jungle to expose the plight of exploited workers he had personally seen and knew existed in other industrialized cities. However, upon publication, public outcry mostly centered around the unsanitary conditions and health violations in the meat packing plants. Sinclair’s reaction was a mix of dismay and humor when he proclaimed,”I aimed for the public’s heart, and by accident I hit it in the stomach.”

After reading through Chapter 5, we decided to choose passages that we believe captured Sinclair’s many messages and that moved us in particular ways . . .

–Katy Tanzer

 

— Sasha Wald

 

— Skye Rothstein

 

— Lily Rudofsky

 

— Emma Donnelly

 

I chose this passage from Chapter 5 because it demonstrates the lure of corruption when people find themselves in desperation and despair. It shows how institutionalized corruption can become — making it almost impossible to fight. I see this section of the text as a warning against apathy — and a call to action.

— Ms. Sacilotto

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We also examined a number of Jacob Riis’ photographs from his series, How the Other Half Lives and used our analysis of the photos, along with our knowledge of The Jungle thus far to create skits that depicted living and workplace conditions in the early 1900s that needed reform.

Here, Adiv played a corrupt boss taking advantage of his female employees, Amy, Sofia, Angelica, and Nici, who did not yet understand the language and customs of America . . .

 

 

Yours,

Ms. Sacilotto

 

 

“The world is a dangerous place, not because of those who do evil, but because of those who look on and do nothing.” — Albert Einstein