The Jungle Reading Schedule

Dover Edition

Day 1
Day
Day
Day
Day
Day
Day
Day

2
3
4
5
6
7
8

SKIP 1
Ch. 2, 3, 4
SKIP 5
Ch. 6, 7, 8, 9, 10
Ch. 11, 12, 13, 14
Ch. 15, 16, 17
Ch. 18, 19, 20
Ch. 21, 22, SKIP 23, 24
Ch. 25, 26,
pg.
Ch. 27, 28
SKIP 29, 30, 31

pg. 17-44
pg. 61-91
pg. 91-116
pg. 117-143
pg. 143-167
pg. 167-184, 192-203
203-234
pg. 235-258

Your assessment for this unit will be based on your reader responses and
your class discussion. Please see your reader response sheet for more
details on this daily assignment. You must actively participate in class
discussion each day. Your class discussion will equal out to 3 test scores over
the nine days. Days 1-3, Days 4-6, Days 7-8 will be averaged together, using
the two highest scores. Please see your discussion rubric to see how you will
be graded.

Reader Responses for The Jungle

For each of our 8 days reading The Jungle, you are asked to write a reader response.
These reader responses will serve to help you think through different aspects of the
text and practice your writing, as well as making this thinking and writing visible to
me. The reader response is a useful skill that requires concise and direct writing,
thorough thinking, and thoughtful reflection on themes and concepts. This is a mode
of writing that is common in humanities (English, History, Social Sciences, Political
Sciences) based classes at the college level, and exercises writing skills that are
common in a number of work environments.
These reader responses:

Should be 1 -2 full hand written pages, or 300 words typed.

o 1-2 full pages means that you must completely fill 1 page. of a
page will not get you full credit.
Should clearly address the question or discussion point using evidence
Include 3 pieces of evidence with page numbers
o 2 of these pieces of evidence must be from the reading for that day
o 1 piece of evidence can be from elsewhere in the book.
o Evidence may be short direct quotes or paraphrasing
Include 1 connection to history from class, which is explained

They may also:

Include connections to other texts

Include discussion of different rhetorical and literary devices weve discussed
in class.

For this class, reader responses should not be summary heavy. Your audience (me)
is very familiar with the text, and your purpose is not to summarize, but to show
your thinking around major concepts, themes, and The Jungle as a primary source
document. For this reason, provide enough context for your evidence to make it
clear what you are talking about, but do not recap all of what happened during the
previous nights reading. As with your formal essays, this should be a discussion of
evidence, not a listing of it.
Example of summary vs. discussion:

Summary: The man in To Build a Fire tries many times to build a fire and
walks a great distance trying to stay warm (2). His dog wishes that they
would stay in one place, but they do not (3). The man encounters many
incidents that make it so he is in more danger of the cold, but he still doesnt
make choices that would possibly save his life.

Discussion: London demonstrates the naturalist belief that people are driven
by their physical environments in To Build a Fire. The physical environment of
the cold pushes the man to make increasingly bad choices in an effort to fight
it. He decides to stop and build a fire a second time, while his feet freeze
from the river water (4). If he wasnt faced with such harsh conditions, he
may have made different decisions, which the narrator suggests may be
more beneficial. As the story goes on it is clear that while both driven by
their physical environment, the dog relies on his natural instinct, while the
man does not (2). This is another aspect of naturalist writing that is
highlighted in the text. In the end, when the man dies and the dog does not
(5), that the author is making a statement about the importance of following
instincts and the potential impacts if one doesnt follow instincts.

Grading for Reader Responses

Grade

+
100

80

60

Characteristic of Reader Response

is 1-2 pages written or 300 words typed, uses 3 pieces of evidence from
the text, evidence includes page numbers, fully explains thinking behind
evidence, fully addresses the prompt, makes connections to history,
writing is clear and direct, grammar does not interfere with understanding
of writing
is 1-2 pages written or 300 words typed, uses 3 pieces of evidence from
the text, evidence includes page numbers, partially explains thinking
behind evidence, may engage in some unnecessary summary, partially
addresses the prompt, makes connections to history but does not explain
them, writing is mostly clear, grammar mostly does not interfere with
understanding of writing
Is less than is 1-2 pages written or 300 words typed, does not use 3 pieces
of evidence, response is mostly summary, does not address the prompt,
does not make connections to history, writing is unclear, grammar
interferes with understanding of writing
Assignment was not done/turned in

** Skip Day**
For this collection of assignments you may skip one day of reading response for no
penalty, making the total number of reading responses for full credit 7. This means
that you can miss one reading response without it being marked as a zero, it will be
left blank in the grade book. To not be marked down for your skip day, you must
turn in a piece of paper that has your name on it and says Today (Date) I am using
my skip day for The Jungle reader responses, this is to help me with my book
keeping.

** A note on grammar**
While these reader responses will not be graded on grammar, poor grammar will
affect your grade if it keeps your writing from being clear. For this reason, please
refrain from using txt speak and do your best to use punctuation appropriately. As
always, things, stuff, and imprecise pronouns (he, she, it, etc.) will always be
inappropriate, as they are the enemy of clarity. As a largely informal piece of
writing, it is fine to use contractions (dont, wont, wouldnt).

The Jungle Reader Response Questions

Day 1

pg. 61-91

Ch. 11, 12, 13, 14

pg. 91-116

Discuss the way the 4 elements of naturalism are present in the

novel. Give specific examples and explain them. For this prompt, you
do not have to tie back to history, but you do need to give a specific
example from the book of each of the elements.
Discuss the ways in which tradition plays a role in the novel? How
does this motif play into our two themes of Capitalism/Socialism and
The American Dream?

Day 4

Ch. 6, 7, 8, 9, 10

Explore the ways in which Social Darwinism is portrayed in the book.

How do these incidents tie in with our themes and motifs?
How does Sinclair portray capitalism/the factory system as being bad
for families?

Day 3

pg. 17-44

How does Sinclair present the familys American Dream? Does he offer
any foreshadowing to suggest what might happen to them. How do
the motifs of family, tradition and corruption play into the familys
coming to and settling in America? Consider not only their decision to
come, but also their search for a home.
In what ways does Sinclair use the factories as an allegory for
capitalism? Consider his description of the animals, his depiction of
corruption and the ways in which he criticizes open competition of
business.

Day 2

Ch. 2, 3, 4

Ch. 15, 16, 17

pg. 117-143

Discuss the ways in which corruption is explored in this section. What

do you think Sinclair is saying about the justice system and capitalism?

Choose one element of naturalism in this section to discuss. Define

the characteristic, and discuss three examples that demonstrate this
element.

Day 5

pg. 167-184, 192-203

Ch. 25, 26,

pg. 203-234

Discuss the political machine in this section, and the role that Jurgis
plays in it. How does Jurgis feel about his work with them? How does
this intersect with some of our themes and motifs?
Has Jurgis become as corrupt as the bosses that were vilified at the
beginning of the novel? Use specific examples to argue your point.

Day 8

Ch. 21, 22, SKIP 23, 24

Discuss Jurgiss behavior and actions in chapters 21 and 22, a moment

that is seen by many as a major turning point. In what ways is this
portrayed by Sinclair, what message do you think Sinclair is trying to
offer his readers?
At the end of this section (Ch. 24), how has Jurgis world view changed?
How does he understand his place in the world? How does this connect
to our themes and motifs?

Day 7

pg. 143-167

Some critics believe that Madame Haupt is a round character. Describe

Haupt and state whether or not you agree with the critics. Use
examples and explain your reasoning.
Looking at the novel up to this point, consider the theme of the
American Dream. Given the events of this section, what do you
believe Sinclair is saying about the American Dream? Discuss specific
examples to explain your reasoning.

Day 6

Ch. 18, 19, 20

Ch. 27, 28

pg. 235-258

In this section we get an accounting of what has happened to the rest

of the family. What do you think Sinclair is saying about the American
Dream and Capitalism with these stories?
Track Jurgis journey as a character to this point. What has driven the
changes in his life? How has he changed as a character? How do these
changes intersect with the themes of the American Dream and
Capitalism?

The Jungle Character Chart

Dede Antanas
Rudkus
Jurgiss father
Other Significant
Characters
Grandmother
Majauszkiene
Familys Lithuanian
neighbor
Tamoszius Kuszleika
A fiddler who
becomes Marijas
fiance
Phil Connor Onas
Boss
Miss Henderson
Forelady in Onas
factory
Jack Duane A
criminal Jurgis meets
Mike Scully A
corrupt democrat who
owns the dump
Jokubas Szedvilas
proprietor of a
delicatessen in
Packingtown
Tommy Hinds

Jurgis Rudkus

Ona
Lukoszaite

Antanas
Rudkus
Ona and Jurgiss

Marija
Berczynskas
Jonas
Tetas
brother

Teta Elzbieta
Lukoszaite
Onas stepmother

Kotrina
Tetas
Daughter
(takes care of
the
hosue/children
Stanislovas
Tetas 14yo
son
Vilimas,
Nikalojus,
Kristoforas