Tuesday, July 30, 2013

Determine the tone that Sinclair uses in regard to the two characters that are introduced in lines 21-25 of The Jungle?

In these lines, we are introduced to two central figures in the novel, Ona Lukoszaite and Jurgis Rudkus, Lithuanian immigrants who have just gotten married. Sinclair's tone toward them is kindly and sympathetic, and a bit condescending. He refers to Ona as "little," a first sign of the fragility that will make her life as a struggling immigrant difficult in the cruel, capitalist world of Chicago. She is young, fair, a teenager and described as "a mere child." Jurgis, in contrast, is big and burly, their pairing described as incongruous. Yet Sinclair raises our sympathy for these two, the shy, innocent bride in her short white veil, twisting her hands together in her new white gloves, the groom large and protective, able to hoist great weights of meat. Our sympathy flows out toward the bride, full of joy and gentleness, as well as to the groom, nervous and shy at his wedding, despite his tremendous physique. They are young innocents, not aware of how they are going to be exploited and ground up by the system. 

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