When I hear of the word “jungle,” I picture a lush forest that is uninhabited by humans, but full of a variety of life. This variety of life in the world of Jurgis is all the workers in Packingtown and downtown Chicago. Nevertheless, their presence is underappreciated, which compares to the human neglect of jungles, in particular the increasing depletion of its natural resources and deforestation. For instance, Sinclair wrote, “In his capacity as delicatessen vendor, Jokubas Szedvilas had many acquaintances. Among those was one of the special policemen employed by Durham, whose duty it was to pick out men for employment”. This exemplifies that the actual owners of the manufacturing corporations had no idea what went on in their factories and only wanted to continue making profits. Thus, the regulations and controls of the working process were led by appointees who shared no compassion towards the laborers and contributed to the brutal conditions. No one in upper management really knew the realities of the factories, just as many people haven’t explored the wilderness of the jungles. The greediness of corporate owners is what makes the lives of their immigrant workers like an actual jungle. “In piecework they would reduce the time, requiring the same work  in a shorter time, and paying the same wages, and then, after the workers has accustomed themselves to this new speed, they would reduce the rate of payment to correspond with the reduction in time!” Therefore, the treatment of the laborers paralleled the increased destruction of the environment during the Gilded Age. Economically and psychologically, they were being destroyed. The toll of work they had to perform didn’t equate to their wages, and it wasn’t uncommon for people to experience life-threatening accidents. Moreover, the heinousness of the factory environment is evident by an extreme lack of job security. It wasn’t the workers’ fault of their factory closed due to a slow season, and once it did reopen, they weren’t guaranteed their jobs back. Through time, the stress of it all is displayed by the lines of unemployed men begging for jobs, the scene of tenements, and the depiction of people starving until they’re all bone. The factory owners are the axes and the workers are the trees, so one by one, each one of them falls victim to the terrors of capitalism. Upton Sinclair’s purpose in writing this book was to relay a message to the world that stated, “we need to appease those that big corporations have forgotten because every minute that passes by, each one becomes a victim to the greed and poverty instilled into them.” In all, Jurgis is living in a real-life jungle, where manipulation and struggles are part of the chaotic lifestyle of people like himself.