The Jungle

Multiple Choice and Long Answer questions create ideal opportunities for whole-book review, unit exam, or summative assessments.

Multiple Choice

1. Which type of mood does the band evoke at Jurgis and Ona’s wedding?

A) Nostalgia for the homeland

B) Joy for their living conditions in Chicago

C) Fear of the upcoming election

D) Apathy for the marital couple’s future

2. Which of the following phrases best summarizes the purpose of Chapter 1?

A) To establish the central plot regarding unfair immigration policies

B) To share vignettes of how labor conditions have affected the lives of lower-class workers

C) To evoke an emotional response to the love triangle between three Lithuanian immigrants

D) To introduce a series of characters in their homeland of Poland

3. Which of the following words best describes Jokubas Szedvilas in relation to Jurgis and his traveling companion in Chapter 2?

A) A thief who tricks them out of their money

B) An interpreter who guides them to the stockyards

C) A policeman who imprisons them on false charges

D) A mentor who guides the group from possible pitfalls

4. Upon starting his first day at the stockyards, Jurgis reflects with awe: “Had he not just gotten a job, and become a sharer in all this activity, a cog in this marvelous machine.” (Chapter 3) Which of the following combinations of literary terms does Sinclair use in this quote?

A) Allusion and simile

B) Metaphor and simile

C) Alliteration and allusion

D) Alliteration and metaphor

5. Which of the following is one of the biggest hurdles for Jurgis and his traveling companions during their first weeks in Chicago?

A) The language barrier

B) Frequent arrests

C) Inability to find employment

D) Sleeping on the streets

6. Which of the following phrases best describes how Sinclair feels about the plethora of advertisements throughout Packingtown?

A) A necessary function in the Progressive Era

B) A byproduct of the rampant disease of capitalism

C) A natural response to increasing foreign consumers

D) A concerning development that causes people to stray from religious values

7. Which of the following themes does Sinclair comment on when writing about Stanislovas’s work in Chapter 6?

A) The horrors of animal cruelty in stockyards

B) The reality of turn-of-the-century child labor

C) The joys of motherhood in Chicago

D) The sorrows of housing insecurity for migrants

8. Which of the following themes does Sinclair comment on in his passage about Mike Scully in Chapter 9?

A) Rampant adult illiteracy

B) Widespread dangerous contagions

C) Pervasive political corruption

D) Domestic sexual abuse

9. Which of the following phrases best summarizes the root of Marija’s anxiety about the “run on the bank” in Chapter 11?

A) A beckoning recession

B) Loss of employment

C) Fear of social exclusion

D) Illiteracy of financial systems

10. What does Jurgis immediately turn to as he grieves for Ona?

A) Religion

B) Work

C) Violence

D) Alcohol

11. Which of the following words best describes the imagery that Sinclair evokes in his description of the steel factory in Chapter 21?

A) A safari

B) The underworld

C) A homestead

D) The forest

12. Which of the following phrases best describes the juxtaposition to Antanas’s death?

A) Jurgis’s return to nature

B) Ona’s family’s forgiveness

C) The relentless power of the machine

D) Madame Haupt’s demand for payment

13. Based on Marija’s story, how are many girls found for brothel work in the Chicago area?

A) By volunteering

B) By human trafficking

C) By being relatives of other prostitutes

D) By recommendation

14. Which of the following words best summarizes Jurgis’s impressions of politics before attending the socialist political event?

A) Inspiring

B) Honest

C) Mundane

D) Disillusioned

15. Why does Sinclair close the novel with Jurgis’s discovery of Socialism?

A) To urge future generations of the necessity of adopting socialist policies

B) To remind readers of the evils of non-capitalist politics

C) To describe the horrors party politics brings to voters

D) To caution immigrants of the political machines in Chicago

Long Answer

Compose a response of 2-3 sentences, incorporating text details to support your response.

1. Describe the effect that Sinclair’s imagery has on the reader. How does this use of imagery link to Sinclair’s contribution to muckraker journalism?

2. Many of the characters experience senseless deaths in this novel. Identify which characters die throughout the novel and in which ways their deaths could have been easily prevented.