1. Rhetoric in Social Commentary
Lesson 1

2. Bellringer Use your phones to look up “social commentary.”
Write a short paragraph describing how literature is used as a means of social commentary.
Be prepared to discuss your findings later in the lesson.

3. Unit Objectives
By the end of this unit, you will understand how authors use language to advance an argument and achieve purpose.
You will also use language to advance your own claims and analysis.

4. Today’s Objectives Summarize a literary text
Analyze literature as a means of social commentary

5. What You Will Need
“Chapter 14” from The Jungle by Upton Sincalir (in your purple packet)
Paper and a writing utensil

6. Guiding Questions What is social commentary?
Social commentary is the act of using rhetorical means to provide commentary on issues in a society. This is often done with the idea of implementing or promoting change by informing the general populace about a given problem and appealing to people's sense of justice.
How is literature used as social commentary?
Writers and artists engage in social commentary when they use their work to pass judgment on something that is happening in society. Generally, their purpose is to expose a social problem and then inspire change.

7. About the Author
phy.com/people/u pton-sinclair

9. Discussion Questions
What societal problem(s) is Upton Sinclair addressing in this text?
Is Sinclair making an argument?
Remember this is literary fiction, so can literary fiction also be an argument?
Given the characters’ unusual names, do you think they are from America?
Jurgis and family are actually from Lithuania.
Why do you think Jurgis and his family came to America?

10. Why would meat-packing companies want to hire people like Jurgis?
Immigrants flocked to places like Chicago in search of a better life; factory bosses took advantage of these immigrants’ desire and work ethic and lack of knowledge of the American system.
What type of homes do you imagine these immigrant workers lived in? How do you know?
These immigrants were paid so little that they couldn’t afford decent housing. Therefore, the American “slum” was born: substandard housing filled with refuse and diseases such as tuberculosis, mumps, measles, etc.

11. The FDA and OSHA are two government groups that regulate the safety of the work place and the safety of food. Do you think these organizations existed at the time of this text was written? How do you know?
Share with students that this text was written in 1900 and, in part,  led to the creation of the FDA and OSHA.

12. How Does This Apply to You?
What is a common genre read by your peers that would be considered social commentary?
Dystopian Literature

13. Summarizing Activity Complete your GIST summary handout.
Remember, summarizing is an important skill to have when writing about a text. Practicing this skill is preparing us for the assessments at the end of the unit.

14. Great job! In this lesson you summarized a literary text.
You also analyzed literature as a means of social commentary.

15. Reading Suggestions
If social commentary is a genre that interests you, the website listed below is a great place to start looking!