Dorothy Day had a curious personality and a very imaginative mind. When he attended the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, he wrote in his biography The Long Lonelies, "my reading began to be socially conscious" (Day 36). It was around this time that he began reading Upton Sinclair's The Jungle. Sinclair was a socialist to whom Day would most likely have strongly attached himself. Day was part of the Christian Socialist movement and sympathized with many of Sinclair's ideals. At the time she met The Jungle, Dorothy Day was living in Chicago with her family. Coincidentally, The Jungle was set in Chicago, and so Day could further identify with the realities depicted in the novel. The Jungle dealt with the cruel and shocking truths behind the meatpacking and processing industry. Day was fascinated by his characters' stories. She was also largely responsible for caring for her brother John, as the family expected of her. In her early years, Day walked with John through the park to relax and appreciate nature, but when she began reading Sinclair's work, she shifted walking routes to the poor neighborhood of Chicago's West Side. As he walked around the neighborhood, he often imagined Sinclair's work in motion, letting fiction become reality. Day's curious nature made her want to see firsthand the living conditions of the poor. He ventured through the poor neighborhood and looked into houses and looked into people, both of which had very depressing things inside them. Day did this often, and as she did so she imagined the characters in The Jungle and imagined their existence in this very alive and very real neighborhood. It would become his childhood that... middle of paper... at the end of The Jungle, he has no other options. He longed for someone or something to provide him with answers to what was wrong with the world. Although Jurgis does not pray, socialism is the answer to his prayers. Sinclair describes a socialist community where there is a lot of love, care, and support for those who need it, a direct representation of what Day saw in people after the San Francisco earthquake. As is already evident, Day's empathy for the poor is very strong. . Sinclair's work would only add fuel to the rebellious fire burning inside her. Reading Jurgis' story and his experience with socialism would have made a deep impression on Day. Sinclair became a very popular writer, and not without merit. Day was just one of many fascinated by this story. As a result, Day would largely agree with the socialism depicted in The Jungle.