The Role Of Slaughterhouses In The 1900s

Back in the 1900s, the meat treatment was almost the worst it could get. The workers treated the meat like it was garbage. In Sinclair's book The Jungle he talks about how the meat was handled very vividly. He explains in his book how the meat packing business was a scam. The meat packing business was a scam because, like the farmers, only cared about the money they make. The meat taken out of the pickle was often sour. To take away the odor of the meat, they would run it with soda, then sell the sour, disgusting piece of meat to the free-lunch counters to be given away (Sinclair, 134). Sinclair stated in book that they sold their soiled meat just to make a quick buck and not caring about other people's health issues. Back then there was also a “Number Grade” on all meats. The lower the grade the more expensive and better treated that meat was. “...after the hams had been smoked, there would be found some that had gone to the bad. Formerly these had been sold as "Number Three Grade," but later on some ingenious person had hit upon a new device, and now they would extract the bone, about which the bad part generally lay, and insert in the hole a white-hot iron. After this invention there was no longer Number One, Two, and Three Grade--there was only Number One Grade” (Sinclair, 134). This quote is telling us that the entire meat industry was a scam because all they wanted to do was make money, even if it meant selling spoiled hams to its customers. The “Number Grades” made sure people knew that they were not going to buy and eat a spoiled ham. Without the “Number Grades” people were buying hams they may not have agreed to eat because they were spoiled and could harm their

The conditions for animals in modern slaughterhouses are unsanitary and violent. The lack of rules and regulations cause animals to be treated poorly because this industry is focused on mass production and profit rather than finding a more humane alternative to run the meat packing business. The most effective method to stop this cruelty is to learn about where meat comes from, start supporting the organic and family farms which will ultimately lead to the reducing the amount of animals that have to suffer.

The Jungle by Upton Sinclair was written to expose the brutality faced by the workers in the meatpacking industry. Sinclair wanted to show people what was really going on in the factory because few people were informed about these companies work conditions. He wanted to show the public that meat was “ diseased, rotten, and contaminated” (Willie).” This revelation shocked the, public which later led to the creation of the federal laws on food and safety. Sinclair strongly shows the failure of capitalism in the meatpacking industry which he viewed as inhumane, destructive, unjust, brutal, and violent (Willie).”

This book was called The Jungle and its purpose was to bring attention to the hardships of plant workers (Constitutional Rights Foundation). However, when the public read his book, they were more appalled at the possibility of consuming contaminated meat than the hardships of plant workers, and so demanded that President Theodore Roosevelt and Congress do something about it (Laws.com). In response, President Roosevelt commissioned labor commissioner Charles P. Neill and social worker James Bronson Reynolds to investigate Sinclair's claims. What they found was exactly what Sinclair had described (Constitutional Rights Foundation). After the President and Congress heard of these deplorable conditions, they went to work creating a law to improve the working conditions in both slaughterhouses and meat processing plants. What they came up with was the Federal Meat Inspection Act (Constitutional Rights Foundation). The act improved conditions in slaughterhouses and meat processing plants by forcing slaughterhouses and meat processing plants to practice clean and sanitary handling and preparation of meat. It also required inspections of livestock and animal carcasses, as well as monitoring of slaughterhouses and meat processing plants, among other things (USLegal, Incorporated). All this helped to put an end to the dangerous and unsanitary conditions of

Sinclair’s writing started to become very eminent in the early 1900’s, and by the age of 16 his book The Jungle changes the food industry forever. In 1905 Sinclair was hired to work in “Packingtown” Chicago for a meat processing company for a pay of $500 ( $13,513.51 today’s money) (Upton Sinclair Hits Readers in the Stomach). For two months Sinclair worked in the meatpacking industry, afterwards, he went into solitude for nine months to write about the details of the industry. “The meat would be shoveled into carts,

In the 20th century, factory jobs were one of the most sought after by immigrants and members of the American lower class. These jobs were often in unsafe conditions, with long working hours, and very poor paying salaries. In 1906, Upton Sinclair released a narrative entitled The Jungle, a description of immigrant working conditions in the meat packing and production industry. It was intended to reach out to the average American and inform them of the conditions in which immigrants lived and

This is seen in the meatpacking industry where the conditions were horrific. Sinclair exposes the truth of Capitalism in America as hypocritical and deceitful. Furthermore, these changes in American society influenced the work of Upton Sinclair and particularly in “The Jungle”. Sinclair examines several societal changes during the turn of the century where his literature reflects the changes of a newly emerging

Discoveries can be confronting and provocative. From this, we can be exposed to disturbing images that make us question our societal values. In ‘The Meatworks’, Gray quickly establishes this unwelcoming nature of discoveries through the explicitly derogatory description of the abattoirs processes and it’s accompanied workers. This is evident through the use of provocative imagery in “arm-thick corkscrews, grinding around inside it, meat or not”. From this depiction, we are exposed to the merciless treatment of the of the +pigs as they lose their identity. The fact that the machine never stops grinding whether there is meat in there or not denotes such a sense of insensitivity towards the process, causing the reader to feel distressed and guilty of the slaughter.  A degree of insensitivity is also presented to the reader through the recurring motif of blood, an idea that is central to the poem. “Stench of blood…chomping

Upton Sinclair was also one of the true progressives, intent on radically changing how poor urban workers lived. His novel, the Jungle described horrific conditions in the meat packing industry in Chicago. As in Document B in 1906, it describes how the meat packing process was completely unsanitary, and during the process, "gathered dirt, splinters, floor filth, and the expectoration of tuberculosis and other diseased workers. " Just as these descriptions were included in the jungle, this led to the Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906.

. A. Upton Sinclair wrote, “The Jungle”, to expose the appalling working conditions in the meatpacking industry.

In The Jungle, Upton Sinclair discusses the chaos of a meatpacking factory in Chicago through the observations of Jurgis. As a Russian who is begging to familiarizing himself with the North America, Jurgis is unaware of the customs of America. He starts by learning English, finding out that America had worked under democracy and learns more about how men with power execute it. During Jurgis’ trip, he talks about the filth that resided in the area, including “Bubbly Creek” and Durham’s Pure Leaf Lard. While the quote above describes how the workers were physically affected by their work, the bigger picture demonstrates how the process of meat packing is a chaotic— just like a capitalist government.

The Jungle was a book written by Upton Sinclair in 1906 about the terrible conditions and manipulation immigrants faced in the United States in Chicago and other industrialized cities in the US. The novel was centered upon a Lithuanian family who heard stories of America and the better life it had to offer. Excited about all the opportunities in America, the family of 13 including Jurgis Rudkus, Ona Lukoszaite, Elzbieta Lukoszaite, Marija Berczynskas, Jonas, Antanas Rudkus, Little Antanas Rudkus, Stanislovas, Kotrina, Vilimas, Nikalojus, Juozapas, and Kristoforas, packed their bags and moved to America, the “land of opportunity.” There they found opportunities where, more often than not, they were manipulated by people. The book discusses the horrors inside the meat-packing industry that would turn some vegan and make most meat eaters cringe, but; nonetheless, keep eating. Using imagery and connotative diction to amplify the characters, plot, and theme in his novel, The Jungle, Upton Sinclair is able to successfully capture the reader’s emotions and reveal the unsanitary environments, unfair working conditions, and unethical business practices in America's meat-packing industries.

He views this as the way American capitalism has an attractive exterior to the incoming immigrants, but in reality is as corrupt and rotten as the meat they [Americans] sell. The slaughterhouses of The Jungle are not just convenient targets for Sinclair to expose to the public. They also serve as a larger metaphor for how American business treats its laborers, by luring them into unsafe working conditions and then consuming their dedication and strength just as they did to the livestock. In the novel, Sinclair blames the mechanisms of capitalism on the tricks that the meatpackers use to sell spoiled and contaminated meat. In an effort to squeeze every dime that they can out of the meat packing process, the packers encourage short cuts and unsanitary conditions in order to avoid wasting money. The workers are so abused themselves by the system that they do not have the power to change the conditions of the factories, this causes the audience to empathize with the workers, empathy (and disgust) is what triggered the major response of the public after this novel was published.

The jungle by Upton Sinclair has made me realize how history shaped what america is today. It was in this book that raised the spotlight on many topics including: meat handling, minimum wage, workers compensation, sexual harassment, child labor and most importantly the right to express one's thoughts. Now we live in a country that not only honors our freedom but respects and looks over our health. The jungle takes place in the 1900s when over 9 million immigrants were flocking to America searching for what was known as the American dream. So was this particular lutheran family that came to America for just that. Not knowing that in the end they would be contributors of the awareness and importance of checking meat handlers.

The risks associated with working in meatpacking factories have plagued the industry for a long time. Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle exposed the repulsive dangers and perils