Muckrakers were journalists, novelists, professors, and public intellectuals who voiced their Progressive ideas, brought exposure to the living conditions of American workers and political corruption present throughout the era. Their name of muckraker was given by President Roosevelt in a speech depicting them as people who were interested in only raking the filth with a muckrake in their hands. He supported their exposure of issues but no in the way in which they did them which he often saw as irresponsible. It was very much due to the muckrakers’ success that the general public became supportive of progressive issues. One of the most famous muckrakers was Upton Sinclair. He was best known for publishing The Jungle which uncovered the atrocities of the meat packing industry. He was born and raised in Baltimore, Maryland. Throughout his upbringing, he was able to experience the way both the poor and rich lived because of his parents and grandparents, respectively. He later went on to study law at the university level but stopped in order to work on his writing. Upton Sinclair disguised himself and went undercover for seven weeks in the year of 1904. He entered the meatpacking industry as an everyday worker and observed the conditions of the meatpacking industry. He began work at one of the factories in Chicago’s slum district known as “Packingtown”. His main purpose was to expose these horrible conditions while also showing how poor Americans and immigrants lived during
Upton Sinclair is most known for his criticisms of the meat packaging industry in his book The Jungle. For close to 2 months, Sinclair worked in a Chicago meat package plant in order to expose the hidden truths of the industry. This was one of the first examples of a journalist immersing themselves in the material coved in
Upton Sinclair, the most influential writer regarding the food industry was born in Baltimore 1879. Growing up in a poor family with an alcoholic father was difficult for Upton (Simkin, John). Upton often lived with his wealthy grandparents during his childhood due to the instability in his own home. Moving from his poor parents house to his grandparents rich house constantly made him see the injustice in the American society, this made him become a radical socialist as young as his early teens. At 14, Upton being the intelligent and independent man he was, started attending New York City College. In order to make money to pay for his tuition, apartment, and still provide for his family, Upton sold magazines and news articles of his socialistic ideas. The childhood Upton struggled through with family and financial problems only made him strive to change the conditions of America in his writing.
Most famous people inspire authors to write books written about their achievements, however Upton Sinclair Junior did it backwards. Some of his ninety novels including an autobiography, and in particular The Jungle, changed America forever by using fictitious stories to depict the present issues at that time. Upton Sinclair was an author and activist in the early to mid 1900’s who was passionate about issues involving women 's rights, working conditions, and the unemployed. He wrote over ninety books in his lifetime, as well as countless articles and other works of journalism. As Sinclair grew up, he was exposed to both a lifestyle of poverty and wealth that shaped his world as well as his political views as a socialist, or someone who advocates the vesting of the control of the means of production and distribution, of capital or land in the community as a whole. Upton Sinclair was a controversial author who took a stand in history by vastly impacting the food industry, becoming politically active, and forecasting solutions to social problems.
Sometimes, your own actions can cause your own pain. One good example of this is The Jungle. The Jungle, by Upton Sinclair, was written in 1906 and is about an immigrant family, the most important Jurgis and Ona who come to America, hoping to find freedom, liberty, and most importantly, a job, as well as Jurgis looking to marry Ona. However, they soon find out that that they are being deceived at every turn, and their lives are worse than before. It is clear that Jurgis is one of the main protagonists, and while Jurgis and his family are exploited by the ‘bosses’, Jurgis is usually the cause of his own pain, and is his own antagonist. This is unique among books, because the author doesn’t usually want the reader to feel too much pity for the protagonist, but that is exactly what happens in The Jungle. The most significant ways this happens to Jurgis is by him not listening to other workers at Packingtown, when he attacked Ona’s boss, and when he joined the criminal world.
Uptons Sinclairs The Jungle from 1906 is a fictional book from the progressive era. Even though The Jungle is a fictional novel, it described conditions that were real during the progressive era, such as working class poverty and harsh working conditions. The novel was written as a way to exploit the real lives of working citizens at home and at work.
Several years before and after the turn the turn of the twentieth century, America experienced a large influx of European immigration. These new citizens had come in search of the American dream of success, bolstered by promise of good fortune. Instead they found themselves beaten into failure by American industry. Upton Sinclair wanted to expose the cruelty and heartlessness endured by these ordinary workers. He chose to represent the industrial world through the meatpacking industry, where the rewards of progress were enjoyed only by the privileged, who exploited the powerless masses of workers. The Jungle is a novel and a work of investigative journalism; its primary purpose was to inform the general public about the dehumanization
Upton Sinclair was a popular and prolific American author, who wrote nearly 100 books. His work was honored with the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1943. He was born in Maryland on September 20, 1878, and died in New Jersey on November 25, 1968. Sinclair's parents were poor but his grandparents were wealthy. This opportunity to live in two social settings gave him insight into how both the rich and poor lived during the late 19th century. This contrast greatly influenced his writing and set the stage for his socialist beliefs. Sinclair had a passion for education, was a prolific American novelist and a champion for socialism, health, worker rights, and many other social causes, and he made an impact in politics.
In the early 1900's life for America's new Chicago immigrant workers in the meat packing industry was explored by Upton Sinclair's novel The Jungle. Originally published in 1904 as a serial piece in the socialist newspaper Appeal to Reason, Sinclair's novel was initially found too graphic and shocking by publishing firms and therefore was not published in its complete form until 1906. In this paper, I will focus on the challenges faced by a newly immigrated worker and on what I feel Sinclair's purpose was for this novel.
While the works of Upton Sinclair are not widely read today because of their primacy of social change rather than aesthetic pleasure, works like The Jungle are important to understand in relation to the society that produced them. Sinclair was considered a part of the muckraking era, an era when social critics observed all that was wrong and corrupt in business and politics and responded against it. The Jungle was written primarily as a harsh indictment of wage slavery, but its vivid depictions of the deplorable lack of sanitation involved in the meatpacking industry in Chicago resulted in public outrage to the point where Congress passed the Pure Food and Drug Act and the Meat Inspection
Thesis Statement: Upton Sinclair was a muckraker who wrote, “The Jungle”, which exposed the problems of the meatpacking industry.
2. Muckrakers were writers who exposed corruption and abuse in politics, meatpacking, businesses, child labor, and many more problems. Upton Sinclair wrote The Jungle were he described the unsanitary conditions of the slaughterhouses which many wok and the sale of rotten meat to the public. Theodore Dreiser wrote Sister Carrie were she talked about a young woman’s corrupt morals in Chicago’s rough urban environment. Lincoln Steffens published The Shame of the Cities which showed how political corruption profited business leaders and party leaders. Ida Tarbell exposed Rockefeller’s Standard Oil Company over its arrogance and economic machinations.
Muckrakers - the name given to writers during the Progressive Age who investigated and reported on and exposed corruption, abuse of power, and injustices. They were very influential writers who wanted attention from Congress to remedy the issues they wrote about. They provided accurate details. Because of muckraking Acts and laws were passed to help the people. Ida Turbell,Jacob Riis, and Upton Sinclair are known for being muckrakers. Muckraking ended between the years 1910 and
In short, Muckraker journalists exposed almost every corner of corrupt corporations and politics. In this period, new corporations, factories, and businesses boomed. To expose these corporations and leaders many reporters began to write articles on these corporations, which later became known as Muckraking. Big corporations began to handle their workers as slaves. But in the same time, corruption in these corporations and businesses also emerged. During the second half of 19th Century, United States experienced Prosperity and Power. In addition, leaders of the nation was also involved in the corruption scandals. Another muckraker was Upton Sinclair, who exposed the dangerous production of foods and drugs in the US. He reported how meat productions
In the early 1900's life for America's new Chicago immigrant workers in the meat packing industry was explored by Upton Sinclair's novel The Jungle. Originally published in 1904 as a serial piece in the socialist newspaper Appeal to Reason, Sinclair's novel was initially found too graphic and shocking by publishing firms and therefore was not published in its complete form until 1906. In this paper, I will focus on the challenges faced by a newly immigrated worker and on what I feel Sinclair's purpose was for this novel.
The Jungle is a novel that focuses on a family of immigrants who came to America looking for a better life. The novel was written by Upton Sinclair, who went into the Chicago stockyards to investigate what life was like for the people who worked there. The book was originally written with the intent of showing Socialism as a better option than Capitalism for the society. However, the details of the story ended up launching a government investigation of the meat packing plants, and ultimately regulation of food products. It gave an informative view of what life was like in America at the time. Important topics like immigration, working conditions and sanitation issues of the time were all addressed well in the novel.