Upton Sinclair And Ida B. Wells: An Analysis

Upton Sinclair’s novel The Jungle had powerful political effects, resulting in his ultimate goal to create change. He was aware about the unsanitary conditions in the meat factories and therefore knew that something needed to be done. He was determined to implant a spark in readers and make them desire change. The variety of the rhetorical devices that Sinclair included helped him accomplish his goal. In chapter 14 from The Jungle, Upton Sinclair identifies imagery, personification, and pathos in order to inspire change upon the unhealthy standards and brutal work conditions in the factories.

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).”

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,

Who was Upton Sinclair is a question that is easily answered. Upton Sinclair was one in the group of American writers known as the muckrakers. Sinclair along with Ida Tarbell, Lincoln Steffens, and Ray Stannard Baker exposed scandal and corruption during the 20th century in hopes to right the injustices in the world and create a better place for everyone to live. Upton Sinclair is known as one of the most influential writers of his time due to his insuppressible ambition for equality, financial freedom, and truth. His strong desires led him to be a prominent Socialist that revealed the unfair working conditions in packing houses that eventually led to the Pure Food and Drug Act as well as the Meat Inspection Act.

Upton Sinclair was born in a small home in Maryland. His father was a raging alcoholic, mother a devout Episcopalian, who objected to the use of any substances. The extremes of such a relationship, one side a riches-to-rags liquor salesman, another a daughter of a wealthy family, left a lasting impact on Upton. Seeing both worlds gave him a broad view of how life could be like for those of the United States, helping fuel his ideals later in life.

Upton Sinclair was born in Baltimore, Maryland on September 20th 1978. Sinclair grew up in a broken household; his father was an alcohol salesman and killed himself drinking. While his mother would not even think about drinking alcohol. So these personalities naturally clashed. So Sinclair found some solace in books, Sinclair was a natural writer and he began publishing at the young age of fifteen years old. Sinclair started off going to school at a small college by the name of New York City College. This was just temporary as Sinclair would need time and money to move higher up to a form of better education. So as a result Sinclair took the initiative and he started writing columns on ethnic jokes and hack fiction for small magazines in

The early 20th century is seen to many people as one of the most influential periods of American history. Although at the time, industrial revolution was coming to a slow halt, American industry was going nowhere. New revolutions in factory management were occurring almost daily, making now common products and services for the average American more and more accessible. The future for citizens in the country certainly had never looked brighter. But underneath this beautiful façade there was a deep and dark underbelly. Not unlike Newton’s second law, in order for industries to maintain a profit margin, cutbacks had to be made somewhere—and nobody knew this better than Upton Sinclair.

At the turn of the century, the United States was an industrial country. However, society was not perfect. Muckrakers were writers who saw and discussed problems society faced. One muckraker “...aimed at the public’s heart, and by accident … hit it in the stomach” (Bloodsworth). The muckraker’s name is Upton Sinclair. Sinclair affected many aspects of society. Without the writings of Sinclair, society would not be aware of certain issues it faced such as capitalistic immorals, extensive needed problems and political problems.

     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.

In 1906, a man named Upton Sinclair wrote a book by the name "The Jungle", a yellow journalism novel written about the way food was being produced and the truth behind everything that was really inside all the meat the citizens were eating. Yellow Journalism is a style of writing that uses eye-catching headlines and exaggerates the facts of a situation into a big problem. Although Sinclair's objective was to educate the American public about the injustices of a capitalistic society, readers focused mainly on the health and hygiene aspects of the work (Benson, Sonia, "Meat Inspection Act/Pure Food and Drug

During my investigating of one most famous muckrakers; I found was Upton Sinclair whom I have had the privilege to get know. Sinclair has shown to be a very interesting person. Sinclair has had many challenges over his life time; from the articles and books he has written, reforms that he has set in place, makes this person very interesting. Upton Sinclair was born September 20, 1878 in Baltimore, Maryland. He was raised in poverty but his father worked as a liquor salesman, which gave him the chance to be around different types of people. Sinclair and his family moved when he was older and found himself growing up in New York City. He would tell me of some stories about loving the works of Shakespeare and Percy Bysshe Shelley, which at every chance he would get to read these works. Upton started college at a young age of fourteen and where he went to school was the City College

Throughout the years of the Progressive movement many people attributed to the expanding distrust of businesses. These people were known as muckrakers. There job was just as it sounds: to uncover the nasty and distasteful facts of large corporations. To no surprise one of the more famous muckrakers was Upton Sinclair. His book The Jungle was so appalling that, in 1906, “the Bureau of Animal Industry refuted Sinclair’s severest allegations, characterizing them as ‘intentionally misleading and false,’ ‘willful and deliberate misrepresentations of fact,’ and ‘utter absurdity.’”(Michael Suede) However these remarks did not change the public's opinion on the meatpacking industry. Sinclair had said many things that discusted the public one of which

Like Upton Sinclair who authored an exposé entitled The Jungle regarding corruption within the meat packing industry, Nellie Bly used journalism to expose injustice and initiate policy

5. Upton Sinclair's The Jungle exposed filthy conditions in meat packing plants. The public was outraged and the government responded. In 1992 ABC-News did a similar story, this time in a supermarket.