Upton Sinclair's 'The Jungle'

In 1906, “The Jungle” by Upton Sinclair was published and it created public outrage. Its depiction of working-class poverty, terrible working conditions, and unsanitary health conditions opened a window to the despondent world of the rising industrialized agriculture and food systems. Flash forward more than one hundred years, we are still seeing these same issues at a much larger scale around the globe. Moreover, these issues have evolved into new, more pressing problems that greatly affect the well-being of the Earth’s growing population in unimaginable ways. These industrialized systems have gained momentum over the last couple of decades, becoming an unprecedented multi-national, multi-billion dollar companies. Even though improvement has been vast, there still seems to be various plaguing issues surrounding this particular aspect of the Industrial Revolution. Some of those issues relate to the negative effects on the environment; food production and health; known cases of animal cruelty; and harsh working conditions. All in all, the adverse effects of the industrialized agricultural and food systems do not outweigh the limited benefits.

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).”

Upton Sinclair was the author of a book called "The Jungle". His book was designed to bring light to the conditions of those who canned meat in Chicago, but his foul descriptions of the unsanitary food, and the vile slaughterhouses resonated with his readers much more.

In Upton Sinclair's The Jungle, Sinclair introduces several issues that were going on in the Progressive Era and after. During the Progressive Era, Sinclair wanted to improve society somehow and to open the people's eyes about what was really going on, this is called muckraking. He wrote about problems that the working society went through year round and somehow described them nastier. The main character in the book is Jurgis Rudkus and he is from the Lithuanian countryside. It first starts off with the wedding of Jurgis Rudkus and Ona Lukoszaite, and it introduces tiny problems that the guests have with the wedding feast, especially in the meat. Furthermore, in Lithuanian weddings, the hosts would never let one

In the novel The Jungle by Upton Sinclair there are many ways that different literary elements are used to explore a political or social issue. One main issue has to do with the meat packing industry and how the workers are treated. In the novel, the main character had moved to America to find work and live the American Dream but his time in America was anything but a dream. Upton Sinclair uses many literary elements in his work to show imagery, metaphors/ similes and personification all why relating to the social issue of the packing industry.

The Jungle by Upton Sinclair is a vivid account of life for the working class in the early 1900s. Jurgis Rudkus and his family travel to the United States in search of the American dream and an escape from the rigid social structure of Lithuania. Instead, they find a myriad of new difficulties. Sinclair attributes their problems to the downfalls of capitalism in the United States. While America’s system was idealistic for Jurgis and his family at first, the mood of the story quickly transforms to assert that capitalism is evil. This theme drives the author’s message and relay of major issues throughout the entirety of the novel. The idea of capitalism and social Darwinism is to

labor in early industrial society and how the government supports for big business in American society. In history class, we have learn that the Progressive era is the first major reform movement in the twenty-century. It is a movement of the urban working class who look for the government intervention to improve the lives and working conditions, especially immigrants.

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 is one of the most well known muckrakers from the Progressive Era(1890-1920). He was a writer who wrote about 100 books and won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1943. In 1904 he was sent to Chicago by the socialist newspaper,Appeal to Reason,to expose the meatpacking industry and created it into a novel called The Jungle. According to “Upton Sinclair's The Jungle:Muckraking the Meat-Packing Industry” it states, ‘“Almost as an afterthought, Sinclair included a chapter on how diseased, rotten, and contaminated meat products were processed, doctored by chemicals, and mislabeled for sale to the public. He wrote that workers would process dead, injured, and diseased animals after regular hours when no meat inspectors were around. He explained how pork fat and beef scraps were canned and labeled as "potted chicken."’ This is what Sinclair would write about in The Jungle. It became very

Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle is an unashamed example of the journalistic style known as muckraking. Sinclair researched the conditions being fought against during the Progressive Era and painted a picture in literary form for the ignorant readers. The consumerism that taped into the greed of industrialists is drawn out many times. This greed, in turn, drove down the American Standard of living in almost every aspect. With every corner of hope demolished, a path was laid out for all to follow, the Progressive solution to the world: Socialism.

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.

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.

Written at the turn of the 20th century, Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle took place in an era of unprecedented advancement in civilization where the American economy had risen to become one of the wealthiest on the planet. However, Sinclair asserts that the rise of capitalist America resulted in the virulent corruption and competition that plighted society into an untamed “jungle.” Shown by the corruption of the Chicago meatpacking industry, Sinclair highlights the repulsive filth of human greed that was created as a byproduct of the economic boom. The effects of industrialism and the rise of untamed capitalism is what raped the superfluity of workers, like Jurgis Rudkus, of the opportunity to uncover prosperity in America. Not only does The Jungle capture the brutality and acceleration of corrupt capitalism and ruthless Darwinism during the Progressive Era, it also prompts resistance and displacement of the existing political system in favor of a socialist revolution. Through the novel, Sinclair demonstrates how the deterioration of the American Dream was exacerbated by the capitalist greed and corruption that eventually drove Jurgis and his family into mental degeneration and despair.

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.

Upton Sinclair came from a life of struggle. He did not start school until after he was ten years old, but was in college by the age of fourteen. He attended City College of New York until he was eighteen, and then he attended Columbia postgraduate. He studied literature, music, history, and philosophy. Sinclair’s childhood was a rough one. He saw two different sides to social class. Since his father was an alcoholic and would only work some of the time, he experienced the life of poverty. His mother wanting more for him, would send him to spend time with her upper middle class family. Sinclair grew up both wealthy and in poverty. This is a big reason, he was influenced