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Upton Sinclair Symbolism

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“The great corporation which employed you lied to you, and lied to the whole country—from top to bottom it was nothing but one gigantic lie” (Upton Sinclair). A revolutionary figure that will be addressed in this essay is the one and only Upton Sinclair. Through most of his life, starting from the age of 14, Sinclair was invested in voicing his opinions through fiction (Badertscher). He did this by taking a real-life issue and integrating it into the plot of his literature while a point of view in that literature is given to a fictional character representing something or someone related to the real-life issue (“Upton Sinclair’s”). Although Upton Sinclair didn’t intend to, he improved the meatpacking industry’s cleanliness and ethics by revealing …show more content…

The meatpacking industries carelessness towards their workers are physically endangering them daily. “Men who used knives on the sped-up assembly lines frequently lost fingers. Men who hauled 100-pound hunks of meat crippled their backs” (“Upton Sinclair’s”). Through the repetitive endangerment of these businesses’ workers it has highlighted the industry’s unnatural greed and lack of empathy. These damages that are inflicted on their workers can be critical, life-changing or even lethal. Mr. Sinclair’s book provided more distressing news of the terrible practices in this industry taught to the workers so that more meat can be distributed for profit. “He wrote that workers would process dead, injured, and diseased animals after regular hours when no meat inspectors were around” (“Upton Sinclair’s”). Meatpacking industries provides more meat for their customers purely for profit. This causes the industry to be influenced to sell its meat, no matter the condition it is in. Packaged meat put in revolting conditions were brought to light, thanks to “The Jungle” and the customers of these businesses were …show more content…

People of America were utterly disgusted by the uncleanliness of the production of the food they ate. “I aimed at the public's heart, and by accident I hit it in the stomach” (“Muckrakers” 121). America felt betrayed and were confused by the lack of empathy or care given by major meatpacking companies. Public outcry over the contamination of their food was not fully supported by the person that incited it because he intended for the attention to go towards the terrible conditions that the workers in production industries go through. Their customers sought to seek regulation of the meatpacking industry due to the contamination of their food. “The middle-class readers who bought the book demanded government action to ensure the safety of their food supply” (“Muckrakers” 120). Justice was attempting to hinder the vile practices of this industry through the public’s outcry. They felt threatened by the industry’s unregulated actions and needed authorities to change this. That traitorous industry underestimated the length its consumers were willing to go to fix their destructive

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