ipl-logo

Awarness Of Conditions In Upton Sinclair's The Jungle

1385 Words6 Pages

The rapid industrialization and urbanization of the late 19th century brought prosperity and wealth to America and improved the living standards of almost all citizens. Refined machinery, fresh innovations, and the management revolution accelerated the production and quality of products while minimizing costs. Despite the developments and improvements that occurred during this era, they came at a price. Along with industrialization came the issues of overcrowded housing, unsanitary conditions, and corruption in large corporations, to name a few. Business leaders of such corporations often exploited workers and repressed competition in a suffocating and monopolistic manner. The lawmakers and businessmen who benefited from the new developments …show more content…

This awareness motivated the actions of reformers and civilians, which therefore fueled Progressivism. In The Jungle by Sinclair, he wrote, “These rats were nuisances, and the packers would put poisoned bread out for them; they would die, and then rats, bread, and meat would go into the hoppers together, (79). Sinclair also described the contamination of meat by factory workers, the rotting of meat, and the generally unsanitary conditions of a meatpacking plant (79). While The Jungle’s main purpose was to highlight and raise awareness of the terrible working conditions of employees, public outrage was mainly focused on passages like these. Sinclair said, "I aimed at the public's heart and by accident I hit it in the stomach,” in reference to the misunderstanding. Such passages disgusted civilians who demanded that similarly to the Standard Oil Company, meatpacking facilities needed more government regulation. By informing the public with facts people didn’t want to hear, Sinclair effectively shaped public opinion against meat packing plants and created concern for the sanitation of food and the process to make it. Meat sales went down drastically following the publishing of this novel. The uproar caught the attention of President Theodore Roosevelt who then ordered an investigation of the meat packing plants. After getting a report back, Roosevelt decided it was necessary to pass regulatory laws. In response to the national demand and Roosevelt’s request, Congress passed the Pure Food and Drug Act and the Federal Meat Inspection Act in 1906. The effect of The Jungle on the public which resulted in legislative action displayed the impact that reformers could have on the government and politics (Henretta, et al. 580). The social reaction was a leading catalyst for tangible change, proving the necessity of

Show More
Related

  • Summary Of The Jungle By Upton Sinclair

    328 Words  | 2 Pages

    After reading “The Jungle” by Upton Sinclair, Theodore Roosevelt passed a few acts to ensure a safer and sanitary environment where livestock is slaughtered and processed. “The Jungle” shows the working class and their lack of social support, the loss of hope among the workers and unsanitary working and living conditions, for example, working environments were covered in blood, meat scraps, and dirty water. The book follows a man as he observes the meat industry as its horrific faults. He noticed the workers lost their fingers in the meat and the workers used bathrooms next to where the meat was processed occasionally doing their business on the floor. There was a chapter describing the meat being piled on the floor carrying sawdust, dead rats,

    Read More

  • Book Review Of Upton Sinclair On The Chicago Stockyards

    792 Words  | 4 Pages

    Sinclair sheds light on how unsanitary the meat processing industry was, using words to paint a mental picture in the minds of the reader leaving them with a bad taste in their mouths. This story eventually led to the creation of the Pure Food and Drug Act after people went crazy reading what was described in the book. Although no specific facts were provided other than the contents in the book itself, it held true accounts of what the industry was like. Sinclair would speak of the rat poison being left close to the meat, or the use of the rotting meat to be sold. With this story people began to see the gruesome conditions by which their food was being handled.

    Read More

  • Summary Of Stories That Changed America By Carl Jensen

    1184 Words  | 5 Pages

    Sinclair worked undercover in a meatpacking plant to gather information firsthand, before he began writing the book. Its influence on the labor practices and regulations governing the food industry cannot be understated. It tackles subjects as varied as the poor living conditions of the immigrants, exploitation of cheap labor by industrialists, and the unsanitary conditions of the meatpacking plants and stockyards of Chicago. The descriptions of the disgusting processes that were conducted in the meatpacking plants made for shocking reading and turned the book into a bestseller. The President Teddy Roosevelt ordered an investigation into the lack of sanitation in meatpacking plants and caused the creation of legislation governing the food industry in the form of the Food and Drugs Act of 1906.

    Read More

  • Summary Of 1906 Upton Sinclair's The Jungle

    1148 Words  | 5 Pages

    In 1906 Upton Sinclair published The Jungle, a fictional novel that depicted the working class’ lifestyle and working conditions in the American city of Chicago. It focused on the meat-packing industry of the 20th century and the capitalist elite achieving success through the manipulation of poor immigrants, corruption of the capitalist government, institutions and its exploits of the growing industrial American state. Though Sinclair’s novel received critical acclaim for its reveal of the poor environmental and health conditions of the meat-packing industry, was there an underlying ideology he sought to impose and if so was he successful in his attempt? The third-person narration of The Jungle, enables Upton Sinclair from making his argument

    Read More

  • Summary Of The Jungle By Upton Sinclair

    1860 Words  | 8 Pages

    While he sought to change the system of labor in the United States with his novel, The Jungle, he instead impacted the food industry, which saw changes in the food and production process. Fortunately for Sinclair, I have discovered why he failed. Unfortunately for Sinclair, I am forty-nine years too late. Sinclair fails to make labor changes through his novel because

    Read More

  • The Jungle-Like Atmosphere In Upton Sinclair's The Jungle

    1568 Words  | 7 Pages

    Upton Sinclair, a successful muckraker in the early 1900s, is the author to the gut-wrenching novel, The Jungle. In this story, Sinclair incorporates real facts he learned from going, undercover, into a meat-packing factory. Upton believed that the working conditions and the lifestyle the immigrants were forced to live in, during this time, were heinous; because of this he strives to create a novel that will gain the attention of the government and large factories in order to create better working conditions and quality of life. To accomplish this feat Sinclair subtly compares the meat-packing factory to a jungle; he speaks of physical and mental aspects such as temperature and a hierarchy, includes ages and lifespans, and also integrates animal imagery. Fusing all of these different factors gives The Jungle the exact jungle-like atmosphere Sinclair was hoping to obtain.

    Read More

  • 'Immigrants In Upton Sinclair's The Jungle'

    502 Words  | 3 Pages

    He vividly described the unkempt messiness of the meat packing factories, going as far as to say that men “made a practice of washing them in the water that was to be ladled into the sausage.” The colorful descriptions of the factories left a heavy impact on America as a whole, as seen in the passing of the Meat Inspection Act. One of the major flaws of this book was the seemingly forced ending. Rudkus goes through years of toil and hardship, and supposedly finds the light at the end of the road in socialism. It was obvious to me when reading that Sinclair was a strong proponent of socialism, and I was disenchanted with the whole story after the

    Read More

  • The Meatpacking Industry In Upton Sinclair's The Jungle

    976 Words  | 4 Pages

    The book was instrumental in the passage of the Pure Food and Drug Act and the Meat Inspection Act in 1906. These laws were passed in response to the book’s depiction of the unsanitary conditions in the meatpacking industry. The laws were designed to improve the safety and quality of food products in the United States. The Jungle also had an impact on the political beliefs of many Americans. Sinclair’s message of socialism as a solution to the social and economic problems in America resonated with many people.

    Read More

  • Overview Of Upton Sinclair's The Jungle

    892 Words  | 4 Pages

    The President at the time, Roosevelt, summoned a meeting with Sinclair, in which they discussed what he had written about. A few months later, after inspections of meat producing companies had been done, President Roosevelt established the Meat Inspection Act Of 1906. This prevented any bad meat from making its way into stores or other places the public could buy it. He also signed a law regulating food and drugs called the Pure Food and Drug Act which prohibited mislabeling of food and drugs. The Jungle saved many lives and ensured confidence in many people after laws for food safety were

    Read More

  • Summary Of The Jungle By Upton Sinclair

    2539 Words  | 11 Pages

    By reading this book, a reader basically just appreciates all the benefits of socialism. However, Sinclair fails to mention all the benefits of capitalism. The book is extremely biased toward socialism, but that is because he wanted to convince readers that socialism is the best form of government. In addition, a reader also learns about the horrors of meat packing. In class, we learned about how the meatpacking industry was one of the most disgusting of its time.

    Read More

  • Strengths Of The Jungle

    1054 Words  | 5 Pages

    Instead of honing in on the social aspect, and the workers in general, many scholars and students are taught that the main purpose of this novel was to unveal the meat-packing conditions and the lack of policies and standards regarding the health of the public. To add, Barrett states, “...the slaughterhouses and the fate of the animals consigned there symbolized a much greater human tragedy being played out in factories and urban slums throughout the world” (xiii). This perfectly sums up that the initial goal of Sinclair’s writing was intended to emphasize and focus in on the hearts of humans, but rather as previously mentioned, ended up hitting them in the stomach, in relation to the unsanitary and disturbing conditions that America’s food was being processed. Another valid part was the lack of emphasis on American’s social life. This served as a prime weakness that Barrett explained, which he states, “The social and cultural lives of the immigrants disintegrate under the pressures of daily life in an urban slum” (xix).

    Read More

  • Summary Of The Jungle By Upton Sinclair

    902 Words  | 4 Pages

    In Upton Sinclair’s novel The Jungle, he accounts the vile methods of food preparation and the hazardous working conditions for immigrant workers. Sinclair argues how the growth of industrialized food production, in Chicago’s Packingtown, results in competition for jobs. Survival now solely depends on physical strength. Sinclair offers socialistic solutions to these problems such as advocating workers’ rights and benefits.

    Read More

  • 1900's Meat Packing Industry

    665 Words  | 3 Pages

    Although it may seem that the meat packing industry is still in turmoil because of their unwillingness to make known what foods have Genetically Modified organisms present, the meat packing industry was much worse during the 1900’s because of the unsafe working conditions, and uncleanliness of the food. Body 1: The meat packing industry’s working conditions were much worse in the 1900’s than they are today. In the novel The Jungle, by Upton Sinclair, working conditions were horrible for immigrants who were employed in these factories. People in these factories were worked very hard and used up till they could not work anymore. In the novel Jurgis broke his ankle because of the unsafe

    Read More

  • Summary Of The Jungle By Upton Sinclair

    768 Words  | 4 Pages

    Throughout Upton Sinclair’s late teen years he invested time in being an undercover investigator. He began his investigation in Packingtown, Chicago in its unsanitary factories. Sinclair was disgusted; therefore, he exposed these conditions to help later pass the Pure Food and Drug Act along with the Meat Inspection Act. Throughout the context of The Jungle, Sinclair aims at the character and setting to expose the meat packing industry to contain the public’s health.

    Read More

  • Upton Sinclair's The Jungle

    1429 Words  | 6 Pages

    The book is undoubtedly most known for exposing the meat industry as endangering the American populace, bringing food inspection to the “forefront of American consciousness”, and leading to the Meat Inspection Act and the Pure Food and Drug Act (Lerner). This is undoubtedly noteworthy- after all, it is the first exposé on the food industry and the well-deserved reason why the novel is so frequently mentioned in history textbooks. However, the true purpose of The Jungle is to serve as a “round of ammunition in the battle for social justice” and advocate the use of “individual progress put to use for the common good”, making it an important criticism of capitalism and a part of the Progressive Era (Napierkowski & Stanley). Because it exposes injustices which America has yet to remedy, there is relevancy to the text and, therefore, a need to read it in classrooms. The reformist nature of the times is effectively captured through Sinclair’s descriptions of the meatpacking industry and its unfair treatment of workers in a dramatized way that differentiates it from other muckraker texts (Bielakowski).

    Read More

More about Awarness Of Conditions In Upton Sinclair's The Jungle

Open Document