Food Safety Myth In Upton Sinclair's The Jungle

The Jungle, written by Upton Sinclair, is about a Lithuanian family that travels to Chicago in pursuit of the American Dream. When writing this novel, Sinclair sought to build support for the Socialist Party and the working class. In preparation for writing The Jungle, Sinclair spent weeks in Chicago’s meat packing plants to study the lives of its stockyard workers. When the novel was first published, readers were more concerned with the health standards and conditions in which the meat was processed rather than the socialist message that Sinclair intended. The Jungle is also often associated with the passage of the Pure Food and Drug Act and the Meat Inspection Act both in 1906, the year the novel was published (Source A).

“With one member trimming beef in a cannery, and another working in a sausage factory, the family had a first-hand knowledge of the great Packingtown swindles” (par.1). This statement from Upton Sinclair’s book The Jungle, introduces trust from a family because of their own personal knowledge . The Jungle, features an immigrant family trying to survive in 1900’s Chicago meat packing district. In the story, Sinclair’s goal is to expose the miserable life of immigrants who work in factories.

He corresponded President Roosevelt with his concerns, “You must understand that the thing which I have called the ‘condemned meat industry’, is a matter of hundreds of thousands of dollars a month” (Department of Agriculture). Writing The Jungle was not just a way for Sinclair to gain popularity, he genuinely cared for his fellow Americans, and wrote to the president to fight and win justice for

3. The American people began to embrace the role of government during the progressive era to address poverty, poor health, violence, greed, racism, and class warfare. The American people came to understand that government was best positioned to improve education for regular Americans, protect them from street gangs and mobsters, ensure that that the workplace was safe, and that government was not rampant with corruption. As example, the FDA was created during the progressive era because of horrible things happening in the meat industry during this period in American

He did the proper planning and research in the writing of The Jungle. The Jungle was very informative and described the time period of the early 1900’s very well. The overall storyline was depressing and dreary, but so was this time period. Sinclair showed in this book the problems and corruption involved with the meat packing industry and the mistreatment of immigrant workers during the time. There were many forms of symbolism throughout this book.

The progressive era was a time in american history when there was change in the american way of life. Before the progressive era people would die because of mal- sanitation, children would be working in factories and where getting hurt. Meat packing was done inadequately. Muckrakers brought about positive change by exposing the ill fated conditions of child labor, and the sheer filth of the meat packing industry, through literature.

Symbolism in The Jungle, by Upton Sinclair Upton Sinclair’s, “The Jungle”, is a revolutionary piece of literature. The tell-all exposé actually caused the United States, in 1906 to start monitoring the meatpacking industry closer, for the safety of the country’s inhabitants. Sinclair didn’t think it was just to be selling bad meat to fellow Americans. This story, since it is journalism, it doesn’t actually have much symbolism, but the three ideas I’ve decided to discuss are: the title itself, Packingtown, and the meat.

In Jurgis’ first job, the health standards are extremely low. As I said before in my summary, “ Animals that are diseased were thrown in with the rest, rats constantly run over the meat and eat the meat, and when a human worker would fall into the meat chute, their screams would be ignored and they we packed with the rest of the meat.” If anyone of these things happened in a meat factory, the factory would be shut down and any person high up the imaginary latter would be sued extensively. Another thing that I learned is that you should never commit to an idea before it is proven.

Williams focuses on Stanley’s bestial behaviour to show how the "normal" behaviour of people of modern America is aggressive. This animalistic representation is first depicted when he hurls a bloodied package of meat to his wife, Stella (14). Williams’ use of

This advertisement is what’s known as emotional appeal, brands are using a variety of techniques to appeal to consumer emotion. Source credibility is an important factor in an advertisement and the trustworthiness of the source, this is applicable to this advertisement as the WWF is such a credible brand pushing their message of animal conservation. The connotations of black crows, which are symbols of cunning, death and war are all elements involved in the poaching of animals. This displays the transition of the process of poaching, the poachers use their craft to slaughter animals which has sparked a humanitarian war in Africa.

When Upton Sinclair wrote the Jungle, a book about the terrible environment of the meat-packing factories in Chicago, he hoped to motivate reform in immigrant working conditions and promote socialism. Instead, what shocked readers the most was the sordid surroundings in which their future meals were prepared. Sinclair 's audience saw these conditions as a threat to themselves, and that energized reform in the meat-packing industry. What scared audiences the most was how real this threat was to their lives. As can be witnessed in the results of Sinclair 's crusade, the most effective propaganda is that which rouses the visceral survival instinct.

In Sinclair’s novel, he graphically described injuries obtained in the industries, such as severed fingers which spread diseases and blood poisoning. Besides just injuries, Sinclair also provided many details on the diseased meat, dead rats in the meat, and rat poison that got into the meat processors (“Meat Inspection Act,” 2015). He also detailed how the meat packing industry was corrupt, exploitative, and oppressive to go alongside the dangers that faced both the consumers and workers (Cherny, “The Jungle and the Progressive Era). From his work, the Meat Inspection Act (MIA) was created to provide safer food for citizens, and it established sanitary standards for both slaughterhouses and meat processing plants. The MIA was designed to go hand in hand with the Pure Food and Drug Act, which was created at the same time as the Meat Inspection Act in 1906.

The workers were a prime source of information for Upton, who questioned them about where they got some of their meat and they said it came from the rejections across the Atlantic in Europe. (Conditions in Meatpacking Plants; Web). The sausage for instance, would be white from the mold that had accumulated from the prolonged exposure on the journey from Europe. The trip would also bring many unwanted pests such as rats.

Food Inc. is an informative and revealing documentary film, aimed to expose the dirty truth of the industrial food industry in America. Directed by Robert Kenner and produced by Michael Pollan, this film informs the American people exactly what they are eating and how it’s affecting them, by painting a more realistic picture of the food industry, than that of an agricultural society. With the use compelling images, such as cattle being raised in grassless, manure infested fields with industrial factories in the background, and stories and interviews from farmers, government officials and victims throughout the film, Food Inc. reveals the horrifying immorality of the food industry, to ignite anger and disgust from the audience toward the unethical

Fast food companies and meat processors are uninterested in the possible risks consumers are susceptible to when unskilled workers handle the meat. The analogy links the main idea to the title of the chapter. Schlosser has chosen to present information in this way because it emphasizes the cruelty meatpacking workers endure, they are fired right before benefits become available to them. He wants to affect/influence his readers by demonstrating to them how meatpacking industries only care about making a large revenue each year. 8 paraphrase - repetition of “blood” and “injuries”: “We wade through blood that’s ankle deep…” (171) “Indeed, the rate of these cumulative trauma injuries…” (173) Repetition