'Immigrants In Upton Sinclair's The Jungle'

Sinclair repeats “odor” (Sinclair 20) twice to convey the disruptive nature of the factory, and the anadiplosis magnifies the effects that the smell has on the people and the area. The odor is the most noticeable effect of the slaughter of animals in the stockyard, and the fact that the word is repeated three times in one sentence reveals how ignorant the family is to the harshness of the situation. Foreshadowing has a large presence as well, as Sinclair hints that there are disastrous activities occurring in the town by depicting the factory’s effects on the surrounding regions. As the family approaches the city, they fail to realize that the sky is graying, and the grass is not as lush as before. They somehow do not realize that the strange odor is abnormal, and the worsening conditions are key to Sinclair’s foreshadowing.

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).

The Jungle, by Upton Sinclair is renowned source of political fiction that pioneered the movement of food safety in the United States. The Jungle was first published in a socialist newspaper in 1905 and then later adapted into a novel in 1906 after popular demand. Sinclair initially wrote the exposé as a way to change the unfortunate circumstances of immigrant laborers, whose working conditions that were believed to be unacceptable for any laborer in the industry. Sinclair leaves short references of his political opinions in the novel in various locations throughout the text “As if political liberty made wage slavery any the more tolerable!” (Sinclair 31). Written as an indirect attack at the labor industry, the real driving force behind the popularity of the novel was that many readers could not fathom the truth behind the meat industry.

The Jungle is a story that revolves around the protagonist Jurgis Rudkus and his family, the Lithuanian immigrant who came to America to lead a better life and worked at meatpacking plants of early 20th century Chicago. The story showcases the hardship that they underwent due to the harsh and bad working condition, poverty, starvation and being cheated by unjust people agents, eventually losing all their money. The Jungle provides us ways to look at the unfettered capitalism that prevailed in the early 20th century. This book also exposes the corruption, inequality, unjustness, sickness and slavery that existed in the society. Jurgis started off firmly believing on his American dream of having a better life where he would work hard and earn lots of money.

In early 1900, specifically, 1906, The Jungle by Upton Sinclair was written. This novel told the story of a Lithuanian immigrant who worked in a filthy Chicago meatpacking plant. It exposed the meatpacking industry by stating their vile practices not only towards their meat but their workers as well. This was a result of the combination of many immigrants in the United States to pursue a better life, and the fact that many big industries were looking for ways to maximize their profit. The Jungle exposed the way workers were treated in the meatpacking industry.

He wants to show the people of America that poverty and starvation exist in their own country (Walls 134). This period affects the Walls' because the President's acknowledgment of the lower class' situation makes the lifestyle of the Walls peculiar compared to the rest of the families in the 60's. The wandering lifestyle of the family contributes to the

Upton Sinclair wrote the Jungle in 1906 during the time of progressivism to portray the horrors of the labor conditions and non existing sanitary conditions of the meat packing industry. Jurgis and his family, immigrants from Lithuania, came to America expecting a prosperous life. The family dreamed of coming to America for a better life full of success and opportunity but as they began working in the stockyards they were exposed to the terrible quality of life experienced by the factory workers. The Jungle tells the story of a family of immigrants coming to America to gain freedom and portrays the dehumanization of the stockyards through the political corruption, inhumane child labor practices, and the horrific working conditions. Jurgis

In the novel were references to rats and workers falling into tubs of meats, which inspired disgust and helped to bring the Meat Inspection of 1906 to life. Since then the public has come to assume that meat is inspected according to government standards to protect consumers, but much evidence indicates that throughout the time bribery of government meat inspectors and deception has resulted in the imposing of much unhealthy meat on the American public. In the end of the 20th century, reports of unclean conditions in meatpacking plants, marketing of unsafe mat, and paid-off inspectors were still imminent, and millions of Americans were suffering from food poisoning as a result of such

Through his perspective, the readers discover the cruel and disgusting practices taken against the Jews. For instance, they are compared to dogs, tattooed with numbers, and starved to the extent where they would kill one another for a piece of food. A German officer dehumanizes the Jews when he forces them into a cattle car. He states, "There

In the early 1900s, food safety was an incredibly unfamiliar and overlooked part of America’s food industry. Written by muckraker Upton Sinclair, The Jungle, was a controversial novel that depicted the harsh living and working conditions of immigrants working in the food industry. After the release of The Jungle, thousands of meat-eating Americans were horrified at what had been happening in factories. Disgusting yet accurate details presented in The Jungle were the basis for the creation of laws to stop food production from becoming so unsanitary. The Jungle follows a young Lithuanian immigrant named Jurgis Rudkis and his teenage wife Ona.