ipl-logo

The Importance Of Socialism In Upton Sinclair

2412 Words10 Pages

Literature is where one could go to explore the highest and lowest points of human society, find the absolute truth, and support it using personal experiences and knowledge. Such is the case with writer Upton Sinclair, who grew up experiencing both sides of wealth and class divisions. By reflecting on his experiences with class division, Upton Sinclair’s exposé not only sheds light on the fight for workers rights but also incorporates a Socialist philosophy. Upton Sinclair was born in Baltimore, Maryland, on September 20, 1878. From birth Sinclair was exposed to dichotomies that would have an effect on his young mind and his thinking in later life (“Upton”). He was born with a volatile social background: his mother came from a wealthy family in Baltimore and his father, a salesman, struggled without much success to give her the lifestyle she had been accustomed to (“The Jungle” 154). One of the …show more content…

But, with Socialism being very similar to Communism, many Americans have tended to block out the ideas of Socialism as a threat (“The Jungle” 165). Regardless, Sinclair made sure to include Socialist beliefs in The Jungle. After Jurgis loses most of his family members, including his wife and son, he has nowhere to go and ends up at a convention, where he learns about Socialism: “Every Socialist did his share, and lived upon the vision of the “good time coming” -- when the working class should go to polls and seize the powers of government, and put and end to private property in the means of production” (Sinclair 337). Sinclair also managed to display the popularity and wide acceptance of Socialism: “The Socialists were organized in every civilized nation, it was an international political party… It numbered thirty million of adherents, and it acst eight million votes” (Sinclair 339). Although The Jungle centers on , it also includes a Socialist

Show More
Related

  • Explain How The Jungle Shows Problems With Socialism In The 18-1900's

    508 Words  | 3 Pages

    How The Jungle Shows Problems with Socialism in the 18-1900´s Upton Sinclair was a muckraker so it shouldn’t come to a shock when it is said that Upton wrote The Jungle as a way to identify different problems with society during his time period. Some of these problems that were included in The Jungle are political corruption, socialism is bad, life was hard for immigrants. With the turn of events that happened in The Jungle, it could easily persuade people to believe that there was lots of corruption during the early 1900´s time period. This essay is written to persuade you that the main problems is corruption. Many major events in the book revolved around corruption.

    Read More

  • Upton Sinclair's Reforms In The 1900s

    301 Words  | 2 Pages

    Some significant reforms in the 1900s were the homes families and strangers lived in going from slums to nicer living conditions. For example living in an apartment that is meant for 1 maybe 2 adults has 10 to 15 adults living in it with a bathroom down the hall away from the rooms for people in other apartments to use as well, or when someone gets a sickness in the apartment and everyone in the whole building gets it because everything is contaminated from the person being sick. It went from that to a little bit bigger homes with lesser people and cleaner rooms and bathrooms. Upton Sinclairs was an activist because he took part in what he thought was right when it came to meet packaging and how it needs to be reformed and cleaned. And if

    Read More

  • Examples Of Adapting To A Cruel World In The Jungle By Upton Sinclair

    408 Words  | 2 Pages

    Adapting to a Cruel World The Jungle by Upton Sinclair is a perfect example of man vs. society. The brutal labor and poverty defines the harsh reality of this 1906 novel. While exploring this cruel society, Jurgis Rudkus, the protagonist, faces many hardships and becomes an acknowledgeable person. This is evident when Jurgis involves himself with barbaric working conditions, his vulnerable family, and socialist beliefs.

    Read More

  • Comparing The Market Revolution And The Second Great Awakening

    571 Words  | 3 Pages

    He “struggled to stake out the social and emotional ground between the thoughtless rich and the vicious poor” (19).

    Read More

  • The Role Of Capitalism In Upton Sinclair's The Jungle

    616 Words  | 3 Pages

    “The same endless vista of ugly and dirty little wooden buildings. Here and there would be a bridge crossing a filthy creek.” This was Upton Sinclair’s description of the city of Chicago in the early 20th century in his book The Jungle, and it was not flattering. The things that went on inside the city was even uglier, and it was done by one corporate, capitalism. Capitalism became a major problem in America as it bred horrible working and living conditions for the working class, and there was many reasons for why this happened (i.e. greed).

    Read More

  • Socialism In Upton Sinclair's The Jungle

    1082 Words  | 5 Pages

    Upton Sinclair’s “The Jungle” advocates for socialism by depicting the story of a young immigrant who is manipulated and cheated time and time again by sadist business men in a capitalist society. Throughout the novel, the idea that socialism is a more Biblically sound economic system is asserted through evidence of Jesus’ teachings in which He condemns the wealthy for their attachment to the world. However, capitalism implements more Biblical ideas than socialism does because of the rewards that come from hard work and the means of production being privately owned, which are both ideas taught throughout Jesus’ teachings. Shortly after Jurgis is introduced to the idea of socialism, he finds Lucas, an evangelist, who argues that socialism is

    Read More

  • The Unfair Treatment Of Immigrants In Upton Sinclair's The Jungle

    427 Words  | 2 Pages

    The Unfair Treatment of Immigrants in The Jungle by Upton Sinclair Imagine going somewhere new, far away and ending up in a bad situation with no way out. That’s how Jurgis and his family felt when they left their home country of Lithuania to come to America to pursue their dreams of wealth. Their world was quickly turned upside down when they realized that the deck was stacked against them in Chicago’s unfair system, which was designed to leave them trapped. The Jungle by Upton Sinclair will bring you into the world of manipulation and poverty in Chicago during the 1900s.

    Read More

  • The Progressive Era Dbq Analysis

    350 Words  | 2 Pages

    Journalists and authors, such as Upton Sinclair from document 2, can be credited with exposing the corruption during the gilded age. Sinclair was know as a muckraker and his purpose in writing books such as The Jungle was bring light to what was happening in these factories. His work played a key role in the progressive era by holding these business men accountable. The Progressive Party also played a key role in the progressive era. Based on their platform, it is shown that their purpose is to benefit the working class by laws and

    Read More

  • Working Conditions In The Jungle

    634 Words  | 3 Pages

    During the 1900’s working conditions were undeniably horrible. In Packingtown everyday got more difficult as the days went on. In the meat packing business things were supposed to be done quick. Inside the factories packing, chopping, inspecting and people actions didn’t mix. Not only did the people in the factories suffered, the people outside of the factory also suffered.

    Read More

  • The Economic Tension In Upton Sinclair's The Jungle

    1899 Words  | 8 Pages

    Upton Sinclair portrays the economic tension in the United States during the late 19th and early 20th centuries through his novel “The Jungle”. He used the story of a Lithuanian immigrant, Jurgis Rudkus, to show the harsh situation that immigrants had to face in the United States, the unsanitary and unsafe working conditions in the meatpacking plants, as well as the tension between the capitalism and socialism in the United States during the early 1900s. In the late 19th century and early 20th centuries, there were massive immigrants move into the United States, and most of them were from Europe. The protagonist, Jurgis Rudkus, like many other immigrants, have the “America Dream” which they believe America is heaven to them, where they can

    Read More

  • How Upton Sinclair Changed American

    1476 Words  | 6 Pages

    Innocent Belief Famously known for his novel, The Jungle, Upton Sinclair changed American life in the early 1900s without a doubt through his literature. However, many don’t realize that Sinclair reformed American life in more than one instance, through more than one book. At times, he even reached beyond his realm of literature to discuss other needed adjustments. Besides the serendipitous changes he created for the meat packaging industry, Sinclair’s other actions throughout his life are, subjectively, important to American history, according to Anthony Arthur. In his biography, Radical Innocent: Upton Sinclair, Arthur reveals his bias towards Sinclair, while supplying a relevant nature to his writing across an in-depth review of Sinclair’s

    Read More

  • Socialism In Upton Sinclair's The Jungle

    778 Words  | 4 Pages

    In Upton Sinclair's The Jungle, Jurgis and his family attempt to survive in a malicious society. In this jungle of a town, rotten meat is being packaged in order to save money. Throughout the novel, the immigrants are faced with greedy capitalists who take advantage of the family’s ignorance and naivety in order to make money. The symbols of corruption, a jungle-like setting, and the tension between family and a work-based lifestyle transparently contribute to the unifying theme of anti-capitalism. In other words, this book is not art; this book is propaganda.

    Read More

  • Meatpacking Workers In Upton Sinclair's The Jungle

    1060 Words  | 5 Pages

    Thus, Sinclair’s purpose of writing The Jungle failed to bring readers to advocate for the rights of workers trapped in the low wages, unsafe working conditions, and long hours of meatpacking factories, but rather, succeeded in opening the country’s eyes to the meatpacking practices that went on behind closed doors and the establishment administrations to protect the public from these unscrupulous

    Read More

  • The Jungle Critical Analysis

    1202 Words  | 5 Pages

    During the time period of the 1900’s, the meat packaging industry in Chicago, as Sinclair mentions in his novel, The Jungle, was a very unsanitary and extremely dangerous workplace that lacked much more than just a few safety precautions. Simple things, such as enforcing hand washing or workers’ rights were unheard of in the working environment. It is clear that Upton Sinclair was trying to expose the worker’s horrendous labor conditions in order to improve their situation, along with the introduction of socialism. Upton Sinclair, in his novel, talks about how a Lithuanian immigrant by the name of Jurgis Rudkus, and his family, travel to Chicago trying to make ends meet. However, they soon realize Chicago was not the place for that.

    Read More

  • Marxism In Charles Dickens

    1083 Words  | 5 Pages

    During the Victorian era, there were time of troubles such as unemployment, poverty, rioting, slums in large cities and working conditions for women and children were terrible. Victorian novels seek to represent a novel with a variety of classes because they were used to novels about elite and rich main characters. That’s why, he wrote several novels relating to working class and poor working conditions. He fought for children’s rights and opposed cruelty and physical punishment of children. He was known as the greatest England’s writers in the Victorian period and a sympathiser to the poor.

    Read More

More about The Importance Of Socialism In Upton Sinclair

Open Document