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The Role Of Capitalism In Upton Sinclair's The Jungle

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“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). Capitalism bred corruption in both police department, government and the voting process, and bred ethnic tensions that had a major effect on class relations during that period. The unions and socialist movements that came out during this time period showed to the world how problematic capitalism is, and blossomed in the 20th century as a savior of the working class. Upton Sinclair conveyed to the world the problems of capitalism in a progressive reform impulse way, and was extremely successful in showing to the world how problematic capitalism was. Capitalism bred horrible working conditions, and the …show more content…

“The floor was half an inch deep with blood, in spite of the best efforts of men who kept shoveling it through the holes, it must have made the floor slippery.” Sinclair’s descriptions of the floors of the factory was just one of the horrible working conditions these capitalistic bosses put their workers in, and on top of the fear a worker has from slipping and getting injured, he had to work in that condition in the infamous cold winter of Chicago. Sinclair further describes how deathly cold the conditions of the factory are, “On the killing beds you were apt to be covered in blood, and it would freeze solid.” It was cold in the packing houses that Sinclair further described the situation in even

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