Upton Sinclair's 'The Jungle'

Upton Sinclair was an American novelist who was born in Baltimore in 1878. At the age of eight or nine, Sinclair’s family moved to New York and lived in cheap rooming houses. Sinclair’s father was constantly drinking alcohol, while his mother would force religion and morality into Upton. Surprisingly, Upton did not have any proper education until he was around eleven years old. Yet, he was an intelligent individual who was able to enter New York’s City College at the age of fourteen (Sinclair vi).

When Upton began his career, his writings mainly consisted of jokes. By 1900, Sinclair devoted himself to impacting the world as an artist. He started writing romantic and subjective novels, but was unable to gain recognition nor profit. Then, Sinclair learned of a Socialist Party. This party would be a turning point in his life. In the end, he joined the Socialist Party in 1904 (Sinclair vi-vii).

After becoming a Socialist, Sinclair would write “The Jungle”. The novel gave the writer fame and money, so with the money, Sinclair began promoting Socialism. In 1906, he would run as a Socialist candidate for congress. The novelist even took the liberty of establishing a Socialist colony in New Jersey (Hicks 214).

The American Socialist Party was a political party organized in 1901. Up until the first World War, many Americans accepted Socialism. During the first World War, a man named Eugene Victor Debs was arrested. At the time, Debs was a major Socialist leader, who would start “a working-class Republic.” Debs provided people with social movements and letters, which would give ideas to help benefit workers. Since most of the middle-class society consisted of workers, they all naturally liked the idea of gaining benefits from Socialism. One of these workers was none other than Upton Sinclair (Nash