Upton Sinclair And The Meat-Packing Industry

Millions of Americans view “hard and laborious” work as mowing the lawn or going to an office job eight hours a day. Young teenagers regard these duties as “chores”, miserable and tedious tasks; however, most of these people are oblivious to the mistreatment and overworking the meat industry workers experience daily. Since the 20th century, these employees have been exploited and taken advantage of by the large corporations in the food industry. In the novel The Jungle by Upton Sinclair, revelations are made about the evil ways of the meat factories in the early 1900s. Although the working conditions have improved in several ways, today’s industry is not much better, and food investigators Eric Schlosser and Michael Pollan expose the realities

Throughout American history, propaganda pieces have been used to sway the public opinion on one matter or another. The famous Federalist Papers were used to sway the early American public to ratify the Constitution. The Civil War also heavily relied on propaganda to recruit soldiers and boost morale. At the turn of the 20th century, Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle was written as a propaganda piece on socialism, however, it was remembered for its cometary on the ethics of the meat packing industry. Although its goal of turning America into a socialist society was forgotten, it served as one of the most efficient propaganda pieces on the meat packing industry. A century later the documentary Food, Inc. was produced for the same purpose of drawing attention to the food industry as a whole. Although monopolies on the meat industry have increased after being broken up and food workers treatment is similar to those in The Jungle, there are now more government regulations in place, ensuring food safety to a

During the late 1800s and early 1900s, Progressive reformers worked to improve the social, political, and economic problems in American society. Throughout this time, muckrakers helped reformers by revealing injustices to Americans through journalism, books, campaigns, photographs, and political cartoons. Poor working conditions, low quality of consumer products, and inferior democracy were present in American life during the Progressive Era; reforms such as state actions, the Meat Inspection Act, and Direct Primary helped to eliminate these corruptions. An issue society faced during the Progressive Era was poor working conditions. In Upton Sinclair’s book, The Jungle, he writes that if a person found anyone who uses knives in this factory,

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.

Although it may seem that the meat packing industry is still in turmoil because of their unwillingness to make known what foods have Genetically Modified organisms present, the meat packing industry was much worse during the 1900’s because of the unsafe working conditions, and uncleanliness of the food. Body 1: The meat packing industry’s working conditions were much worse in the 1900’s than they are today. In the novel The Jungle, by Upton Sinclair, working conditions were horrible for immigrants who were employed in these factories. People in these factories were worked very hard and used up till they could not work anymore. In the novel Jurgis broke his ankle because of the unsafe

Fortunately, this revolutionary novel was a catalyst to the creation of various laws and agencies established to protect the safety of American consumers. The book was an eye-opening slap in the face to consumers who, unknowingly, were constantly being put in danger by the food they ate every night. The Jungle also revealed the horrors of working in these unsanitary meat plants. Fortunately, The Jungle has caused food safety to become a much more relevant and serious topic today, keeping consumers and workers safe from the dangers experienced inside the meat-packing factories of the

All the elements and conflicts presented in the book leads to the theme of socialism. Upton Sinclair is a supporter of the socialist move. To the point of writing this work is to elicit sympathy for the working class and build support for socialism. Everything within the book is criticizing capitalism; the only remedy for the evils of capitalism is socialism (Sinclair). In capitalism, the upper-class keep getting richer by exploiting the lower working class, leaving a wide gap between the wealthy and the impoverished. Instead of splitting the population and using hardworking people unfairly, socialism allows an equal share among everyone so there is not a huge split between the wealth of a group. The packers and factory leaders all use the

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.

What is described appeals to the readers emotions, especially when they realize they will eventually eat this meat. This helps convey the tone of disapproval because it is so gross. Furthermore, the author appeals to pathos when discussing workplace safety in slaughterhouses. He stated, “Meatpacking is now the most dangerous job in the United States. The injury rate in a slaughterhouse is about three times higher than the rate in a typical American factory.”

Finally, a worker fell into a rendering tank and was “…boiled almost to jelly” (Carrol 121). The packers did not give any health benefits to the workers either ("Slaughterhouse to the World" 5). Furthermore, the meat manufactured was as disgusting as the work conditions.

One of the most famous muckrakers that protested against the problems in food and health was, Upton Sinclair. He wrote a very famous book, “The Jungle”, that exposed the corruption and awful living conditions of the stockyards workers and the unclean handling of spoiled meat, and unsanitary conditions of the meat. They mixed rotten meat with raw meat and without any sanitary instrument. His book was an inspirational piece that drew public 's attention of the huge issue of unsanitary meat processing plants. When the people were complaining about the issue, T. Roosevelt, signed the Pure Food and Drug Act that prevented the manufacture, sale or transportation of misbranded or poisonous or adulterated foods, drugs, liquors and medicines, also it regulated the traffic.

People were forced to consume contaminated food especially meat on a daily basis. This gave birth to many diseases such as food poisoning and liver failure. They did not have any other options because there were no laws prohibiting the sale of spoiled food. Soon enough, in 1906, Federal Food and Drug Act was passed. One of the key things this act did was embargoing the sale of any food or drug which has been adulterated or misbranded (4).

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

Hamburgers are some of the most, if not the most, American food that a person could get their taste buds on. Although hamburgers remain popular, the meat in such foods have their share of controversies since the labels, “organic” and “conventional,” were placed upon them. The harsh reality is that conventional farming methods of meat is gruesome and somewhat macabre; the animals are packed into a high density farms where they are constantly being pressured into confined spaces that are grossly unsanitary. For this reason, organic farming is becoming popular with their humane practices of raising farm animals. In effect, this raises the question: is the abuse in the industrialized, now called conventional, meat industry worth the final product?

Upton Sinclair reflects the reality of the people during the late 1800’s in his novel The Jungle. In his novel, Sinclair wants to promote Socialism by showing how people lived in the meatpacking plant and under a corrupt government. The inhuman working conditions, combined with the lack of hygiene and a corrupt government, made trying to make a living a total hardships for the low class and the immigrants.