...During the Progressive Era, meat packing company owners in Chicago did not care how the product got handled or who handled it, all they wanted was the money that came with it. Working in the meat packing industry was dangerous for various reasons and consuming the product they packed was equally as dangerous. Going by what Upton Sinclair wrote in his book The Jungle, a person can assume that working in the meat packing industry of Chicago was Hell on Earth. The reason one can assume that is, by the way, Sinclair narrates on how a character in his book named Jurgis, feels about working in that specific industry.: He was working in the steaming pit of hell; day after day, week after week—until now, there was not an organ of his body that did its work without pain, until the sound of the ocean breakers echoed in his head day and night, and the buildings swayed and danced before him as he went down the street. And from all the unending horror of this there was a respite, a deliverance—he could drink! He could forget the pain, he could slip off the burden; he would see clearly again, he would be master of his brain, of his thoughts, of his will. His dead self would stir in him, and he would find himself laughing and cracking jokes with his companions—he would be a man again and a master...
Words: 607 - Pages: 3
...Overview Upton Sinclair illustrates The Jungle with frightening detail, obviously making us ponder the question- “Do you think a man could make up a thing like that out of his head?” (page 269). The story follows a young Lithuanian, Jurgis, his newly wed wife, Ona, and the rest of his Slavic family. They immigrate to Chicago and a place called Packingtown, where the only work to be found there is in the cruel, merciless machinery inside the meat and canning factories. Jurgis finds himself quickly in debt without the pay he needs for his family and him; his deprivation of money coming from the lack of pay he’s getting from the painful factories he works in. After losing some of his loved ones to the diseases and terrible treatment of the workers, and the citizens no less, Jurgis and Ona find themselves struggling for survival, and Jurgis finds himself in jail after assaulting his wife’s boss (for raping Ona). The agony eats at him in his thirty days of imprisonment, only to find that his family has lost the house and is living deeply in poverty. What’s worse- his second son is stillborn to his wife who dies giving birth. With the loss of Ona, Jurgis goes into a dark depression, especially with him fighting to find another job. His only joy in his world is his baby son, Antanas, who dies from drowning about a year later. Having lost his only son and desperately trying to find a job, for he was blacklisted, Jurgis gives up and decides to “hobo it” as he hitches a ride and travels...
Words: 1975 - Pages: 8
...The Jungle by Upton Sinclair was one of the few works of art in American history to have a massive and important impact on society. Sinclair was part of an era when people witnessed all that was wrong and corrupt in business and politics, they stood up against it. The Jungle was criticizing the wage of the working people. Upton Sinclair revels intense representations of the shocking lack of hygiene involved in the labor field such as the meatpacking industry in Chicago. After this was exposed it resulted in public outrage to the point where the Pure Food and Drug Act and the Meat Inspection Act was passed by congress. The Jungle became part of the era when the industry was quickly progressing and millions of immigrants moved to the...
Words: 507 - Pages: 3
...Emily Andes Mr. Hardy AP English 3 Period 2 Literary Analysis Essay The Jungle and Fast Food Nation have become two worldwide known books for exposing the meat industry, and both were able to change the viewpoints of many people on what they eat. With the meat sales sky rocketing since 1961, our society can thank the inspections and production side of the meat industry. The Jungle, written by Upton Sinclair, was one of the first books to uncover the gruesome side of the meat packing factories. With this book the world was introduced to the exposed side of the meat factories in unsanitary conditions. Of course, Sinclair’s intention was not to write The Jungle in an effort to unveil the dirty side to the meat packing factories, but it was intended to be a love story between a young couple immigrating from Lithuania to the United States. Along with The Jungle is Fast Food Nation by Eric Schlosser. The statistical side of this book was also intended to expose the meat industry but by humiliating fast food restaurants and where their meat products were coming from. People were appalled by the facts this book gave, and they began having new perspectives on fast food. Overall, Fast Food Nation appeals to readers’ senses of ethos pathos and logos then The Jungle does. First of all, Schlosser does a much better job of convincing people to change their views on fast food products and all meat products in general. His diction choices are pedantic and factual, his details become emotional...
Words: 1884 - Pages: 8
...After the Civil War, writers, photographers, and many other people in the media attempted to convince the government to create new laws. Upton Sinclair attempted to write a Socialist book, describing the immense injustices against the workers, but the American people were more focused on food quality than anything else. So within months, two pieces of legislation resulted from Sinclair's novel: The Pure Food and Drug Act and the Meat Inspection Act, both signed into law on June 30th, 1906. Many other writers followed suit and convinced the American people to raise awareness so that the government could change the ways of large industries. The media in the early 20th century raised awareness for the reprehensible monopolies and unsafe working conditions, which led the government to enhance the worker safety and develop anti-trust laws throughout the country. The Jungle, by Upton Sinclair berated the meat packing...
Words: 597 - Pages: 3
...The Jungle by Upton Sinclair Compared to Modern Day Meat Processing The theme of Upton Sinclair’s novel The Jungle is that capitalism is the devil. In the novel, capitalism is made out to be absolutely evil, one reason being that they (the meat companies) willfully put contaminated meat on the market for the oblivious consumers. There are several ways that the meat-packing practices from the novel are similar to how meat is processed today. The first similarity is that slaughterhouses were and have been treating animals very brutally; also, the slaughterhouses in the book were just as unsafe to work in as the slaughterhouses today. People are taking major risks just by going to work. The second similarity is that contaminated meat is being sold and served to the consumers. Another similarity is that if you get hurt on the job and become disabled for several months, a lot of companies will stop paying you or possibly lay you off. The last similarity between The Jungle and modern-day meat processing is that meat companies can and will sue you or throw you in jail if you “spill the beans” or defend yourself or your family. First of all, the slaughterhouses and meat factories are just as filthy, cruel, and unsafe as the slaughterhouses and meat factories from the early nineteen-hundreds (time period in which The Jungle takes place). The novel says that animals are brought into pens, suffer, and are slaughtered. In slaughterhouses today, animals are rounded up, placed somewhere...
Words: 789 - Pages: 4
...In Upton Sinclair's The Jungle, he exposes the issues and corruption within Chicago’s meatpacking industry. Through the use of muckraking Sinclair is able to help make the industry a safer place to work by describing the harsh conditions the workers faced making Mike Scully is the antagonist of the novel. The owners of the companies offer little pay and do everything in their power to keep the workers oppressed. While Mike Scully controls the stockyards through the use of schemes to keep the immigrants poor and break their spirits. Scully owns the housing company in packingtown that sells houses to immigrants, but writes a contract that he knows foreigners would not understand. By using complicated legal jargon it tricks them into paying for hidden expenses that causes them to...
Words: 849 - Pages: 4
...Interpretation Arrowsmith (By Sinclair Lewis) Sinclair Lewis is a famous American short-story writer and playwright. He was the first among American writers to receive Nobel Prize in literature “for his vigorous and graphic art of description and his ability to create, with wit and humor, new types of characters." His satirical method is largely based upon grotesque, on a revealing detail, overstatement, understatement, paradox and irony, the works of his pen are known for their insightful and critical views on American society and capitalist values, as well as their vivid characterizations of modern working women. The excerpt under analysis is dedicated to the description of the college life of an American student Martin Arrowsmith. The fragment speaks volumes about a number of problems that used to exist in the contemporary US society, the society of the beginning of the 20th century. In particular, the imperfection of the system of higher education, what the author vividly highlights by the use of irony in the description of the University Martin, the protagonist, studies at, expressly making it look like an advertisement, with all the impudence and vainglory typical of the educational establishments of renown (“beside this prodigy, Oxford is a tiny theological school and Harward – a select college for gentlemen”). Along with this, Sinclair Lewis emphasizes the role of fraternities in the life of common US college student, putting a considerable stress on...
Words: 868 - Pages: 4
...Black Gold HST 370.05 Prof. Hoikkala October 19, 2015 In Oil! by Upton Sinclair, published by Penguin Books, Sinclair writes to expose the corrupt oil industry in California through the education of both readers and main character, Bunny Ross, on the proceedings for success in the oil business, including bribery and propaganda. Through the start of the book, the reader learns that the main characters father is a rising business man on the verge of becoming a magnate, although only through bribery of politicians and land proctors. Unfortunately Bunny sees both from a upper class and a lower class frame of reference and does not wish to abuse his power and take advantage of the lower class, yet still become a rich individual such as his father. This battle between the classes is seen with Bunny’s fight in favor of workers unions and against religion, using propaganda to aide him. I chose to write on this novel because I was familiar with Sinclair’s work in The Jungle, and after researching more about this book and his inclusion into the real-time history of California and how big of an impact Sinclair caused, I couldn’t choose another book to interest me as much as Sinclair engages his readers. The idea of capitalism and the processes in its execution always grab my attention due to their need for wealth and lack of inclusion from outside aide in order to better increase their wealth. Sinclair is also excellent in his ability to give a rich character development, leaving...
Words: 650 - Pages: 3
...Jungle, Upton Sinclair describes the horrors of living in a capitalist society to make a compelling argument for socialism. Capitalism is where people compete to be higher than another. It is based on making a profit individually. Whereas Socialism is where things are discussed to meet everyones needs. In The Jungle, Sinclair uses examples of the living and working conditions, unfair wages, and the selfish people who trick the poor out of their money to show how capitalism is bad. The living and working conditions were not healthy or sanitary because the American corporations could afford to slack off on their responsibilities. The houses and working places were not being monitored by the state. Jurgis and his family were “foreign” to New York, and only heard good things of it. When they moved there, the living conditions were as bad, if not worse than where they came from. Jurgis and is family are forced to live in crowded boarding houses which had been built on land that was once a dump. Multiple families live together in crowded rooms in order the pay the high rents. They are easily swindled because of their naivety. Children have no place to play and end up playing in the dumps. The working conditions are also terrible. Jurgis works for a meat packing company and they are many workers hurt on the job. On top of that, the company is so unsanitary that some people died from these horrible conditions. Another terrible thing that goes on in the meat packing company that is unsanitary...
Words: 679 - Pages: 3
...streets. Upton Sinclair was a novelist muckraker, someone who reveals corruption within large companies, which led to the creation of one of the most famous activist novels. Sinclair’s The Jungle depicts the utterly disturbing life of an immigrant living in the meatpacking area of Chicago. In the novel, Sinclair graphically describes the working conditions of Jurgis and other poorly paid workers. They were shut in dark, cold working environments with slippery knives which often injured workers accompanied with infection, putting them on their backs for months at a time. Throughout the novel, Sinclair manifests fictional events that often occurred...
Words: 1411 - Pages: 6
...Andrew Costly quoted Upton Sinclair in the article, Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle: Muckraking the Meat-Packing Industry, stating, “I aimed at the public’s heart, and by accident I hit it in the stomach” (8). Sinclair conveys his disappointment in his novel not reaching the public as he had hoped. Sinclair anticipated that he would unveil to America the appalling conditions of big corporations; furthermore, showing how they monopolized every aspect of their business from the farm house all the way to America’s kitchen table. Costly states, “Because they were so large, the Armour, Swift, Morris, and National Packing companies could dictate prices to cattle ranchers, feed growers, and consumers” (2). Sinclair desired to pull America’s heart strings,...
Words: 273 - Pages: 2
...conditions and contamination of the meat industry. Although it takes place in that location, Sinclair shows the jungle-like atmosphere through literature with different word choice and allegories. For example, during the wedding in the first chapter, Sinclair describes Jurgis “frightened as a cornered animal,” comparing a character to an animal that could be in an actual jungle. Another example is when Jurgis describes, “Marriage is a trap,” comparing a human relationship to an animal catcher....
Words: 1083 - Pages: 5
...Progressivism was a time period where there was emphasis on improving working conditions, improving the way of life, exposing corruption, and expanding democracy. The excerpts from Fast Food Nation and The Jungle outline the citizens who demanded a change in numerous areas such as business, labor, economy, consumers, and an increase of democracy. The Jungle’s main goal is to allure and impel the audience to endorse socialism. Throughout the excerpt Sinclair makes efforts to discredit the capitalist political system and display how a socialist political system would restore humanity to the abused working class. Schlosser’s main goal was to inform the people about how these major plants have no economic incentive to spend extra money to make the work environment safe. He implies that it should be the role of government to force the plants to set up adequate safety regulations....
Words: 541 - Pages: 3
...From the 1890’s to the 1920’s, a new movement occurred, known as the Progressive movement. The main goal of this movement was to spread awareness of major issues to American citizens and ultimately, to discover solutions to major social, economic, and political problems. Eventually, the social reformers were successful, because of the changes brought to the workplace and the betterment of living conditions in large cities. During the early 1890’s, many companies had poor working conditions. These included long workdays, child labor, and no payment for injuries on the job. Social reformers used muckraking, or digging up scandalous information, to put the word out about these issues. One famous muckraker was Upton Sinclair, writer for the Chicago Tribune and author of The Jungle. His works, particularly The Jungle exposed the terrible working conditions of the meat packing industry in Chicago. This novel upset many, as it portrayed the awful lives of the men who worked at the plants. In addition to this revealing novel, the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire also occurred. This fire was caused by smoking within the factory, and caused the deaths of many women, as the door was locked and the fire escape was blocked. This tragic event was an eye opener, and caused many reforms in the way workers must be treated. For example, the Adamson Act limited the workday to only eight hours. This was also made law by Holden vs. Hardy, while a law was passed in Oregon stating women could work...
Words: 578 - Pages: 3
