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Immigrant Workers In The Jungle By Upton Sinclair

1151 Words5 Pages

During the early twentieth century, the United States underwent a great amount of growth and expansion as a result of the ongoing Industrial Revolution. Throughout the Industrial Revolution, the United States experienced a shift from being a largely agrarian society to being an industrial one. Mass production in factories, as opposed to goods being mainly produced by individuals, became the norm, and this greatly transformed the lives of working-class Americans. Cities became places of high job availability and opportunity, and as a result, many Americans moved from their farms to the cities to find work in one of the many factories. In addition to that, many workers emigrated from European countries in order to find work in American factories. …show more content…

Although this novel gained most of its fame for exposing the horrific conditions present in the meat-packing industry, rather than for its main intended purpose of speaking out for the immigrant workers, The Jungle had a great impact on the United States, as it led to a government response that improved the safety and wellbeing of both the producer and the …show more content…

Many readers of the novel found Sinclair’s depiction of the conditions found in meatpacking factories to be both shocking and disgusting, and as a result, they immediately called for the government to step in and fix this issue by passing legislation. This reaction from the American people, however, was so great that it overshadowed Sinclair’s main goal of writing the novel, which was to tell the struggles of the immigrant worker. The outrage of the people was aimed at the American government, especially President Theodore Roosevelt, who in a letter to Upton Sinclair said that “ the specific evils you point out shall, if their existence be proved, and if I have power, be eradicated” (Roosevelt). Following the outrage generated by the novel, President Roosevelt launched an investigation of the meatpacking factories, and following the conclusion of the investigation signed two pieces of legislation, the Pure Food and Drug Act and the Meat Inspection Act, into law. Although Sinclair intended for The Jungle to be a critique of the working conditions and rampant poverty of the time, most people focused primarily on the gory aspects of the novel, and thus, the novel became famous for this

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