Lack Of Sanitation In Upton Sinclair's The Jungle

The Industrial Era transformed biological power to mechanical power and enabled transportation and communication for workers. Immigrants moved to cities to create a better life for themselves by applying jobs for example. With a huge increase of population, maintaining a clean environment was seldom fulfilled. In The Jungle, Upton Sinclair addressed the lack of sanitation in the 1900s through his depiction of the cities, factories, and tenements. To begin, Sinclair focuses the lack of sanitation in cities like Packingtown, Chicago. He describes in depth about the atmosphere and the environment when the family arrives in the city. Jurgis’ family witnesses a vast amount of pollution and how the day ‘’grew darker all the time’’(Sinclair 27). Moreover, the author illustrates the smoke coming from the factories when they reached Packingtown. Sinclair states, ‘’...immense volumes of smoke pouring from the chimneys darkening the air above making filthy the earth beneath’’ (Sinclair 27). Since many employed

Exposing the bad side of advertising, he describes how real estate agents illustrate a gorgeous and decorated house along with a happy family on a billboard sign to persuade and trick immigrants in a swindle. When the family arrives in Packingtown, they see an advertisement of a well built house with a happy family luring them over to purchase it. However, they discovered that, ‘’they used the very flimsiest and cheapest material; they built the houses a dozen at a time, and they cared about nothing at all except the outside shine’’(Sinclair 72). The floors and walls will easily break and it does not keep the house stable. With the decorated exterior, the inside is unplastered and unfinished. All in all, the advertisements persuade immigrants that they are going to get a good deal, but then realize that the house is unfinished and created with cheap material which will not keep the house