Summary Of Upton Sinclair's The Jungle

Upton Sinclair used the words, “I aimed for the public’s heart, and by accident I hit it in the stomach” to describe the reaction his novel, The Jungle received after publication. Sinclair was disappointed that the political point of his novel was overshadowed by the public’s outcry over food production. Sinclair originally intended to show how American factory workers were wrongfully treated but the people focused on the food safety. The Jungle illustrated the unsanitary and unethical standards of how meat was produced throughout factories in the United States. After Sinclair’s book was published the public started to demand new reforms in the meat industry. The descriptions used in Sinclair’s novel about the meat industry and the way meat was produced gained the attention of politicians and

The novel did a tremendous job at exposing the horrendous work and unsanitary conditions in the meat packing industry publicly that the Pure Food and Drug act of 1906 was passed. The Jungle told how bribed inspectors allowed diseased cows to be made into beef, workers falling into the tanks and being mixed in with the animal parts. Upton Sinclair’s novel led to a direct reform of all packaging industries and gave federal officials the right to inspect all the meat being shipped in and shipped out to ensure the animals were healthy. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) was a direct effect of The Jungle. Upton Sinclair not only took interest in bringing the wrongdoings of the meat industry to the public, but he also stood up for immigrants who were being treated with disrespect. Which created a sense of hope for the immigrants coming to America to give a better life and greater opportunities to their families. Immigrants felt pride in knowing that they deserved the freedom, respect everyone else had and deserved to live the American