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The Harsh Working Conditions In Upton Sinclair's The Jungle

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Upton Sinclair was arguably one of the most influential writers of the 20th century. His novel, The Jungle, drove congress to pass the Pure Food and Drug Act. Upton Sinclair was one of the key figures in the Progressive Era. The Jungle sets change in motion by repeatedly shocking the public by exposing the harsh working conditions, the substandard housing, and the ways in which the Beef Trust cut corners in their products. Throughout the novel, Upton Sinclair shows the readers the harsh working conditions during the early nineteen hundreds. The owners of big meat companies would take advantage of their authority over the workers and treat them with no respect. The workers had strict rules such as taking off an hours pay if a worker is one minute late to work or having no days off. In the beginning of the novel, Ona requests a day off for her wedding with Jurgis but her boss refuses. Not only that, but they do not know what is in their medicine. “As these all …show more content…

One important part of the novel is when Connor, Ona’s boss, takes advantage of her and rapes her. Ona stops going to work because of Connor and later in the novel Ona has a premature baby and dies. “But it was all in vain – she faded from …show more content…

These workers would produce meat products that were contaminated, processed, and rotten. They would sell products that had chemicals on them but then label the package differently so the public would not know. Sinclair shows how the workers would still process the dead and diseased animals once the inspectors left the factories. “There would be meat that had tumbled out on the floor, in the dirt and sawdust, where the workers had tramped and spit uncounted billions of consumption germs. There would be meat stored in great piles in rooms” (161). Sinclair is telling us how they would can the meat that was on the floor and mix it in with other

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485 Words | 2 Pages

Some workers came out publicly and spoke addressing that the meat packing houses were sanitary and there need be no fear that the industry was corrupt. Kauffman explains one argument many used to validate their stand was that “there was already a system in place... If conditions were as bad as Sinclair claimed… Chicago packing houses would have reported them.” Kauffman also comments on how account may vary based on the workers that were observed, explaining “any unsanitary conditions… were isolated cases… even though packers might maintain the highest sanitary standards, employers could not control the actions of every single worker.” Being that there was already a system in place, many disputed the legitimacy of Sinclair’s accounts, therefore standing and defending the meat packing

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1184 Words | 5 Pages

Sinclair worked undercover in a meatpacking plant to gather information firsthand, before he began writing the book. Its influence on the labor practices and regulations governing the food industry cannot be understated. It tackles subjects as varied as the poor living conditions of the immigrants, exploitation of cheap labor by industrialists, and the unsanitary conditions of the meatpacking plants and stockyards of Chicago. The descriptions of the disgusting processes that were conducted in the meatpacking plants made for shocking reading and turned the book into a bestseller. The President Teddy Roosevelt ordered an investigation into the lack of sanitation in meatpacking plants and caused the creation of legislation governing the food industry in the form of the Food and Drugs Act of 1906.

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580 Words | 3 Pages

Upton Sinclair was part of the group of people who wanted to improve the meat packing industry. He started to protest after going to investigate the Chicago Packingtown strike. Upton’s investigation led him to find that there were poor working conditions, and poor sanitation in the factory. There was diseased and rotten meat, and later, it was found that there was chemicals that are harmful to humans put into the meat. Also, it was found that many products were mislabeled.

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1199 Words | 5 Pages

After reading Upton Sinclair’s book, The Jungle, child labor, urbanization, industrialization and immigration are problem quite sore during 1880-1910 period. Firstly, the future of the world depends on the child. However, the lives of children today are causing people to worry about. According to the Labor Law, provisions on workers be aged 16 years or older, able to work, working under labor contracts, paid and subject to the management and administration of the employer.

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The environment the workers dealt with was hazardous. They were usually required to work 12-14 hours a day, six or seven days a week, while being exposed to dangerous machinery and toxic chemicals such as ammonia and chlorine without proper safety equipment or training. Not to mention they walked on slippery floors all day due to blood from animal carcasses hanging from the ceiling. The meatpacking industry was well known for its unsanitary conditions, forcing workers to work in close proximity to rotting meat and animal waste.

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The workers did not wear gloves when they worked with the meat so the even ran the risk o9f the cutting themselves a finger or an arm due how dangerous it

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786 Words | 4 Pages

The book, After the Fact: The Art of Historical Detection describes how Upton Sinclair stated how he had hoped to draw his readers’ attention to “the conditions under which toilers get their bread,” and how there are, “corrupt federal meat inspectors, unsanitary slaughter houses, tubercular cattle, and the packers’ unscrupulous business practices”(Document 4). The authors, James Davidson and Mark Lytle are expressing how meat factory workers are making terrible, unsanitary food. They’re pointing out that not even the meat inspectors care for the condition the meat is in. In other words, just as long as they’re making a profit, the inspectors could care less about the meat’s quality. However, consumer products soon took a turn for the better when the Meat Inspection Act was finally passed.

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1060 Words | 5 Pages

Revealing the harsh treatment of meatpacking workers and showing the reality of the disgusting conditions found in butchery shops to the public, Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle became an enduring classic by American readers throughout the early twentieth century the prompted the later creation of the Federal Drug Administration. In the early 1900s, America was explosively transitioning from an agricultural society to a thriving manufacturing-based nation. As production demand in factories grew throughout the country, the work force needed to run those factories also expanded. A new type of demanding and dangerous work became prevalent throughout the nation, as immigrants coming into the “Land of Opportunity” found themselves desperate

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Upton Sinclair portrays the economic tension in the United States during the late 19th and early 20th centuries through his novel “The Jungle”. He used the story of a Lithuanian immigrant, Jurgis Rudkus, to show the harsh situation that immigrants had to face in the United States, the unsanitary and unsafe working conditions in the meatpacking plants, as well as the tension between the capitalism and socialism in the United States during the early 1900s. In the late 19th century and early 20th centuries, there were massive immigrants move into the United States, and most of them were from Europe. The protagonist, Jurgis Rudkus, like many other immigrants, have the “America Dream” which they believe America is heaven to them, where they can

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488 Words | 2 Pages

Upton Sinclair's The Jungle is not an suitable book for the classroom. There is no doubt that this book helped direct the passing of the Pure Food and Drug Act and the Meat Inspection Act of 1906 (Foner, p.546). However, The Jungle is a novel, and is not intended to be a factual report. Sinclair's motives for this book were originally to expose the dangerous conditions of the environment that the workers had to deal with. But when the public read The Jungle, all the attention was centered around the disturbing claims regarding the food safety.

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In Upton Sinclair’s expose on the meat industry, The Jungle, he writes about the unsanitary and dangerous conditions in the workplace. The author first begins with an eye-opening description of how the meat is made and packed; he then describes the sickening odor that would fill the room. To conclude he details how the workers would need to find a way to sell anything by writing of their schemes of using spoiled meat to sell. Sinclair’s purpose is to expose the conditions of the meatpacking industry and how it was harmful not only to the workers, but also the consumers. He seems to have a large, general audience in mind because the majority

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665 Words | 3 Pages

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

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634 Words | 3 Pages

During the 1900’s working conditions were undeniably horrible. In Packingtown everyday got more difficult as the days went on. In the meat packing business things were supposed to be done quick. Inside the factories packing, chopping, inspecting and people actions didn’t mix. Not only did the people in the factories suffered, the people outside of the factory also suffered.

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1202 Words | 5 Pages

During the time period of the 1900’s, the meat packaging industry in Chicago, as Sinclair mentions in his novel, The Jungle, was a very unsanitary and extremely dangerous workplace that lacked much more than just a few safety precautions. Simple things, such as enforcing hand washing or workers’ rights were unheard of in the working environment. It is clear that Upton Sinclair was trying to expose the worker’s horrendous labor conditions in order to improve their situation, along with the introduction of socialism. Upton Sinclair, in his novel, talks about how a Lithuanian immigrant by the name of Jurgis Rudkus, and his family, travel to Chicago trying to make ends meet. However, they soon realize Chicago was not the place for that.

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1577 Words | 7 Pages

The workers were a prime source of information for Upton, who questioned them about where they got some of their meat and they said it came from the rejections across the Atlantic in Europe. (Conditions in Meatpacking Plants; Web). The sausage for instance, would be white from the mold that had accumulated from the prolonged exposure on the journey from Europe. The trip would also bring many unwanted pests such as rats.

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