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The Industrialization Process In Upton Sinclair's The Jungle

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Since the publication of The Jungle back in 1906, it remains a very impacting novel in American history. While it may not have any ghouls or goblins, The Jungle is miles past a horror story. In what is arguably Sinclair’s best work, he vividly depicts the terrors of life in the meatpacking industry, and the barbarous working conditions that come along with it. This novel illustrates the different ways the industrialization process destroys the lives of workers by bombarding them both physically and emotionally with: deplorable working conditions, harsh weather, and government corruption. Through the view of Sinclair’s fictional character Jurgis, he uncovers all of the lies and corruption that was masqueraded by capitalism, and he …show more content…

One source comments, “The work hours were endless” (Moss, 135). They would have to wake up before dawn and wouldn’t be able to come home until nightfall or later. In addition, the work itself was horrendous. Those working in the slaughterhouses were only given an estimate of five years before they would have to quit or even die. Even Jurgis, a strong, healthy man, familiar with extremely difficult labor, still suffered through the work. “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” (Sinclair, 138). In exchange for this brutality, the pay was so low that even the women had to work. Jurgis’ wife, Ona, and her stepmother, Teta Elzibieta, both had jobs as can painters. Even Jurgis’ elderly father and Teta’s children had to work to make a sustainable living for the family. These conditions work to destroy life at home. Sinclair shows the emotional impact these working conditions had on both Jurgis and his wife as their time with each other was impeded by the endless …show more content…

Sinclair’s novel vividly and truthfully depicts the way the industrialization process decays the lives of its workers. In fact, to truly understand the struggles of the workers and write the most authentic piece of literature possible, Sinclair visited and spent several days in packingtown. Sinclair illustrates, throughout the entirety of the novel, the horrid conditions of the meatpacking industry, and he spared no gut-wrenching detail. One quote from Sinclair himself states, “I aimed at the public's heart, and by accident I hit it in the stomach." This shows that Sinclair’s intentions were only to shed light on the corrupt, capitalist system, but incidentally, his novel also led to the passing of several health inspection and food laws. Sinclair’s novel was the most accurate fictional piece of literature ever written, and it inspired a nation to stand up for social

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The book was based on Sinclair's own investigation of the industry, where he worked incognito in the stockyards and slaughterhouses of Chicago. The book provided a vivid and shocking depiction of the life of immigrants who worked in the industry, including

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"And, for this, at the end of the week, he will carry home three dollars to his family, being his pay at the rate of five cents per hour,” (Sinclair 85) shows that the employees-- typically new immigrants at the plants-- were hardly provided for and were not paid at all that much. They were exploited; working for long hours for this little pay. Jurgis, the main character in The Jungle, struggled throughout part of Sinclair’s novel because of his lack of income from the meat packing plant he worked at, Durham’s. Many people in this time did as well, like Jurgis, having trouble seeking a home, food or clothing fit enough to purchase with the little they were provided with from their

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In Upton Sinclair's The Jungle, Jurgis and his family attempt to survive in a malicious society. In this jungle of a town, rotten meat is being packaged in order to save money. Throughout the novel, the immigrants are faced with greedy capitalists who take advantage of the family’s ignorance and naivety in order to make money. The symbols of corruption, a jungle-like setting, and the tension between family and a work-based lifestyle transparently contribute to the unifying theme of anti-capitalism. In other words, this book is not art; this book is propaganda.

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They also better to identify with Jurgis and his families’ struggles. Sinclair probably also wanted government officials to read the book because they had the power to take immediate action. It is ironic because government officials did take action, just not in the way that Sinclair originally anticipated. Roosevelt passed the Federal meat Inspection Act and the Pure Food and Drug act in response to the book. While this changed America for the better, it did not come in the form of democratic socialism that Sinclair

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However, readers at the time were not very concerned about the petty immigrants living on the lower rung of society. Rather, they cared about what affected them most: the condition of the meat they were eating-- and had been eating-- for years, that were produced by some of the very factories mentioned in Sinclair’s novel. For the majority of The Jungle’s readers, the fact that poor immigrants were being exploited was not bothersome. Instead, the fact that the food that readers had been eating for years contained the power to kill them seemed shocking, pushing the nation into a worried frenzy. Readers were disgusted by the facts they were reading, catalyzing the creation of administrations like the FDA.

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There are many other traps around America that deceive the immigrants because their weakness of not knowing English and the desire of getting a great life in America which lead them unpreparedly get fooled by the businessmen. These traps prevented the immigrants from leaving America, because of the significant amount of debt that they have to pay each month, which forced them to keep working and become the slave of this capitalistic society in America. Unfortunately, even they work very hard, in most of the time they will not get anything in return, such that Jurgis’s family cannot even keep the house at the of the book and many of family members’ health destroyed by the harsh working conditions in the

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While Upton Sinclair was writing what was soon to be a bestseller and a book that is still used in literature classes to this day, he kept in mind that he wanted to portray the exploited lives of workers for the meatpacking industries. He really emphasized that they were substantially underpaid for the harsh working conditions they were put in. What the public emphasized on was how the meat was being treated, this caused an uproar throughout the country. It was never Sinclair’s goal to muck rack and expose what the meatpacking industries were doing. Now to this day Sinclair’s, The Jungle, is known for being a classic muckraking tale.

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The Bosses squeezed and drained the life of those men. In the book The Jungle written by Upton Sinclair he described the life of a struggling family try to work and stay alive in the filth. The working conditions in the factories were unsafe, unsanitary and people made little. The purpose of this book was for people to become socialist other than capitalist.

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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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