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The Meat Industry In Upton Sinclair's The Jungle During The Progressive Era

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Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle was a novel popularized and published during the Progressive Era with the purpose of exposing the horrific working conditions of the Chicago meat industry. Sinclair exposed the unsanitary practices of the meat industry and the dehumanization of the workers. The harsh realities written in Sinclair’s novel reached the hearts of many Americans furthering the push of many progressive activist’s demands. In the end this created an everlasting lawful change with the help of President Theodore Roosevelt. The tragic novel, The Jungle, quickly gained nationwide attention not long after its publications. However, much of its success is due to the time period in which it was published, The Progressive Era. This was a time …show more content…

A major change found from the novel and still in practice today is the food industry. Many times throughout, Sinclair mentions unsanitary aspects of what people were truly purchasing to consume. “There was never the least attention paid to what sausage that had been rejected, and that was moldy and white--it would be dosed with borax and glycerine, and dumped into the hoppers, and made over again for home consumption” (Sinclair, 100). As many Americans read the novel, they found themselves disgusted by what they were truly consuming on a daily basis. This resulted in nationwide outrage, and even had reached congress. A copy of The Jungle was sent to at the time President Theodore Roosevelt. Horrified by the descriptions of the process in which meat had been produced …show more content…

The main character Jurgis early on in the book when he was still full of hope and believing in the “American dream” shuns his coworkers aligned with the union. However, as he is exposed to how working at the meat plant truly is and how it can drain the life out of someone, he joins the union himself. Jurgis’ hope in the union pulled him further even when he was on the brink of breaking down. As people read The Jungle it inspired those in similar positions to form their own unions. Sinclair’s writing became a powerful tool for everyday working citizens to unite with those in similar situations, creating a platform for workers to have a voice and be heard. For the first time people who had felt invisible were able to negotiate on their own terms with their

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WHAT IS “THE JUNGLE”? The Jungle is book written by Upton Sinclair in 1906, published by Jabber & Company in the state of New York. It contains details on the Chicago meatpacking industry, originally written to help bring awareness to the harsh conditions of immigrants workers in these industries. The public, however, too the terrible, unsanitary conditions of these industries, with rats running along the meat, and employees going to the bathroom in the same spot they work with the meat in.

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Upton Sinclair's "The Jungle" is a novel that depicts the lives of Lithuanian immigrants working in the meatpacking industry in Chicago at the turn of the 20th century. The jungle refers to the harsh and unforgiving environment of the meatpacking district, where workers are subjected to dangerous working conditions, unsanitary living quarters, and exploitation by powerful meatpacking companies. The book opens with Jurgis Rudkus, a strong and proud Lithuanian immigrant, arriving in Chicago with his family. They quickly find work in the meatpacking district, but soon discover that the reality of their new life is far harsher than they had imagined.

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778 Words | 4 Pages

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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Though it was the labor unions which eventually unions improved the working conditions, now Sinclair themes tell us why he wrote the way he did, and a truth about he way things were in his time. Despite Sinclair disappointments in what was taken away The Jungle was still an incredible success from a publishing perspective. %thin weeks [of publication] Upton Sinclair was transformed from an obscure young writer into an internationally renowned novelist” (as cited in Sinclair ix). So, even considering Sinclair lack of success in his own eyes, the book did fulfill his intentions in one way. Not only did it cause a stir, bringing attention to the situation, but the work has survived all this time, under intense study, and laws are overlooked as we examine what he is telling us through these three element of

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In “ The Jungle”, the author Upton Sinclair states that “ I aimed at the public's heart and by accident I hit it in the stomach”. This means that Sinclair wanted to muckrake the Meat Packing Industry to seek attention for the workers, but instead food became a bigger concern. The characters Jurgis, Ona, and Marija with fellow family members are Lithuanian immigrants who came to PackingTown in hope for a better future, however they came to realize that the whole town is run by capitalist. Although Sinclair intentionally uses metaphors and similes to depict the characters struggle in the horrible living and working conditions in Packingtown, his purpose is undermined and overlooked by his use of realism to depict the food process.

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244 Words | 1 Pages

In The Jungle , Upton Sinclair shows The corruption of the Industrial Age through his depiction of working conditions, wages, and living conditions. The working conditions were considered extremely bad in the industrial age. One was that no one could take a day off and if you didn’t go to work you job might not be there the next day. Another example of terrible working conditions was the danger that jurgis was in the Jungle.

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Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle “hit [the readers] in their stomach” rather than in their hearts like he had hoped to. Steve Trott thoroughly writes about Upton Sinclair’s successes and failures as a writer in his piece, “Upton Sinclair and The Jungle.” Sinclair had written the novel in hopes of drawing attention to the “appalling conditions and squalor of wage-laborers under capitalism… [b]ut his objective was lost on the public, overshadowed by unsanitary conditions and inadequate regulation in the meat processing plants” (Trott 2). Because Sinclair based the novel off of a fictional character, Jurgis Rudkus, his reliability fell short.

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Thus, Sinclair’s purpose of writing The Jungle failed to bring readers to advocate for the rights of workers trapped in the low wages, unsafe working conditions, and long hours of meatpacking factories, but rather, succeeded in opening the country’s eyes to the meatpacking practices that went on behind closed doors and the establishment administrations to protect the public from these unscrupulous

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485 Words | 2 Pages

Upton Sinclair’s “The Jungle”, was published in 1906 to shed light on the harsh realities faced by the working class in America during the 20th century. The novel depicts themes of the grueling immigrant experience and the evils of capitalism. Sinclair uses these themes to inform readers of the struggle and harshness of life during this time and to represent the need for labor rights. The story begins by introducing the main character, Jurgis Rudkus, a Lithuanian immigrant.

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634 Words | 3 Pages

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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634 Words | 3 Pages

The book displays the conditions of the corrupt economy of the meat-packing industry, aside from telling what Jurgis went through. The book “The Jungle” by Upton Sinclair was reached by President Theodore Roosevelt, which helped advocate congress to pass the “Food and Drug Act of

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1058 Words | 5 Pages

Upton Sinclair, a well-known muckraker of the early 1900s, wrote a novel called The Jungle, which highlighted the negative effects of capitalism and the corruption of society at the time. Sinclair wrote the novel with his primary goal being to bring awareness to society’s corruption and to push forward the ideas of socialism. To accomplish this, a connection is established between the reader and the protagonist, Jurgis Rudkus, who struggles under a capitalist society. The antagonist is then presented as not one single character, but as the system of capitalism that oppresses workers like Jurgis and his family, as well as the economic structure of society that puts wealth and power into the hands of only a few individuals.

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526 Words | 3 Pages

“The Jungle” was one of the most influential books in American History (Millen). It was a book about a family that had come to America seeking their dream only to find a nightmare (Millen). Sinclair's reason for writing the book was to expose the despairing world of the working class which furthered his drive to make it better (Millen). The message of the book was to show that people working in a capitalist society have no chance or hope (Millen). Also, Sinclair's first five novels were published between 1901 and 1906 (Strecker).

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2394 Words | 10 Pages

The Jungle, written by Upton Sinclair in 1905, exposes the unfavorable working conditions in the Chicago meatpacking industry and the difficulties faced by immigrants at the beginning of the 20th century. The story revolves around Lithuanian immigrant Jurgis Rudkus, who immigrated to America with his family in a quest for a better life. The chances that America provides thrill Jurgis and his family, but they soon come to understand that they are entangled in a dishonest and ruthless system. The book gives a comprehensive account of the hazardous and filthy circumstances present in meatpacking plants, including the use of rotting meat, rat waste, and other toxins in food preparation. The Pure Food and Drug Act and the Meat Inspection Act of

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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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