Utterly disturbing, centuryold photos of meatpacking. As a result, the government would step in and pass legislation that protected consumers from consuming unsafe food. The jungle is a book that exposed abuses in the meatpacking company. This novel soon became a focus of controversy and change within the united states. The jungle cliffsnotes study guides book summaries. The jungle is a novel by upton sinclair, published serially in 1905 and as a book in 1906. The jungle is a novel that is based on the disgusting conditions of the us meatpacking industry, and the hardships of the labor that. Conditions in meatpacking plants 1906, by upton sinclair. The jungle by upton sinclair meet your next favorite book. Largest of all was the meatpacking industry in chicago. The jungle exposed the horrors of the meatpacking industry. Upton sinclairs the jungle constitutional rights foundation. At the beginning of the 20th century the american people created great change in.
The jungle by upton sinclair book summary minute book. About a month after the jungle was published, the white house started receiving 100 letters a day demanding a federal cleanup of the meat industry, alden whitman wrote in sinclairs. Descriptions of conditions in modern meat processing plants resemble those. The main character in the book, jurgis rudkus, a lithuanian immigrant, tries. Who wrote the book the jungle about the meatpacking industry. The wageearners are slaves to the sudden wishes of their masters, who are the capitalists who own and run private.
Sinclairs book was so moving and troubling that it inspired the establishment of the food and drug administration, a federal agency that is to this day responsible for regulating. Analysis of the jungle by upton sinclair 1076 words cram. The book is best remembered for its horrifying depiction of the meatpacking industry, but the book offers more than just those stomachchurning details. Gary younge on why upton sinclairs 1906 novel the jungle caused uproar in the us meatpacking industry. The jungle was first published in 1905 as a serial in the appeal to reason and then as a book in. Denounced by the conservative press as an unamerican libel on the meatpacking industry, and condemned for sinclairs unabashed promotion of socialism and. Farm, factory, and the fate of our food, was an investigation of hormel foods and the effects of increased line speeds on the meatpacking industry. The themetracker below shows where, and to what degree, the theme of the horrors of the meatpacking industry appears in each chapter of the jungle. Upton sinclairs the jungle and the meatpacking industry today 2817 words 12 pages meatpacking pertains to the raising, slaughtering, packaging and processing of livestock such as pigs, cows, and chickens. What book exposed abuses in the meatpacking industry. The jungle by upton sinclair book summary minute book report. Its the meatpacking industry, which was the subject of upton sinclairs novel the jungle, published in 1906. This quote from chapter 10 comes from sinclairs explanation of onas working conditions. The jungle by upton sinclair was published in 1906 and described the harrowing conditions of the meatpacking industry in the united states.
September 20, 1878 november 25, 1968 was an american writer who wrote nearly 100 books and other works in several genres. In this chapter he describes the first of many illegal and immoral activities. An ardent activist, champion of political reform, novelist, and progressive journalist, upton sinclair is perhaps best known today for the jungle his devastating expose of the meatpacking industry. Upton sinclair concentrates on the meat packing industry in the book the jungle. Upton sinclairs book the jungle remains an inspiration to journalists.
The book was fiction but based on the things sinclair had seen. Regulation of the meatpacking industry began in 1906 after president theodore roosevelt read a book about the plight of the working class and the corruption of the meatpacking industry by journalist upton sinclair. A nod to upton sinclairs muckraking the jungle, which scared its readers into regulating the meatpacking industry, this lively if depressing novel suggests that computer snooping is too seductive to control, despite the consequences. His description of diseased, rotten, and contaminated meat shocked the public and led to new federal food safety laws. This paper will address american meat processing in the aftermath of upton sinclairs book the jungle. The jungle is more than an advertisement for socialism. Although sinclairs authorial intention in the jungle is to illustrate the plight of the immigrants and the folly of capitalism, his novel is remembered more for illuminating the abuses in the meatpacking industry. What industry was the focus in the book the jungle answers. Upton sinclair is an american author with almost 100 books which are based on many different genres. Upton sinclairs the jungle and the meatpacking industry.
Gary younge on upton sinclairs 1906 novel the jungle. To ask other readers questions about the jungle, please sign up. The socialists despised the concept of competition. The book show how those at the bottom of the economic ladder, who were wageearners and their families, are at a disadvantage in the capitalist country. A novel that has remained controversial since its writing, the jungle is a brutal and unflinching look at the struggles of a turnofthecentury immigrant family. The culmination of his work was the passage in 1906 of the meat inspection act, enshrined in history, or at least in history books, as a sacred cow excuse the pun of the interventionist state. Meatpacking regulation gone virtually unmentioned in legal scholarship. The jungle, muckrakers, and teddy roosevelt nehedsitement. Sinclair is a journalist, novelist, as well as a political activist. This is a tragic story about a lithuanian family led by a man named jurgis and their trials in packingtowns meat packing industry. And while it did to that, upton sinclairs mission which i discussed quite a bit in my social protest literature course. Sinclair wrote the novel to portray the harsh conditions and exploited lives of immigrants in the united states in chicago and similar industrialized cities. When the book was released, the public was horrified by the depiction of the meatpacking industry, which led the government to step in to effect change. Most of sinclairs books, including the jungle, dealt with social injustice.
The jungle this 1906 work by upton sinclair pointed out the abuses of the meat packing industry. It is true that the main character of the book at one point goes to work in a meat packing plant. Slaughterhouse is the first book of its kind to explore the impact that unprecedented changes in the meatpacking industry over the last twentyfive yearsparticularly industry consolidation, increased line speeds, and deregulationhave had on workers, animals, and consumers. The goal of the socialist party in the jungle was to end the corrupt and powerful beef trust. In upton sinclairs the jungle, how did the meat packing. Meat packing chapter 14 of the book the jungle, is explaining the past conditions of the struggling and unorganised meatpacking industries of the united states. Get an answer for in upton sinclairs the jungle, how did the meat packing industry treat meat that smelled bad. The meat packing industry started in the early 1900s. What was the reason congress passed the purefooddrug bill.
I was reading the document and realised that the in the past meatpacking industry of the united states was so unhygienic and unorganized. Public pressure during the aftermath of the book s publication led to the passage of the meat inspection act, which helps ensure that meat is packaged under sanitary conditions. In upton sinclairs novel, the jungle, sinclair argues the horrors of the meat packing industry and how corrupt capitalism. What social problem did upton sinclairs novel the jungle. The jungle, published in 1906, exposed the harsh conditions of the meatpacking industry in chicago and other similar industrial cities. I remember throughout middle school and high school learning about the jungle as the book intended to expose the american meatpacking industry. The book was a pulitzer prize winner and covered the facts of the meatpacking industry of the time. A family working in the meat packing industry, exposing what really happened in the industry. Sinclairs work was well known and popular in the first half of the 20th century, and he won the pulitzer prize for fiction in 1943 in 1906, sinclair acquired particular fame for his classic muckraking novel the jungle, which exposed labor. A century after the publication of the jungle abusive working conditions and treatment still torment a mostly immigrant labour force in the american meatpacking industry. This is a quick book summary of the jungle by upton sinclair. Who wrote the book the jungle about the meatpacking. It contrasts the corruption of the meatpacking industry with the appalling conditions and daytoday hopelessness the lower classes work and.
His most famous book, the jungle from 1906, was about the american meatpacking industry upton sinclair had socialist political opinions. Upton beall sinclair september 20, 1878 november 25, 1968 was a writer of many works from the united states. It also talk about some of the situations where people are suffering from a disease but. This is a tragic story about a lithuanian family led by a man named jurgis and their trials in packingtowns.
It describes the horrors of the meat packing industry in great detail. Upton sinclair, whose muckraking changed the meat industry. A summary of chapters 35 in upton sinclairs the jungle. The jungle by upton sinclair is a vivid and moving account of the meat processing and slaughtering industry in the early 1900s. His primary purpose in describing the meat industry and its working conditions was to advance socialism in the united states. His primary purpose in describing the meat industry and its working. They considered the commercial world to be the essence of corruption. The jungle, a 1906 novel by upton sinclair, is full of graphic descriptions of the poor conditions workers and cattle endured in the chicago meatpacking industry. Who wrote the book the jungle exposing conditions in the. Muckraking the meatpacking industry upton sinclair wrote the jungle to expose the appalling working conditions in the meatpacking industry. In 1906, upton sinclairs novel the jungle uncovered harrowing conditions inside americas meat packing plants and initiated a period of transformation in the nations meat industry.
Learn exactly what happened in this chapter, scene, or section of the jungle and what it means. Sinclair presents these conditions as a horrible situation for the modest, moral ona but also offers an explanation in which the system. The jungle, and the campaign that sinclair waged after its publication, led directly to passage of a landmark federal food safety law, which took effect 100 years ago this week. The outrage that the book caused has often been singled out as the main reason for the passage of legislation to protect consumers. The jungle is a wellinformed critique on the social, political, and economic issues of the food industry and the rapidly developing capitalist society of. Sinclairs novel, the jungle 1906, based on his newspaper reporting, exposed the inner workings of the meat packing industry.
Perfect for acing essays, tests, and quizzes, as well as for writing lesson plans. Published on may 1, 2018 this is a quick book summary of the jungle by upton sinclair. A protest novel he privately published in 1906, the book was a shocking revelation of intolerable labor practices and unsanitary working conditions in the chicago stockyards. Litcharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in the jungle, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work. He also wrote a book called mental radio where he claimed to have. After the book s publication, there were many laws. Though known more for its horrific portrayal of the conditions inside slaughterhouses, only 60 pages of the 4 pages that make up the jungle detail the goingson of the meat packing industry.