Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle is an accurate presentation of United States history during the early twentieth century because it correctly depicts the exploitation of the poor working class and eventual shattering of dreams by the wealthy capitalists through: the political corruption such as the party bosses’ constant rigging of elections, the harsh labor conditions and cheating of wages put on workers, and the constant injustices and swindling that the working class endured. Sinclair portrays the twisted influence of political machines during the Progressive era in The Jungle. For example, when the main character Jurgis gets out of Bridewell Prison, he begins to work for Mike Scully (a corrupt Democrat) by joining a union that does not
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For instance, when Marija, a beef trimmer, and Jurgis,an entrail sweeper, both get jobs in the meat-packing industry; they become aware that the rotten meat becomes the sausage and that the meat-packing industry is willing to sell health-hazardous meat to the public just to keep a profit. This is historically accurate because after the Meat Inspection Act was passed by Congress in 1907, chemist Harvey W. Wiley from the Department of Agriculture and a group of his associates found many chemical preservatives in foods handled by industries to be deadly to human health (Constitutional Rights Foundation, Muckraking the Meat-Packing Industry, Paragraph 41). Furthermore, when Jurgis gets his first job in Packingtown, conditions instantly begin to deteriorate such as: poor industrial safety conditions, the spread of diseases due to poor sanitation in the factories, and the speed of production at arduous levels. Sinclair accurately depicts this situation occurring in the Progressive era because fatalities on the job were regular at this time and the industries cared more about their profitability than the conditions of their workers. According an article by John E. Hansan of Virginia Commonwealth University, he states that millions of deaths and injuries occurred on the job, and for the time period, they were extremely common (Hansan, The Progressive Era, Paragraph 10). He goes on later to explain the inexistence of sanitary and safety regulations and how wealthy corporations did not strongly obey them if they did exist (Hansan, The Progressive Era, Paragraph
For instance, when Marija, a beef trimmer, and Jurgis,an entrail sweeper, both get jobs in the meat-packing industry; they become aware that the rotten meat becomes the sausage and that the meat-packing industry is willing to sell health-hazardous meat to the public just to keep a profit. This is historically accurate because after the Meat Inspection Act was passed by Congress in 1907, chemist Harvey W. Wiley from the Department of Agriculture and a group of his associates found many chemical preservatives in foods handled by industries to be deadly to human health (Constitutional Rights Foundation, Muckraking the Meat-Packing Industry, Paragraph 41). Furthermore, when Jurgis gets his first job in Packingtown, conditions instantly begin to deteriorate such as: poor industrial safety conditions, the spread of diseases due to poor sanitation in the factories, and the speed of production at arduous levels. Sinclair accurately depicts this situation occurring in the Progressive era because fatalities on the job were regular at this time and the industries cared more about their profitability than the conditions of their workers. According an article by John E. Hansan of Virginia Commonwealth University, he states that millions of deaths and injuries occurred on the job, and for the time period, they were extremely common (Hansan, The Progressive Era, Paragraph 10). He goes on later to explain the inexistence of sanitary and safety regulations and how wealthy corporations did not strongly obey them if they did exist (Hansan, The Progressive Era, Paragraph