Upton Sinclair The Jungle Book Summary

Decent Essays
Upton Sinclair's interesting and intense story reveals the outrageous food conditions in the Chicago stockyards. Condemned by society, Upton Sinclair was labeled un-American who was slandering the meatpacking industry. The Jungle is examined as one of the most remarked about publications worldwide in history. Sinclair's book triggered distinguished people and it attained a considerable amount of public recognition regarding the vile truth of the meat-packing industry. This book is considered to be a major spark in history to the advancement of the Pure Food and Meat Inspection act, which has became a monumental influence to this day in

Related Documents

  • Decent Essays

    August 27, 1910 Chicago, IL The meat packing industry handles the slaughtering, processing, packaging, and distribution of animals such as cattle, pigs, sheep and other livestock. The industries preparation of your food has always been thought to be safe to eat and good for you. Here at Upton Sinclair’s butcher house there is so many gross, unappealing, and many disgusting things that they don't want we the people to know.…

    • 299 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Decent Essays

    Upton Sinclair - His newspaper articles attacked the Chicago meatpacking industry in the early 1900's. He discovered that if he walked into the packing houses carrying a bucket, people thought he was a sweeper and let him past. He saw rats everywhere, filthy water, meat inspectors being bribed, and meatpacking in conditions so filthy that you couldn't see your own shoes because of all the garbage on the floor! His book, The Jungle, created a nationwide sensation, and resulted in the Pure Food & Drug Act.…

    • 86 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The stockyards that are packed with cattle, pigs, and sheep demonstrate the efficiency of the economic machinery of the meatpacking industry. The real impact of Sinclair’s exposé is in the portrayal of the practice of selling diseased and rotten meat to the American public. It keeps them from spending money. The factory owners value their profits over the health of the workers and the public consumer. They use corrupt practices to sell rotting meat, and they can do it because they own the politicians who make the laws.…

    • 947 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Upton Sinclair’s book, The Jungle published in 1906 marked a very critical moment is U.S. history. The book became an instant best seller and immediately brought change due to public outcry. It was an important turning point in United States history because it exposed the disgusting and careless way the meat was handled in meat companies around the United States. This book led to the result of two major legislations being passed. The Jungle not only affected the United States domestically but also internationally.…

    • 482 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    During the early 20th century, swarms of immigrants began coming to America, in hopes of a better life. They were soon exposed to several forms of corruption--although many did not know of this. This was because most immigrants came from poverty, and did not have a high end education. Many of them did not speak English, and therefore could not exactly comprehend the U.S. government laws, community rules, and the way businesses worked. In The Jungle, Upton Sinclair presents a wide range of corruption involving blacklisting, political scams, and the mishandling of meat.…

    • 377 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    (Sinclair 1906). The Jungle, written by Upton Sinclair, was intended to show the plight of immigrant workers in the meatpacking industry of Chicago. Sinclair wanted to show how capitalism had failed and that socialism was the only way to solve the problems of the American worker. However, the American public centered their concerns on the awful conditions that meat was processed and how unsanitary, contaminated, and rotten meat was making their way to American stores.…

    • 1628 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    “The Jungle”, written by Upton Sinclair, was one of the most well known books to emerge during the Progressive Era. The publication of this piece is known to have influenced the passing of two federal laws concerning food health and safety, the Federal Food and Drugs Act of 1906, and the Federal Meat Inspection Act. During the time of its' publication, it had evoked an immediate and powerful effect on Americans and federal policy. It had paved the way for federal laws regarding food health and safety that we now follow in today's day and age.…

    • 582 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    DBQ: The Progressive Era

    • 2007 Words
    • 9 Pages

    For instance, as Neill-Reynolds’ Report illustrates, conditions in the meat-packing industry were awful and some workers were sick with tuberculosis [Doc B]. Neill-Reynolds’ report was directed toward an audience of big businesses and the government, informing them of the poor working conditions, poor design of buildings, and few effective regulations in the meat-packing industry. Progressive reformer Jacob Riis also illustrated to the public the horror of peoples’ living conditions in his How the Other Half Lives. Muckrakers, reform-favored investigative journalists, would also produce works to gain the attention of higher authorities to illustrate the horrors the working class faced. Upton Sinclair was a muckraker, known for his creation of The Jungle, which was an exposé that highlighted the repulsions of the meatpacking industries.…

    • 2007 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Book Summary: The Jungle

    • 1860 Words
    • 8 Pages

    The Jungle Antanas Rudkus- Jurgis’s and Ona’s oldest son. Very much loved and cared for, by his family. Antanas, just as his father was portrayed as a strong, well-built boy. Unfortunately, after Ona’s death while Jurgis was at work, he drowned in a puddle of mud. Ultimately ending the little hope Jurgis had left.…

    • 1860 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    He published The Jungle in 1906. “The publication of The Jungle awakened the American public to the dangerous practices of an unregulated food industry”(“Upton Beall Sinclair, Jr.,”2008). This is an example of one of his accomplishments that improved life in the United States. This led to the creation of the Pure Food and Drug Act and also the Meat Inspection Act in 1906. These laws ensured that food was safe for consumption and met sanitation standards.…

    • 666 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    Rather than creating a fictitious setting Sinclair valued letting the people know what was happening in their own country’s meat packing industry. This novel is still remains a very applicable primary source that shows the true industry that made Chicago famous, “Any student of American history and culture owes it to himself to read The Jungle in order to understand more clearly the impulse behind the labor movement, the drive for regulatory agencies, and the need for social conscience on the part of all citizens”(Woodress). Sinclair wanted to expose the…

    • 1806 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Upton Sinclair was a well known figure during this time, she was a muckraker( journalist who would expose a social injustice). She wrote a book called " The Jungle", this book exposed the meat industry. There were policies that were applied to companies after the book came out, requiring them to follow certain…

    • 436 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In a few parts of the chapter he talks food going bad or spoiled. Specifically, “And yet, in spite of this, there would be hams found spoiled, some of them with an odor so bad that a man could hardly bear to be in the room with them (Sinclair paragraph 2).” Upton Sinclair was kind of all over the place and his rhetorical devices didn’t make the passage tie in…

    • 807 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Sinclair published this book secretly in 1906. It reveals what really goes on in the meat packing industry and what workers have to go through every day. The workplace is a disgusting place because “[the] floor was filthy” and the meat would be thrown on the floor no matter how it was. This…

    • 1741 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Many facets of Upton Sinclair’s book relate and portray different parts of the meatpacking industry. Many believe the title itself relates back to the cruelty seen in the business. The story follows a man named Jurgis who had recently moved from Lithuania to a Chicago suburb, called Packingtown in reference to Chicago’s meatpacking district in the early 1900s. With him, Jurgis brought eleven of his family members, including his father, his young wife named Ona, and Ona’s stepmother, step-uncle, cousin and six of her stepbrothers and sisters. This aspect of the story relates to the actual strike because the majority of the packing plant’s workers were immigrants.…

    • 736 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays