Upton Sinclair's The Jungle During The Progressive Era

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Upton Sinclair wrote The Jungle in 1906 during the Progressive Era (1890-1920). In the late nineteenth century and early twentieth century a vast rift between the upper and middle/working class began to develop. As a result of this growing division, a group of activists stood up for the voiceless society. These people were known as “progressives”. The progressives believed that Social Darwinism was immoral and that government should provide solutions to the social and economic problems of the lower class. Upton Sinclair’s unique upbringing made him sympathetic to the plight of the lower class which he believed was due to the oppression of big businesses on their employees. Upton Sinclair was a voice for the working poor in the newly forming industrial America. “The contempt he had developed for the upper class as a youth had led Sinclair to socialism in 1903, and in 1904 he was sent to Chicago by the socialist newspaper Appeal to Reason to write an exposé on the mistreatment of workers in the meatpacking industry.”(A&E) In his renowned novel, The Jungle, Sinclair depicted the atrocious working conditions of immigrants in the meat packing industry. His purpose for writing The Jungle was to expose the exploitation of people working in the meat packing industry and the corruption of big businesses. Throughout Sinclair’s writing career, his “contempt” for the upper class of society and the ongoing political movements of socialism and progressivism fueled his political activism, causing him to write many books similar to The Jungle, which ultimately improved the lives of common men like himself. Upton Sinclair was born on September 20, 1878, in Baltimore, Maryland. Sinclair was the only child of an alcoholic father and a puritanical and virtuous mother. As a result of his father’s inability to sufficiently provide for his family, Sinclair spent his childhood on the brink of poverty. By stark contrast, he sometimes lived with his wealthy maternal grandparents. Sinclair was able to observe two opposite spectrums of wealth through his immediate family life and by occasionally living with his mother’s parents. He became disgusted with the fact that some lived lavish lifestyles while others fought everyday battles for necessities like food, clean water, and shelter. Sinclair witnessed the economic disparity when oscillating between a poor existence and a wealthy life. The source of his empathy towards those being used by the wealthy came from the two polarizing worlds in which he lived. These experiences called on his faith to decipher his life’s calling. Sinclair’s faith was a result of his mother’s devout beliefs. In fact, “the author's mother wanted him to become a minister.” (Andrew Costly) This demonstrates that Sinclair’s mother instilled in him the trait of empathy which was vital in order for Sinclair to risk his career attacking big businesses. “He later argued that witnessing these extremes turned him into a socialist.” (Spartacus Education) He found the solution to economic disparity to be in the growing movement of socialism. The rise of big businesses from 1880-1900 caused an imbalance in the supply and demand for workers needed to fuel the increased manufacturing in America. “The new businesses encouraged immigration as a resource for cheap, unskilled labor.”(US Immigration Trends) The influx of immigrants in search of the American Dream resulted in a greater number of workers than available jobs. Due to the expendability of these workers, they were treated like animals for labor and then were nonchalantly replaced by other immigrants if they were unable or unwilling to work grueling hours for little pay. Thus, the early 1900s provided ideal circumstances to fuel the socialist movement. The idea of …show more content…
Sinclair used his novel, The Jungle, to expose the corruption of greedy big businessmen who made their fortunes at the expense of the desperate working class. Sinclair’s writing was so influential and persuasive that it caused the Pure Food and Drug Act and the Meat Inspection Act to be passed in the United States Congress. Although the intent of Sinclair’s novel was to expose the exploitation of the working class and promote socialism as a solution, it gained notoriety for exclusively exposing the unsanitary conditions of food processors. Sinclair famously said of the public reaction "I aimed at the public's heart, and by accident I hit it in the stomach."(Andrew

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