Hunter Mosley 4/14/2011 Wilder Period three The jungle by Upton Sinclair was published in 1906 by the popular socialist newspaper Appeal to Reason.Appeal to Reason sent Sinclair, who was currently one of their journalists, to Chicago to investigate the meat packing industry. What Sinclair found was not only appalling, but also horrific to think that this was what the American people consumed on a regular basis. The reaction to this novel being published was one of the largest social impacts since Uncle Tom’s Cabin. When Theodore Roosevelt, who was the president at the time, read what was originally an article about the putrid occurrences in the meat packing industry, he immediately set into action the pure drug and food act of 1906. Besides being well known for exposing the meat packing industry’s negligence, The Jungle also won the Pulitzer Prize. This novel is the reason our meat is safe to eat today, and is also free of human remains. That, in essence is why I picked this book, because it revealed corruption on a very large scale. I personally believe that complaisance among people is why evil gets away with as much as it does. Upton Sinclair was one of the few to stand up and say “I am not going to let this stand!” To do this, Sinclair used fictional characters to paint a picture of what went on in the meat packing industry for years. Jurgis Rudkus, a firm believer in the American dream, came to our prestigious country along with his wife Ona in hopes of achieving self betterment and prosperity. However, he soon came to realize that this dream, his health, and his hopes would soon slip away because of the meat packing industry. Not only did Jurgis work for the industry, but he also lived within the confines of packingtown, which was housing for the meat industry workers. His wife Ona, and his wife’s step mother Teta both were crushed by the capitalism that is constantly working against the family. Upton Sinclair uses Jurgis to represent the common meat packing working and show how he is affected. Sinclair uses Ona to represent optimism and Teta to represent tradition, strength and family. Both character types were key factors to surving the corruption of the meat packing industry. Sinclair also included other characters that are also used as symbols for different things that went on within the industry. Another character was Marija Berczynskas ,Ona’s cousin, who traveled to America with the rest of the family because her employer in the old country is unkind to her. She represents a spirit of defiance among the immigrants that is slowly crushed. Teta Elzbieta’s brother, Jonas, who first encourages the family to travel to America, disappears after months of poverty in Packingtown, and the family never hears from him again. These are just some of the characters that are examples of what happened in this corrupt and unjust industry This book is set in the early nineteen hundreds, which is the twentieth century. It takes place in Chicago before the creation of the FDA. This book was originally muckraking journalism, but was published into a full book in 1906. This resulted in the creation of the FDA. This book is a fiction with fictional characters, but conveys real scenarios and problems that went on in the meat packing industry. Places include packingtown, the city of Chicago and the meat packing factory. My final thought on this book is what comes up must go down. Just deserts were paid out because of this book. To restate my reason for liking this book in different words, I will say that complaisance is a fertilizer for evil. If you don’t destroy evil at its root(like Upton Sinclair did though this book) it will spread, fast. I enjoyed the message that this book conveyed, and that message is not don’t eat spoiled meat, the message is that taking a stand against a larger opponent is not an easy thing to do, but if you indeed do it, you may not believe the outcome.
4/14/2011
Wilder
Period three
The jungle by Upton Sinclair was published in 1906 by the popular socialist newspaper Appeal to Reason. Appeal to Reason sent Sinclair, who was currently one of their journalists, to Chicago to investigate the meat packing industry. What Sinclair found was not only appalling, but also horrific to think that this was what the American people consumed on a regular basis. The reaction to this novel being published was one of the largest social impacts since Uncle Tom’s Cabin. When Theodore Roosevelt, who was the president at the time, read what was originally an article about the putrid occurrences in the meat packing industry, he immediately set into action the pure drug and food act of 1906. Besides being well known for exposing the meat packing industry’s negligence, The Jungle also won the Pulitzer Prize. This novel is the reason our meat is safe to eat today, and is also free of human remains. That, in essence is why I picked this book, because it revealed corruption on a very large scale. I personally believe that complaisance among people is why evil gets away with as much as it does. Upton Sinclair was one of the few to stand up and say “I am not going to let this stand!” To do this, Sinclair used fictional characters to paint a picture of what went on in the meat packing industry for years.
Jurgis Rudkus, a firm believer in the American dream, came to our prestigious country along with his wife Ona in hopes of achieving self betterment and prosperity. However, he soon came to realize that this dream, his health, and his hopes would soon slip away because of the meat packing industry. Not only did Jurgis work for the industry, but he also lived within the confines of packingtown, which was housing for the meat industry workers. His wife Ona, and his wife’s step mother Teta both were crushed by the capitalism that is constantly working against the family. Upton Sinclair uses Jurgis to represent the common meat packing working and show how he is affected. Sinclair uses Ona to represent optimism and Teta to represent tradition, strength and family. Both character types were key factors to surving the corruption of the meat packing industry.
Sinclair also included other characters that are also used as symbols for different things that went on within the industry. Another character was Marija Berczynskas ,Ona’s cousin, who traveled to America with the rest of the family because her employer in the old country is unkind to her. She represents a spirit of defiance among the immigrants that is slowly crushed. Teta Elzbieta’s brother, Jonas, who first encourages the family to travel to America, disappears after months of poverty in Packingtown, and the family never hears from him again. These are just some of the characters that are examples of what happened in this corrupt and unjust industry
This book is set in the early nineteen hundreds, which is the twentieth century. It takes place in Chicago before the creation of the FDA. This book was originally muckraking journalism, but was published into a full book in 1906. This resulted in the creation of the FDA. This book is a fiction with fictional characters, but conveys real scenarios and problems that went on in the meat packing industry. Places include packingtown, the city of Chicago and the meat packing factory.
My final thought on this book is what comes up must go down. Just deserts were paid out because of this book. To restate my reason for liking this book in different words, I will say that complaisance is a fertilizer for evil. If you don’t destroy evil at its root(like Upton Sinclair did though this book) it will spread, fast. I enjoyed the message that this book conveyed, and that message is not don’t eat spoiled meat, the message is that taking a stand against a larger opponent is not an easy thing to do, but if you indeed do it, you may not believe the outcome.