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Natalie Sithong
Prof. Billingsley
History 17
2 October 2019
The Jungle
In the novel “The Jungle”, Upton Sinclair illustrates how big businesses controlled the
average working man and how it affected his family. The author takes the reader on a journey
with a family of Lithuanian immigrants heading to Chicago, chasing after the American Dream.
Which was understood that if a man was willing to work, they would be able to make a living
and provide for his family. Sinclair investigated and exposed the political corruption and
outrageous behavior that took place in the work industry, in the early nineteen hundreds. Men
and women in the working class started work early in life and during this time, children lacked
education because they were too busy working to help their family make the extra cash.
Sinclair’s goals in publishing this novel was to stop the exploitation of the working class and to
uncover the brutal meat industry.
The author tried to reveal the truth of eastern European immigrants that worked in the
meatpacking industry. Sinclair was known as a muckraker. He showed the public the harsh
working environment and the revolting rotten meat that was sold to Americans for consumption.
“Here is a population, low-class and mostly foreign, hanging always on the verge of starvation
and dependent for its opportunities of life…” (Sinclair 126). Unskilled immigrants suffered from
burns, cuts, stabbings, amputations, and even death while working in slaughterhouses. They had
to work in dangerous conditions, such as working in dark and unventilated rooms. Both crippled
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and sick workers were still obligated to continue working. People were willing to work through
these conditions in order to survive, put food on the table, pay rent, and provide for their
families. Sinclair wanted to expose these details hoping that the public would be aware of these
conditions and take action. According to The New York Times, “…readers had missed the point
by focusing on the health risks created by unsanitary stockyards and meatpacking facilities rather
than on the dehumanization of workers and the brutal treatment of animals” (New York Times).
Sinclair’s attempt was not only to shine light on the contaminated produce and working
conditions, but to also grasp at how appalling these hard working people were treated and how
the food was prepared. “This is no fairy story and no joke; the meat will be shoveled into carts
and the man who did the shoveling will not trouble to lift out a rat even when he saw
