The jarring storyline of the industrial era book, The Jungle, published by Upton Sinclair in early 1905, reveals the horrific lives lead by industrial workers. The plot follows a promising Lithuanian immigrant, Jurgis Rudkus, and his family, as they endure life in the factories in hopes of achieving the American dream. Through the harsh living conditions, political corruption, cheating, death, low wages, constant changing of jobs, and alcoholism, Sinclair exposes the trials that many factory workers, especially immigrants, face during that period.
Sinclair brings to light many issues with factory life; for example, he highlights the need for workers protection when Jurgis is injured at work and left bedridden without pay, and reveals the dangerous working conditions many workers faced through the example of the fertilizer plant, where the harsh chemicals used in the factory killed off employees within a matter of years. Sinclair also exposes the terrible treatment of women in factories, like when Jurgis' wife, Ona, is forced to return to work just two weeks after giving birth, and when she is raped by her boss, no criminal investigation is pursued, leaving her boss scot-free.
One scene from the book that stuck out, in particular, was the way that the slaughterhouse meat was packaged. The filth on the factory floor, such as the fallen meat, spit and chewed tobacco trampled into the ground, attracted rats. As the rats became a problem, the slaughterhouse owners decided to use poisoned bread to kill them off, as soon the floor was littered with floor meat, spit, chewed tobacco, poisoned bread, and a lot of dead rats. But why waste all those quality ingredients? the slaughterhouse owners must have asked themselves. So, all of the rubbish on the floor was added into the meat grinder and turned into “special” discounted sausage.
As America was at the peak of industrialism, Sinclair intended to evoke the readers' emotions in an attempt to encourage the American public to initiate change in the factory system. He went so far as to go undercover in several meat-packing plants in Chicago, explaining the vividness of many scenes in the novel; they were based on true events. Contrary to his intentions, however, the American public was more appalled by the meat-packing process than by Jurgis' tribulations. He later remarked that “I aimed at the public’s heart, and by accident I hit it in the stomach.” The gruesome process described in the book caused such a huge public response that the following year, 1906, the US Pure Food and Drug Act and the Meat Inspection Act were passed with President Roosevelt's urging, ensuring that the slaughterhouse conditions would improve.
Sources:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CsBh1TyWSM4
https://www.britannica.com/topic/The-Jungle-novel-by-Sinclair
https://www.sparknotes.com/lit/jungle/
I really liked how you included humor in the post and it was very interesting to read about. The things that went into meat production really surprised me. The US Pure Food and Drug Act was very influential because it led to the development of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), which still exists today. It was not known by its current name until 1930 (https://www.fda.gov/about-fda/history-fdas-fight-consumer-protection-and-public-health). Still, the FDA has been regulated food and its safety for over a century, making it one of the most important impacts of these processing conditions in The Jungle.
ReplyDeleteI thought the title of this post was really funny and I thought the post itself was both fascinating and disgusting. Even though Sinclair wanted to bring attention to the treatment of the immigrant workers, it is true that the revelations about the meat packing are truly terrible. The Meat Inspection Act of 1906 is still used today to ensure that Americans are not victim to the horrific practices as seen in the jungle (the act was revised via the Wholesome Meat Act in 1967 to regulate federal and state regulation).
ReplyDeletehttps://www.britannica.com/topic/Meat-Inspection-Act