Upton Sinclair was born in Baltimore, Maryland on September 20, 1878. At the age of 15 years he started to write to make earning for self support and his college expenses. The Jungle by Upton Sinclair (1878-1968) is written at the turn of the 30th century. In The Jungle novel Sinclair explains the atrocious conditions of uneducated workers produced by the capitalism. In this book the writer has persuaded his readers to overthrow the wide tyranny of all capitalist industries and not the meat packing industry. In this book the impacts of the Sinclair work on the food and drug administration are also considered.
The Theme of Socialism in The Jungle Novel
The Jungle by Upton Sinclair is a great part of the classical literature. It is an important and most famous of all later and prior works of the Sinclair as it had impact on the meat packing industry. Sinclair could not achieve the goal stressing on the socialistic society but it was focused on that how was food prepared due to importance of Sinclair work. The Jungle is written in early 20th century as a fictional novel that depicts the immigrants from the Northern Europe. The protagonist Jurgis is very happy on getting a job. As the immigrant family is taken by the politicians, lawyers and conmen, Jurgis considered that America was not the same what he had thought. As he looked his family suffering, he decided to educate himself on politics and tried to change himself. But it was too late Jurgis as most members of his family died or run away. This had made the Jurgis criminal. Sinclair makes a great work on unfair laws and corruption in business. Sinclair’s work was not useless as Roosevelt was disgusted by the depiction of the workers as they used the unfair means to package the food products. On looking that Roosevelt put the food and drug administration into effect. As a result meat inspection act with pure food and drug acts were passed due to Sinclair work in The Jungle. It is clear that The Jungle by Sinclair is very controversial piece of work that has invoked sensationalism and many arguments.
You don’t have to be satisfied with America as you find it. You can change it. I didn’t like the way I found America some sixty years ago, and I’ve been trying to change it ever since (Upton Sinclair).
When The Jungle was released it affected the sale of meat products and declined the sale of the meat. President Roosevelt invited the Sinclair to White House and ordered to investigate the meat packing industry and its result was as the Congress passed the Beef Inspection Act and Pure Food and Drug Act. Ironically the readers of The Jungle tend to make focus on the vivid description of the meat industry instead of making plea for the socialism that Sinclair included in the final chapters of The Jungle as Sinclair observed
I aimed at the public’s heart, and by accident hit it in the stomach (Upton Sinclair).
In The Jungle fortunes of many immigrant families changed as they got the jobs in packing towns. Sinclair highlights the working conditions of the workers in meat packing industries. Socialist movement is also part of this novel and many aspects of this socialism are given place in it to achieve the goals of socialism. Due to this movement socialist success was achieved in the 1904 elections.
We have seen many successes in USA history due to this novel The Jungle. However many flaws are present in it. Being openly didactic, melodramatic and its main characters lack the psychological impression. The redundant detail is present in it which makes the reader more tired and its style is heavy. It is a muck-raking novel depicting the working conditions of the workers in meat packing industry and exploiting the immigrant’s families like Rudkus family by political factions of the country. Raw emotional power is present in the novel The Jungle since the time of its publication but this power is undiminished in many ways. Throughout his long career Sinclair was the passionate critic of the political and social inequalities of modern capitalism.
According to Sinclair socialism is the cure of all those problems created by the capitalism. In chapter 28 Sinclair attacks the capitalism and Sinclair wanted to persuade the readers about the socialist alternative. Capitalism destroys many for the benefits of a few people. In The Jungle every plot, character and conflict is designed in a way to discredit the capitalist political system. It is more valued book as it describes the importance of the socialist political system to restore the humanity exploited by the higher political class. This novel The Jungle gives the plight for the immigrant families. Sinclair work does not attack directly on the dream of America as he believes that capitalism is itself attack on those ethics which support the dream of America. The title of the novel draws attention towards the principles of the social Darwinism, an idea that justifies the inequalities and abuses of the wealthy capitalists. Capitalist idea that reward should be given to best people and inferiors are kept below a suitable level. It is true in The Jungle that best people of the society are working class and those who succeed in capitalist system are not the best humankind.