Upton Sinclairs The Jungle Muckraking n n Muckrake

Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle

Muckraking n n Muckrake - a tool for raking muck Muckraker – derogatory term coined by Teddy Roosevelt to label writers, artists, and intellectuals who searched for and exposed misconduct and corruption in public life

Chicago n n Largest livestock market and meat processing center in the world 50, 000 employees, many immigrants Could kill 12, 000 hogs an hour Workers expected to perform each task within seconds before the product moved on

Dangers of working in meat packing plant n n n Loss of limbs Fatigue due to “pacemakers” animal/human excrement Disease No job security

The Jungle by Upton Sinclair n n Sinclair spent seven weeks in stockyard, packinghouse, and shantytown Wrote successful muckraking novel & expose of meat-packing industry Published 1906 Jack London called it the Uncle Tom’s Cabin of wage slavery

Purpose of novel n n Expose the labor struggles of immigrant “wage slaves” Reveal environmental racism (immigrants’ shantytown built near city dump) Show sexual harassment of workers Show the results of laissez-faire capitalism

True Impact of the Novel n n n Prompted investigation by Teddy Roosevelt and almost immediate passage of Pure Food & Drug and Meat Inspection Acts Caused dramatic drop in America’s consumption of meat “I aimed at the public’s heart and by accident I hit it in the stomach. ”

Packingtown "The line of the buildings stood clear-cut and black against the sky; here and there out of the mass rose the great chimneys, with the river of smoke streaming away to the end of the world. " Chapter 2, pg. 33

Sanitation "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 one. " Chapter 14, pg. 162

Treatment of Animals "They use everything about the hog except the squeal. " Chapter 3, pg. 38 "Relentless, remorseless, it was; all his protests, his screams, were nothing to it--it did its cruel will with him, as if his wishes, his feelings, had simply no existence at all; it cut his throat and watched him gasp out his life. " Chapter 3, pg. 41

Socialist message "And we shall organize them for the victory! We shall bear down the opposition, we shall sweep it before us-and Chicago will be ours! CHICAGO WILL BE OURS!" Chapter 31, pg. 413

Assignment: n n Read the excerpt from The Jungle, underlining passages that highlight the horrors of the meat-packing plant. What are the most appalling conditions? Why do you think this was a bestseller? Can you think of modern parallels to muckraking novels such as The Jungle?