Summary Of Upton Sinclair's The Jungle

Corporations began to form during the Gilded Age, a time in U.S. history that followed the Civil War. During the Gilded Age Social Darwinism guided political decision making. Social Darwinists opposed safety regulations, labeling them government handouts, which they thought “coddled the weak” (“New Attitudes”). The time period that followed the Gilded Age, the Progressive Era, foiled the beliefs of the previous epoch. During the Progressive Era urban intellectuals rejected the Social Darwinist beliefs of the previous age, believing them “morally and intellectually wrong” (“Progressivism”). Many reforms were passed in order to fix the past. All aspects of society were effected by these new beliefs and reforms. Some people sought to change society
The story is told through an omniscient, 3rd-person narrator who focuses largely on Jurgis Rudkis, a member of the immigrant group. Rudkis had received a job as shoveler of guts at Durham, a fictional meat-packing firm based on the real Armour & Co. ("Upton Sinclair's The Jungle"). Through Rudkis, Sinclair gained the opportunity to reveal his findings on the corruption of Packingtown. Appeal to Reason published The Jungle as a serial, putting out one chapter per week beginning in late February 1905 (Cherny). Almost immediately sales boomed, reaching 175,000 copies sold per issue. Hoping to reach a larger audience, Sinclair set about trying to have his book published, but publishers were wary of being sued by the meat-packing industries and denied Sinclair numerous times (Cherny). In the process of trying to find a publisher, Sinclair
Mendes
Meat would be piled on the floor before being hauled off in carts that had held sawdust, dead rats, rat droppings, and even rat poison ("Upton Sinclair's The Jungle"). The owners processed and sold diseased, injured or dead animals. Upton Sinclair claimed that meat from dead animals killed more U.S. soldiers than the all Spanish soldiers during the Spanish-American War (Sinclair, 96). The packinghouse barons were elated when they received animals with tuberculosis as the disease made them “fatten more quickly” (Sinclair, 97). Meat was packed under false names as well. “Potted game”, “potted grouse”, and “potted ham” were made of tripe, pork fat, beef suet, cow hearts and veal wastes (Sinclair, 96). Tripe was often sprayed with chemicals and sold as deviled ham; “...flavored with spices...” in order to mask the tastelessness (Sinclair, 97). Other cold cuts included such things as skin, hair, stomachs, ears, and noses (Muckrakers). The workers, echoing their environment, would sometimes add to the sordidness of the meat. There were often no restrooms, so workers would have to relieve themselves in corners of the processing floors ("Upton Sinclair's The Jungle"). If a restroom was available, there was often no soap in the bathroom and workers would process meat without washing their hands. One of Sinclair's most famous descriptions of the terrors of the packing house concerned men falling into vats of lard: “... their peculiar