The Role Of Socialism In The Jungle, By Upton Sinclair

Over the course of history, many political systems have formed and dissolved throughout the world. These systems arose in order to promote solutions to problems that existed in a particular country. During the 1900s, the political system of capitalism was driving industry in the United States. However, capitalism made money more of a priority rather than healthy working conditions. With unrest among the working class, the political system of socialism was promoted to counteract the effects of capitalism. One author that used his profession to advocate socialism was Upton Sinclair. In his work, The Jungle, Upton Sinclair combated the social injustices of the twentieth century with socialism in order to change the poor working conditions many

was born to Upton Sinclair and Priscilla Harden on September 20, 1878 in Baltimore, Maryland. At the age of five, Sinclair taught himself how to read which would become a favorite pastime of his (“Upton Sinclair Biography.” Encyclopedia of World Biography.). When his family decided to move to New York City, Sinclair was only ten years old and an avid reader of William Shakespeare and Percy Shelley. His advanced reading at such a young age prepared him for college which he attended at the age of fourteen. Graduating first from the City College of New York and then from Columbia University, Upton Sinclair supported himself by writing children’s stories and dime novels while he was a student. After completing his schooling at the age of twenty, he began working as a journalist and wrote several novels, such as Springtime and Harvest, a work that was inspired by his unsuccessful marriage. Despite the lack of success he received with these novels, Upton Sinclair continued to write on a range of topics. It was not until he wrote The Jungle that Sinclair was seen as a successful author (“Upton Sinclair Biography.” The Biography.com.). However, while writing the novel, Sinclair could not have guessed the large impact that his work would have on combating social injustice throughout the entire United

His inspiration for The Jungle stemmed from an assignment that he was working on in order to expose the social injustices of workers in the meat industry. (“Upton Sinclair Biography.” The Biography.com.). During this time period, “…more than 15 million immigrants arrived in the United States” which “…was equal to the number of immigrants who had arrived in the previous 40 years combined” (“Immigrants in the Progressive Era.”). With this increase in population, jobs became scarce and the mistreatment of workers escalated. The newspaper, Appeal to Reason, wanted to cover this, so Sinclair was sent to Chicago to research the working conditions of the meat packing industry (“Upton Sinclair Biography.” The Biography.com.). Here, Sinclair “…spent seven weeks observing the observations of a meat-packing plant…” before he was compelled to write The Jungle with a strong emphasis on socialism (“Upton Sinclair Biography.” Encyclopedia of World Biography.). The novel became an instant success, and regulations concerning the meat packing industry were changed forever. After Sinclair met with President Theodore Roosevelt and further inspections of the meat industry were conducted, the Pure Food and Drug Act and the Meat Inspection Act were passed (“Upton Sinclair Biography.” The