Overview: Upton Sinclair's The Jungle

The industrial revolution had a dramatic effect on economic and social life. The economy shifted from agricultural to manufacturing and from rural to urban. Soon people were flocking to the cities in search for jobs and a new life. Although factories weren’t what they were made out to be, working conditions were unsafe and wages were low. Upton Sinclair published a book called The Jungle about the meat pecking industry. The conditions were miserable, dead and diseased animals were cut up and sold as meat. Sinclair spent 7 weeks in Chicago by the factories and studied the lives of people at home and at work. It was mortifying to see the people were treated like the animals. Men who were diseased were tossed to the side while the unemployed fought to replace. Some men had their fingers chewed off by the acid. When the book was published people urged the congress to pass the “Meat Inspection Act of 1906.” He aimed for the public’s heart and hit it in the stomach; Sinclair meant to help the condition of the workers not the animals.