Porter Degen

4/12/2018
Health 1020-515
The Jungle by Upton Sinclair

Summary

The Jungle by Upton Sinclair is a horrifying tapiue of life in the meatpacking industry in

the late 1800s and early 1900s. This story follows the life of Jurgis and Ona Rudkis after

their immigration to America from Lithuania. The tale starts off at their wedding and

briefly touches some of the themes that would be later discussed in more depth later on.

Themes such as poverty, tradition, and it barely touches the meat industry at this point.

The following chapters tell the tale of their immigration to America and how they had lost

a sizable amount of what little money they possessed due to corrupt government

officials, and swindling businessmen (Sinclair, Upton, 18). When they finally ended up in

their destination (Chicago) Jurgis runs into one of his former acquaintances from

Lithuania. Jurgis and company are given guidance on where to find housing and a job

(Sinclair, Upton, 20). He immediately gets a job sweeping the guts and blood in the

meat packing facility. Jurgis is then taken on a tour of the plant and is in awe at what he

gets to be a part of (Sinclair, Upton, 31).

A few weeks pass and they buy a four bedroom home. Later they came to find out that

the supposedly new home was far from new, and it was built out of shoddy materials

(Sinclair, Upton, 49). In addition to that, the real estate agent had been far from honest

and open with them, and on top of their monthly payment they also had other hidden

fees and payments that came up throughout the story (Sinclair, Upton, 52).

Meanwhile, in the factory we learn about the appalling conditions that are present. The

workers are constantly driven as hard as possible by the pacemakers and earn very
Porter Degen
4/12/2018
Health 1020-515
little for their efforts (Sinclair, Upton, 44). If they were a minute late they would lose an

hour’s worth of wages, if they arrive early, they would often start early without any extra

pay. At the end of the day if they worked for 30 minutes after the hour they wouldn’t get

paid, because the bosses only paid for full hours of work.

Furthermore they worked 6 days a week, for ten hours a day, sometimes as much as

fourteen hours a day with only Sundays off. At least that's the case during the rush

season. During the off season they would stand around all day and maybe work for

three hours. Which meant only three hours of pay (Sinclair, Upton, 64).

And I haven’t even got to the conditions inside the plant itself. In the winter there was no

heating, in the summer there was no cooling, which meant heat strokes in the summer

and numb, frozen workers in the winter. In the winter the blood from the cattle would

create steam in as it hit the ground, and would make visibility drastically reduced. Those

working with knives couldn’t use gloves in the winter, which meant they were more

prone to cuts (Sinclair, Upton, 72). And a cut in the meat factory meant weeks off

recovering from the infection, after which they might find they had no job to come back

to.

The food being shipped out was another story altogether. Rats were a constant

problem, so they started leaving poisoned bread out for the rats. When it came time,

they would shovel dead rats, feces, the poisoned bread, and meat into the sausage

machine without a care in the world. Sinclair tells of an instance where men fell into a

vats of lard and weren’t discovered for days later after much lard had already been

shipped out… with bits and pieces of the men in the lard (Sinclair, Upton, 72).
Porter Degen
4/12/2018
Health 1020-515
In addition to those horrors, they often sent out rotten, diseased meat after canning

them or turning them into sausage. To get rid of unsavory colors and smells, they

pumped it full of dangerous chemicals unfit for human consumption (Sinclair, Upton,

70).

Eventually Jurgis loses his job, his family, and everything he had fought so hard for. The

novel ends with a lot of talk about socialism, and how it was the first political party that

actually resonated within his soul.

Why I chose the Jungle.

I chose the jungle because beginning in high school, professors and teachers had

always talked about the meat industry and how this book inspired huge changes, and

eventually helped bring about the food and drug administration. It’s not hard to see why.

The horrors described in this book are incomprehensible. You can read them and be

disgusted to the core, but to know that these things were actually commonplace for

many Americans is truly shameful. I did some further research and found that almost all

the horrors described in the meat processing plant is true as stated by the following:

“The president then appointed a special commission to investigate Chicago's

slaughterhouses. The special commission issued its report in May 1906. The report

confirmed almost all the horrors that Sinclair had written about.”

(Upton Sinclair's The Jungle:Muckraking the Meat-Packing Industry)

Who is Upton Sinclair?

Upton Sinclair was a journalist who wrote articles a socialist magazine, and wanted to

become an author. There was a strike at a meat packing plant and he decided he’d
Porter Degen
4/12/2018
Health 1020-515
become an expert on the subject and write a book. He interviewed people from all

backgrounds around Packingtown and wrote this book (Upton Sinclair's The

Jungle:Muckraking the Meat-Packing Industry).

This book went on to become an instant bestseller and the public was outraged. The

public reaction to this book is what led Roosevelt to appoint the commission, which led

to reforms and new laws (Upton Sinclair's The Jungle:Muckraking the Meat-Packing

Industry).

Themes

This book was first published 1906, over one hundred and twelve years ago. As such,

much has changed since then. The reforms that came about because of this has

eliminated these flaws in the meatpacking industry. The only lasting theme I noticed

was the theme of socialism, which has lost much of its momentum over the past

century, but still remains present, but in different ways.

What did I learn about nutrition?

I learned less about nutrition than I was expecting, however I did gain some new

insights into the lives of immigrants around the time period this book takes place.

I learned more about the struggles of the American people, specifically immigrants to

America in that time period. I learned that true, unrestricted capitalism, doesn’t work.

But on the contrary, I’ve also learned from George Orwell’s Animal Farm that

unrestricted communism isn’t much better. I believe that as with most things, the best

system lies somewhere in the middle.

Porter Degen
4/12/2018
Health 1020-515
This is a lesson I’ve learned many times throughout my life, about many varying things,

and is something I’ll likely continue to use and try to better myself with.
Porter Degen
4/12/2018
Health 1020-515

Works Cited

Sinclair, Upton. The Jungle. Millennium Publications, 2015.

“Upton Sinclair's The Jungle:Muckraking the Meat-Packing Industry.” BRIA 24 1 b

Upton Sinclairs The Jungle: Muckraking the Meat-Packing Industry - Constitutional

Rights Foundation, www.crf-usa.org/bill-of-rights-in-action/bria-24-1-b-upton-sinclairs-

the-jungle-muckraking-the-meat-packing-industry.html.