The jungle by Upton Sinclair

Student’s nameInstructorCourseDateThe Jungle-Upton Sinclair:
Question 2#
The Jungle by Upton Sinclair illustrates the harsh conditions of the immigrants in Chicago and similar industrialized cities. Jurgis Rudkis writes on the brutal treatment he saw in the meat packaging industry. He learns that the meat packing business does not pay workers for the extra hours they work. This paper will discuss whether the reform of the meat industry was part of Sinclair’s goal of writing the jungle.
Jurgis, in his book, says that he saw men in the preserving room with skin diseases, those who used knives regularly lost their fingers, workers with tuberculosis coughed while spitting blood on the floor, near the meat processing area employees used toilets which had no water and soap. Jurgis continues to state that in some areas, the meat packaging companies had no toilets and workers urinated in a corner (Sinclair 105). There were no lunchrooms and workers ate in their working environment. The employers never cared about the health of their workers as any worker who was injured in the working environment was never compensated.
I think that the purpose of Sinclair writing the jungle was to reform the meat packaging industry through describing activities which happened in the meat packaging companies. This is because, in his book, he does not only describe the harsh working conditions of the workers in the meat packaging industry, but he also tells the public about the type of meat processed.

He includes in one of his chapters how stale, tainted and unhealthy meat products were processed, treated with chemicals and mislabeled for sale to the citizens. He explains that when the meat inspectors were not around, the employees processed dead, injured and unhealthy animals. The workers also canned and labeled beef scraps and pork fat as ‘potted chicken.’
The book created a profound impact on society and the government because it portrayed some of the misconducts done in the food industry. The jungle set off a firestorm about the lack of sanitation in the meat packaging industry. Sinclair talks about how the meat for canning and sausages were heaped on the floor before workers packed them in carts which contained sawdust, urine, human spit and even dead rats (Sinclair 106). Before the publishing of the novel, there were no meat inspectors who visited the meat plants to see what quality of meat people consumed. What was more horrifying about the meat packaging industry was how some parts of the human bodies which fell into the food vats were canned. After people read the novel, the meat sales fell drastically, and this was when the regime decided to sign the Meat Inspection and the Pure Food and Drug Act. The two Acts were to reassure the public that what they were consuming was of good quality and safe. The government inspectors were permitted to enter and inspect the meat packaging industries to ensure that every product was safe.
In conclusion, although the novel did not have a significant impact on the worker’s rights, it inspired the government to inspect and regulate the meat packing industry. The meat processed was now safe for consumption after the meat inspection Act was passed. Sinclair’s primary aim to write the novel was initially to touch people’s hearts on how workers were treated, but he ended up making a greater impact on the society and the government.

Works Cited.
Sinclair, Upton. The Jungle 🙁 1906). Create Space Independent Publishing Platform, 2014.