the jungle related to socialism Essay

Submitted By TimBeyer
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Beyer 1
Timothy Beyer
Mr. Forde
20 May 2014
American Literature Period B
Balance of Power Upton Sinclair’s novel The Jungle, published in 1906, brought to life to promote the riches of life under socialism where people owned and worked the earth in harmony. Exposing the life of an immigrant worker in a Chicago meatpacking plant that shocked the entire nation to the safety and labor practices in the rapidly growing business in a new nation of immigrants. “Socialism was the proper vehicle for righting the ills of mankind, and he later combined that political vision with his intention to write a novel that would set forth the breaking of human hearts, by a system which exploits the labor of men and women for profit” (Sinclair vii). Sinclair did not know it, but single handedly transformed American into a more balanced approach to governing. “By the time The Jungle was published at the turn of the century, the massive flow of poorer European immigrants into the United States over the previous half-century had changed the demographic of the American cities. Many of these immigrants lived in overcrowded, run-down tenement buildings with no access to clean water or proper sewage systems” (Shmoop 1). For families coming to America for work opportunities, the immigrants were provided a cheap source of labor for American factories and businesses entrepreneurs. Exploitation of immigrant workers became the rich man’s opportunity to become richer. Hopes and dreams of a life of enrichment went from Kings
Beyer 2 and Dictators to a world of an elite population who did what they could to live life to the fullest. The percent of power went from the far left, socialism, to the far right, conservatism. In ones opinion, neither one is fair and considerate to the individuals who live in it. Only God Almighty can rule selflessly with love and conviction. The temptation to abuse power is too great, and Sinclair’s novel opened the nations eyes to see that the other side of Socialism is not the correct balance of power either. In ones opinion, Sinclair’s novel, The Jungle, was a literary success; however, Sinclair’s goal of promoting socialism was not the focus of the success. Exposing the world to the improper treatment of workers and policies of big business arose and the demand for investigation grew for human safety and quality of life. “Citizens of our Industrial Republic become refined, year by year the cost of slaughterhouse products will increase; until eventually those who want to eat meat will have to do their own killing-and how long do you think the custom would survive then” (Sinclair 288)? Sinclair simply stressed that preventable diseases kill off half of our population and that the majority of people are just machines for creating wealth for others. Diseased cattle as sausage meat to the safety of people who fall into tanks of lard and fertilizer, outraged people to learn what actually went into their canned beef and processed hams. President Teddy Roosevelt, annoyed with socialist view of the book, personally wrote to Sinclair to promise that there would be an investigation of poor sanitation and hygiene inside meatpacking plants. The Jungle led to the start of the Food and Drugs Act of 1906. The United States had federal control over what could go into meat products increasing the balance of power back to the left. “Thus, Chicago now led the country; it had set a new
Beyer 3 standard for the party, it had shown the workingmen the way” (Sinclair 289). The federal
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