born on the fourth of july
The Jungle, considered Upton Sinclair’s greatest achievement, shows the deplorable conditions in meat packing plants, as well as moving the reader on the path to socialism. In order for Sinclair to give accurate details in the book, he spent over a year researching and writing about the conditions on the meat packing plants in Chicago. This first hand experience allowed for Sinclair to see the plight of the “wage-slaves.” At the turn of the century, no laws were in place to protect the workers or to regulate the shipment of meat. The Jungle was originally printed in a socialist newspaper, entitled Appeal to Reason. When the book was finally published in book form, it instigated a pure food movement, which brought about the Pure Food and Drug Act. The main characters in the novel are Jurgis Rudkus and his wife Ona Lukoszaite, both Lithuanian. After arriving in America, they are taken to Packingtown to find work. Packingtown is a section of Chicago where the meat packing industry is centralized. As Jurgis and Ona take a tour of the plant, they see the unbelievable efficiency and speed at which hogs and cattle are butchered, cooked, packed, and shipped. In Packingtown, n
, and these animals would become "steerly", or covered with boils. "It was a nasty job killing these, for when you plunged your knife into them they would burst and splash foul-smelling stuff in your face." According to law, diseased meat could not be sold out of the state. However, there were no laws restricting its sale inside the state. As a result, the tuberculosis-infected hog meat never left Packingtown. It was sold to the meat workers at inflated prices.
Some common words found in the essay are:
Jurgis Ona, Act Sinclair, Food Drug, Comrade Ostrinski, Upton Sinclair’s, Upton Sinclair, Appeal Reason, Stock Ordinance, Packingtown Packingtown, Drug Act, meat packing, pure food, pure food drug, meatpacking plants, food drug, drug act, food drug act, packing plants, meat packing plants, jurgis able, able control, meat packing industry, able control own, socialism existing, meatpacking industry,
Approximate Word count = 1344
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)
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