Upton Sinclair's The Jungle
Upton Sinclair's book The Jungle, published in 1906, helped advance the Progressive Era. Sinclair's book was aimed at convincing the readers that socialism was far better than capitalism, but instead the readers focused on the abuses of the meat-packing industry. This book was just one of the causes that made the Progressive Era so progressive. The Progressive movement was filled with reformers who "sought to make the government more democratic, to eradicate unhealthful and dangerous conditions in cities and factories, and to curb corporate power." These reformers did not want to destroy capitalism entirely; they merely wanted to regulate it. Within these reformers there were journalists and novelists who spread progressivism with their writings. Most articles were detailed accounts about harsh labor conditions and the evils of corporations. President Roosevelt thought of the articles as "too one sided and christened their authors 'muckrakers' after
The Progressive Era did prove to be progressive. Upton Sinclair helped move the changes forward even though did not achieve his goal in spreading socialism. He instead helped inspire the government to regulate the unsanitary means in which the packing-houses operated. a character in John Bunyan's Pilgrim Progress who spends all his time raking up filth." Upton Sinclair is one of the most famous muckraking authors of the time. Along with Sinclair, many other authors exposed different factories and labor conditions. For example, Maria Van Vorst wrote about a shoe factory where caustic dye was used and the women's fingernails rotted off because of it. During the Progressive Era a new party emerged known as the Socialist Party of America. The Socialists "advocated an end to capitalism and demanded public ownership of factories, utilities, railroads, and communications systems." Upton Sinclair was a supporter of socialism. In his novel, The Jungle,
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Approximate Word count = 646
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)
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