Summary Of The Jungle By Upton Sinclair

One Man Who Made a Difference
In the early twentieth century, America seemed at its prime. Industry was flourishing, America was growing, and it soon became a prized destination for immigrants. However, underneath this gilded surface, laid a dark country filled with oppression, poverty, and corruption, among others. Although these problems seemed blatantly obvious to the average laborer, it took a whole movement, known as the Progressive Era to bring about changes. The Progressive Era began with a group of investigative journalists known as “muckrakers”. These journalists wrote about and exposed different issues such as the corruption of officials and terrible conditions of the urban poor. One of these muckrakers was a man by the name of Upton
However, he was not solely famous for his book, he achieved many other things in his lifetime as well. Upton Sinclair is considered the muckraker with the largest impact on American society because of the success of “The Jungle” and his other accomplishments.
Upton Sinclair is best known for his great works of literature, and his most famous work is a novel titled, “The Jungle”. Set in the Chicago meatpacking city of Packingtown, “The Jungle” is conveyed through the life of an immigrant, Jurgis Rudkus. Considered to be “the most celebrated muckraking work of its time and the only one widely read a century later,” the book exposed the horrors of the meatpacking industry, from the working conditions of laborers to the quality of the meat. Details such as these caused an overwhelming response from the public. The White House was flooded with letters about issues regarded in the book and demands to see investigations and reforms. The president at the time, Theodore
After a coal strike in Ludlow, Colorado in 1914 that resulted in the death of 20 miners and members of their families, Sinclair decided to take action. John D. Rockefeller’s son, John D. Jr. controlled the Colorado mining company, so Sinclair picketed the Standard Oil headquarters in New York and threatened “indictment” in a furious note. He was then arrested and thrown in jail for three days. Afterwards, he spent three years investigating and composing two novels about the Ludlow Strike. This shows how Sinclair dedicated himself to the Muckraker cause, not matter the consequences, and was not afraid of arguably the most powerful man in the country at the time. When Sinclair noticed something unjust, he would not ignore it, like many Americans, instead, he would tackle it full on, analyze it, and finally bring it to the attention of the public. Sinclair was a great muckraker, an investigative journalist who “rakes up” or exposes the filth, of society because he focused on not only one topic, but several in his lifetime. Additionally, Sinclair also made an impact on American society by running for government positions as a Socialist. Between the years of 1920 and 1930, he ran for Congress, the Senate, and finally for governor of California. However, in 1934 he registered as a Democrat, possibly to gain more support, and proposed a program called EPIC, or End Poverty in