What Are The Similarities Between Upton Sinclair's The Jungle And Realism

Upton Sinclair wrote the novel The Jungle along with several other politically-charged novels. Primarily motivated by politics, Sinclair wrote novels encouraging socialism and condemning capitalism. The literary period, the historical events, his family background, his job experience, and his political opinion inspired Sinclair’s desire to write The Jungle. The bold novel incited bold reactions of both support and criticism. Despite the opinions of the critics, Sinclair’s political outcry is still studied today in classrooms around the nation.
The literary period of realism inspired Sinclair to write about the situations he witnessed in his daily life. Realism reached its peak in the late nineteenth century when Sinclair was young. When
he became an author, he employed realism in his writing as a tool to advocate his political views. Sinclair investigated as a journalist extensively before writing his novels ("Upton Sinclair Biography"). His attention to detail resulted in graphic novels depicting the treacherous lives of immigrants and the sly plans of capitalists. In his acclaimed novel, The Jungle, Sinclair describes in sickening detail the “pale-blue milk that [the family] bought...doctored with formaldehyde” and the “canned peas… colored with copper salts, and their fruit jams with aniline dyes” (Sinclair 63). He proceeds to illustrate a ghastly, though accurate picture of the hazardous living conditions of the immigrants. The literary period of realism influenced Sinclair’s shockingly realistic novels.
Though the literary period inspired Sinclair’s style, the historical period inspired his passion and determined his focus. During Sinclair’s childhood, immigrants flowed into the country at an alarming rate. Sinclair, as an adult, observed the joblessness and grim living conditions which resulted from the sudden flux in population ("Upton Sinclair Biography"). Many of his novels address the evils of poverty which surrounded him. In The Jungle, Sinclair stirs the sympathy of the reader for the unemployed saying, “those out-of-work wretches would stand about the packing houses every morning till the police drove them away” (Sinclair 102). The poverty and immigration present in the lives of countless people in the 19th century inspired Sinclair’s novels.
Though Sinclair knew of poverty and capitalism from the situations which plagued the country, he also experienced them personally through his family.
Sinclair had a unique perspective which allowed him to see poverty at its worst and wealth at its best. Born to a poor family, Sinclair lived in poverty similar to many of the characters in his novels. However, he also encountered wealth in visits with his mother’s family ("Upton Sinclair Biography"). These experiences gave Sinclair the unusual ability to write accurate depictions of both rich and poor in his novels. In The Jungle, Sinclair tells the stories of many people suffering in poverty, but he also includes the stories of the entitled Master Freddie, and the powerful Boss Scully (Sinclair 194). Sinclair’s rich and poor family gave him experience which influenced his later
novels.
Just as Sinclair’s unique family enhanced his novels, his early job experience also influenced his writing. After completing college, Sinclair began his career as a journalist. Sinclair initially investigated the Chicago meat-packing plants to write a short article for a Chicago newspaper ("Upton Sinclair Biography"). He became so intensely passionate about the subject that the article turned into a novel, The Jungle. His investigations made his novel strikingly descriptive and accurate. The process of slaughtering hogs in The Jungle, is grotesquely detailed describing the killing, butchering, and treating the hog meat (Sinclair 30-31). Sinclair’s early job experience gave him knowledge and incentive which allowed him to write truthfully and ardently.
Sinclair’s striking imagery and accuracy arose from his early investigations, but the ideology in his novels resulted from his political opinions. Early in his life, Sinclair developed disdain for the upper class due to his interactions with his rich family members. He saw capitalism as the cause of all evil. Therefore, in his novels, Sinclair promoted the political ideologies of socialism and defended the rights of immigrants and poor workers ("Upton Sinclair Biography"). His renowned novel The Jungle concludes with a socialist election which, Sinclair assures, will save the lives of those suffering in poverty by establishing commonwealth and crushing the oppressive capitalists (Sinclair 284). Sinclair’s political opinion shaped his political novels into thunderous cries for socialism.
To promote his socialist beliefs, Sinclair wrote The Jungle, a novel depicting the hardships in the lives of immigrant families in the nineteenth century. The gruesome, yet realistic details which compose the novel create an accurate picture of the working and living conditions of the poor. The novel depicts the historical period in which immigrants journeyed endlessly to the United States and competed for jobs in the cities. A collection of characters create the story including poor immigrants like Jurgis and rich playboys like Master Freddie. Sinclair also used findings from his investigations to make The Jungle credible and convincing. Finally, The Jungle adamantly advocates socialism as the solution to the problems caused by the oppression of capitalism in the nineteenth century. All of these factors inspired Sinclair’s acclaimed novel The Jungle.
Acclaimed or condemned, every novel, including The Jungle, has its supporters and its critics.
The Jungle produced a massive cry for change in the food industry and inspired the passage of the Pure Food and Drug Act and the Meat Inspection Act ("Upton Sinclair Biography"). Critics observed Sinclair’s intense investigation of the immigrants in Chicago as a “remarkable feat of reporting” (Granger). However, in achieving Sinclair’s true goal of inspiring compassion for the immigrants, The Jungle fell significantly short. One critic describes it as “a powerful, somewhat clumsily written tract on the hard life of immigrant workers” (Granger). Even Sinclair himself reflected “I aimed at the public's heart, and by accident I hit it in the stomach" (Granger). In trying to stir up sympathy for the immigrants, Sinclair instead created a tragedy too wretched to believe. Though The Jungle inspired many changes in the food industry, it failed in its true mission of saving the immigrants from their
suffering.
The literary period, the historical events, his family background, his job experience, and his political opinion inspired Sinclair’s desire to write The Jungle. The daring novel incited reactions of both support and criticism. Despite the opinions of the critics, people throughout the nation continue to study Sinclair’s novel. Even in this day and age, one can learn from The Jungle to be considerate of those who suffer in poverty.