Comparing Upton Sinclair's The Jungle And Ted Genoways...

According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, in 2007 the average meat consumption of a person living within the United States of America totaled 270.7 pounds (Barclay, 2014). This, in comparison to the rest of the world, leaves the United States in second place in average meat consumption per person, trailing 30.7 pounds to Luxembourg, who, on average, consume 301.4 pounds a year. Because of this extremely high rate of consumption, the demand for meat products within the United States is exorbitant, thus causing a need for an industrialized meat packing process. The meatpacking industry within the United States first came under fire in 1906 when Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle was published. His work exposed the inhumane working conditions that were found within the industry to the general public of the United States. Because of this, the FDA called for reformation of the industry, forcing it to have increased regulation, as well as safer, more humane working conditions. After these regulations were instilled, the meatpacking industry within the United States faded from the spotlight, however, according to Ted Genoways’ The Chain, these rules and regulations have yet to be fully abided by. A major theme throughout both Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle and Ted Genoways’ The Chain is the increasing speed …show more content…
Instead of using a journalism, documentation style of writing, Sinclair decided to depict the harsh realities of the Chicago meatpacking industry through a narrative. In turn, Sinclair’s work is known as a novel instead of a work of pure fact. In reality, there is no Lithuanian immigrant named Jurgis. However, the “facts” Sinclair included within his work, are the gruesome scenarios portrayed within the industry. As Sinclair was a muckraker while writing this work, he utilized his investigative journalism tactics to include facts within his work of

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Comparing Upton Sinclair's The Jungle And Ted Genoways The Chain