Who Was Upton Sinclair's Best Work?

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Upton Sinclair Frederick Douglass once said, “Without a struggle, there can be no progress.” Upton Sinclair needed to experience struggle in order to become a well known muckraker. Sinclair’s journey as a socialist reformer wasn’t easy. Coming from a family who lost their wealth as a result of the Civil War, Sinclair had to pay for his own schooling by writing ethnic notes and fiction for newspapers and magazines. This was only the start of Sinclair’s rise to fame, who went on to write almost one hundred books. Through his writing, Sinclair improved the lives of millions. By enduring his own struggles, Sinclair was a true reformer, writing his best work because of his background. Upton Sinclair should be remembered for his book The Jungle, where Sinclair spent seven …show more content…
“There were many such dangers, in which the odds were all against them. Their children were not as well as they had been at home; but how could they know that there was no sewer to their house, and that the drainage of fifteen years was in a cesspool under it?”(Sinclair 7). Many children were sent from their homes to these factories with fake papers stating that they were sixteen years of age, while many, like Stanislovas Lukoszaite, a Lithuanian immigrant, were only thirteen or fourteen years old. Stanislovas job was very simple, he would tend to the machinery and fill several cans of lard per hour….the job required two people, one to place an empty lard can down, while the other person would take off the full lard can and place it onto a tray every few seconds. This was his destiny for the rest of his life, every hour, every day, every year. His fate was to stand on the same square foot, no thoughts or actions besides work(26). Sinclair witnessed the prolonged mistreatment and conditions that were unsanitary and inhumane for an adult, let alone children to be working

Social Class In Upton Sinclair's The Jungle

reality, life was filled with scammers, low-paying jobs, unsanitized food, and a corrupted society. Sinclair stated, in the novel, “ The great corporation which employed you lied to you, and lied to the whole country-from top to bottom is was nothing but one gigantic lie” (Sinclair). The lower class were stuck in an endless cycle of poverty, due to the fact that big business eliminated competition, which resulted in unrealistic prices and employees being treated as animals. Upton Sinclair’s belief…

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Upton Sinclair's 1906 Novel 'The Jungle'

The publication of Upton Sinclair’s 1906 novel The Jungle produced an immediate and powerful effect on Americans and on federal policy, but Sinclair had hoped to achieve a very different result. At the time he began working on the novel, he had completed his studies at Columbia University and was trying to develop a career as an author. He had been born in Baltimore in 1878, but his family had moved to the Bronx in 1888. Though he came from a prominent family, his own parents had little money, and…

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Upton Sinclair's 'The Jungle'

The Jungle by Upton Sinclair. Sinclair was a leading “muckraker,” a group of early twentieth-century American journalists and writers who sought to initiate reforms by exposing social and political excesses and abuses, and The Jungle is one of the best-known pieces of the muckraker movement. Variously admired and excoriated by critics, the novel is responsible for bringing to light the appalling working and sanitary conditions of Chicago's slaughterhouses. Plot and Major Characters: The Jungle…

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Upton Sinclair's Political Campaign Analysis

Unemployment was at high levels, and recovery was far off. Opponents in GOP called for cutting spending to cut the budget deficit. The Democrats were at a split decision. Units accused him of gathering and caving into "big business". Right -wing demagogues on the stump and media accused the White House of imposing socialism on America. In 1934, Upton Sinclair's EPIC crusade proved most influential and not just in helping to push the New Deal left. After quickly winning Democratic gubernational primary…

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The Jungle Essay

History Prof. Patterson 14 April, 2013 The Jungle The Jungle by Upton Sinclair is an integral piece of modern literature. The title is meant to reflect the Darwinian Jungle, how the strong prey on the weak and how all living things are engaged in a brutal fight for survival. “Social Darwinism was an idea used by some nineteenth-century thinkers to justify the abuses of wealthy capitalists.” This idea stated that society was designed to reward the most successful people, while the less successful…

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Essay about Fast Food Nation

people. According to the National Institutes of Health, obesity and overweight together are the second leading cause of preventable death in the United States, close behind tobacco use. Road Dahl’s novel, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (1964), Upton Sinclair’s novel, The Jungle (1906), Eric Schlosser’s non-fiction, Fast Food Nation (2001), Morgan Spurlock’s documentary, Supersize Me (2004), Craig Lambert’s non-fiction article, “The Way We Eat Now,” (2004) and the wikipedia article, “Abattoir,” or “Slaughterhouse…

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The Story Of Upton Sinclair Jr.

and it ends up putting them in debt before their quest for the American dream has even begun. Jurgis and his family live and begin to work in the meat packing area of Chicago, known as packing town. It does not take long before the harsh living for immigrants in packing town takes its effect on the family. The family members, young and old, are all forced to work to survive. But even that can’t stop the brutality of packing town from claiming several members of the family’s lives. Eventually,…

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Dbq Progressivism

Children who did not work were considered a burden to their family, because they spent precious money on school, clothes, and food, ultimately depriving the family of necessary resources to survive. Therefore, as soon as any child reached the proper age, which was often as young as eight or nine, they went to work in environments such as mills and factories. Children toiled to catch shrimp, often slicing their…

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Upton Sinclair's The Jungle

Upton Sinclair's involvement with socialism, this led to a writing assignment about the plight of workers in the meatpacking industry, eventually resulting in the best-selling novel The Jungle. Despite Sinclair's intention to reveal the plight of laborers at the meatpacking plants, his image of it was so clear of the cruelty to animals and unsanitary conditions there caused great public outcry and ultimately changed the way people shopped for food. Fame and fortune would not swerve Sinclair from…

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Reading Responses 65 86 Essay example

knowledge, convey an idea or new thought. In this article, I really like the story that how Malcolm fascinated by coping the dictionary. He was so frustrated at not being able to “use” the right English in letters for others. Even though he was born in an English speaking environment, he wasn’t even able to write simple English. I think it’s pretty funny that he was the most articulate hustler on street, and he didn’t “write”. Instead, he speaks slang such as, “Look, Daddy, let me pull your coat about…

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