`The Jungle` by Upton Sinclair

The Jungle

When Upton Sinclair wrote this book , he stirred not only the hearts but also the guts of many readers . Some say it induced nausea along with emotions notwithstanding the sensation it caused with its unique theme and portrayal

The author himself had lived a life of abject poverty and had written this novel in a tar shack in Princeton Town ship , while struggling with his own financial scarcity

This novel is based upon the research he had done on the meat packing industry of Chicago Stockyards , and had filled

the pages with revolting details , knowing little that this novel would one day turn into a great American bestseller

Written during the period of 1906 , this book was dropped like a bomb on an astounded audience . It was full of some daring revelations of the meat packing plants of Chicago , and it later became responsible for changing the food laws of America

The effect of this book was first of its kind on a rather complacent world , which never thought about what it ate day after day until Upton brought to them appalling news , neatly packaged from the meat centers . No reader could remain unaffected after reading about how dead rats were shoveled into sausage grinding machines . How diseased cows were slaughtered and packed off to cities for consumption , and how gross the entire system of employment and exploitation were at these centers

He unapologetically wrote about the way pouring muck and guts were swept off the floor and packaged as potted ham , while the inspectors were bribed and forced to look the other way , when all this were happening right under their noses

While reading this novel it begins to appear that Upton Sinclair was setting forth an armchair animal rights agitation , by revealing all the sordid details of the wrongdoings at meatpacking centers

Facing five rejections was not a reason to deter Sinclair , as he had come to Chicago with intentions of writing this novel . He is said to have declared that he had arrived to write an Uncle Tom 's Cabin ' of the labor movement

Sinclair was hired as a journalist , by a socialist news The Appeal to Reason , and the novel was first published in a serialized form in this

Later a publishing house Doubleday , Page and Company published the first edition of this novel on 28th February 1906

It was immediately considered a best seller due to its candid depiction of the exploitation of women and children and the wretched working conditions at the meatpacking center . This novel also created quite a stir in the sales department of the American meat consumption The foreign sales of American meat dropped drastically and it became hard for the government to calm public outrage , which followed the publication of this novel

Sinclair was a socially and politically motivated writer who was driven with the passion of fighting for his causes . Apart from being a brilliant essayist , playwright , short story writer and a novelist , he was...