Upton Sinclairs The Jungle :: essays research papers fc

Long and tedious, with the purpose of showing the unsanitary conditions of the Chicago meat industry, The Jungle is a book that was written by Upton Sinclair. After his manuscript was completed in 1905, it appeared serially in Appeal to Reason, a widely circulated socialist periodical. This initial publication caused much controversy and immediate reaction. Much difficulty was encountered, however, when he tried to get it published in book form. None of the publishers wanted it published completely in its current form, and Sinclair didn’t want to cut any of it out. It was finally published in 1906, by Sinclair himself with considerable financial aid from Jack London. There is no table of contents as it is written in the form of a novel. Likewise, there are very few footnotes and the footnotes it does have are on how to pronounce things. There is a bibliography in the back which lists all of his sources for information on meatpacking and his other documentation. For the most par t it is historically accurate, as it tells the life of a man who works in a realistic meat packing setting. Because it is fictional, though, it probably would not be much of an aid to a historical researcher. The novel itself, containing over Three hundred pages, is rather long and tediously boring.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Sinclair’s central purpose in writing The Jungle was to persuade people to join the socialist party and to adopt the view that socialism is the only way to conquer the capitalistic empires that abuse the working class. The socialist ethic is that the general public will have joint ownership of the factory. Thus, they will finally be able to eliminate the undesirable working conditions and to advocate new, more comfortable working conditions. Sinclair uses many clever devices in order to get his readers to agree with this ethic. First, he keeps the many characters basically flat and two-dimensional throughout the whole novel. After their initial introduction, they are not developed any further or given any more human characteristics. They are outlined by what the author tells you they do; no thought or decision making on their part is ever shown. He also keeps all of the characters at the same level. The reader never knows any more about one character’s personality than he does about another character’s personality. He only knows basically nothing about either character’s personality. Another device Sinclair employs is leaving only one option, one alternative, to being held captive by capitalism.