Upton Sinclair's The Jungle During The Progressive Era

Upton Sinclair wrote The Jungle in 1906 during the Progressive Era (1890-1920). In the late nineteenth century and early twentieth century a vast rift between the upper and middle/working class began to develop. As a result of this growing division, a group of activists stood up for the voiceless society. These people were known as “progressives”. The progressives believed that Social Darwinism was immoral and that government should provide solutions to the social and economic problems of the lower class. Upton Sinclair’s unique upbringing made him sympathetic to the plight of the lower class which he believed was due to the oppression of big businesses on their employees. Upton Sinclair was a voice for the working poor in the newly forming industrial America. “The contempt he had developed for the upper class as a youth had led Sinclair to socialism in 1903, and in 1904 he was sent to Chicago by the socialist newspaper Appeal to Reason to write an exposé on the mistreatment of workers in the meatpacking industry.”(A&E) In his renowned novel, The Jungle, Sinclair depicted the …show more content…
Sinclair used his novel, The Jungle, to expose the corruption of greedy big businessmen who made their fortunes at the expense of the desperate working class. Sinclair’s writing was so influential and persuasive that it caused the Pure Food and Drug Act and the Meat Inspection Act to be passed in the United States Congress. Although the intent of Sinclair’s novel was to expose the exploitation of the working class and promote socialism as a solution, it gained notoriety for exclusively exposing the unsanitary conditions of food processors. Sinclair famously said of the public reaction "I aimed at the public's heart, and by accident I hit it in the stomach."(Andrew