In fact, he dedicated his novel to the working men of America, and many editions of The Jungle still carry that dedication. Sinclair visited Chicago and used the real-life situations at the stockyards to discredit the American economic system - capitalism - and to show the working men that the answer to their troubles was socialism. The editor of Appeal to Reason answered Sinclair's challenge, hiring him to write the exposé. After following the famous meat cutters' strike of 1904, Sinclair wrote an essay challenging the union to do something after it had lost its protest. Sinclair needed to include these extreme examples because he had a particular agenda when writing The Jungle.
In all probability, The Jungle illustrates a world that was not too far removed from the reality of the day however, the extreme examples of abuse are most likely the result of Sinclair's imagination. Abuse in business and government most certainly existed, for graft was a way of life. No one knows exactly the extent of what is fact and what is fiction in The Jungle. These Acts allayed most fears, and ironically, actually favored big business, which was the opposite of Sinclair's intention.
They just did not want to be the ones to pay for the implementation. What was unrecognized, however, was the fact that meatpackers knew they were viewed with contempt, and facing substantial losses, the industry actually supported the Acts. The public's perception at this time was that the meatpacking industry feared these Acts. It also, however, led to a report issued the same year by the Department of Agriculture's Bureau of Animal Husbandry that refuted the worst of Sinclair's allegations. This public outcry led to the 1906 Meat Inspection Act and the Pure Food and Drug Act. While publishers debated printing The Jungle, the public demanded government intervention against the atrocities. Only after investigating the allegations in Sinclair's book did Doubleday, Page, and Company agree to print the book in 1906. The harsh realities and controversial topics of The Jungle made finding a publisher for a bound edition difficult. Sinclair's novel had mass appeal and led to an outcry against the meatpacking industry. Sinclair was hired to write an exposé about labor conditions in the Chicago stockyards.
DESTINY LAW OF THE JUNGLE SERIAL
Originally, The Jungle appeared in serial form in the socialist newspaper Appeal to Reason in 1905. Instead of being one example of many hardships, those examples, revealed in fewer than twelve pages, became both the rallying cry for industrial abuse and the public perception of the entire thematic nature of the novel. Sinclair intended to illustrate the plight of immigrants in Chicago at the turn of the century providing details and examples of abuses in the meatpacking industry merely as a means of demonstrating their troubles. "I aimed for the public's heart, and by accident I hit it in the stomach." Upton Sinclair used those words to describe the reaction his novel, The Jungle, received upon its initial publication.
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