This is the End

The Jungle by Upton Sinclair is a book that spoke the truth of serious issues. These issues included human rights and obviously the problems of what happened in the stock yards of Chicago. When Sinclair wrote the book, he hoped the readers would come to terms with the issues of how the workers were being treated. It is true that there were a lot of issues about how the workers were being treated, but instead of leaving the reader thinking, the readers were left feeling sick. The sickness that they felt was from knowing the truth about what happened in the Chicago stock yards, or Packingtown. Before the Food and Drug Administration health codes were not up to the appropriate standards, and the meat that was being packed was completely unsanitary. Sanitation of how people were eating their meat was something the public was not fully aware of. But Sinclair's book exposed the problems in Packingtown and human rights issues. The book was powerful with both human rights issues and exposing issues of the meat industry but when you put them together there is a strong message.

Sinclair's goal was to write a book about the issues of human rights, and when we talk about Jourgas's evolution of a character, human rights had a hand in it. When he first started working in Packingtown, he loved that he was working again, and couldn't understand why other workers "...hated the bosses and hated the owners... (62)". He never knew that you had more rights as a human being; Jourgas thought that his only right was to find a job and to work. Jourgas needed to learn more when it came to working in the yards. He didn't believe in what should be done. Jourgas didn't believe in joining a union, and he didn't think that the treatment was bad enough for him to join one. When it comes to human rights and workers wanting to improve their lives, they need to speak for themselves with the hope that their needs would reach those that would obey their requests. That is how normal politics work, but Foster writes something different. Political writing is supposed to engage the realness of the world. Human rights issues will never die down, because how humans treat one another poorly.  It is rare to find a piece of political writing that can last for decades after its time. Usually, it only works for the time period, but The Jungle has topics that are still common which speaks to the lasting legacy of Sinclair's political work. 

Even though the issues of human rights were important what affected people the most was the issue of how the meat was being made. A lot of the issues happened during the packing of the meat and how the inspectors were not doing their job. The laziness of the inspectors was mentioned in a earlier post, but to reiterate it, the inspectors would be those who would have conversations with the workers instead of being assertive, nit picky people. If the stock yards had nit picky people, then the meat production would change. What was going inside the meat would make people sick, and I was sick just reading it. The meat that was being processed was disgusting and the workers had no problem "lifting out a rat even when he saw one--... (141)". It was as if the workers didn't care how they did their jobs, and were fine if rats were in the food. But one of the other things that caused a sickness, was the meat was prepared for sausages. Chicago is infamous for its sausages, but in the stock yards making "smoked sausage" was like a chemistry experiment because the workers would "...preserve it with borax and color it with gelatin to make it brown (142)". Chemicals and rat feces must have been great ingredients for meat. The meat was being prepared with little care for how the product will turn out, similar to how the workers were not given the proper care that they deserved in terms of appropriate wages.  

Issues of human rights and the meat industry may have created different conflicts but when they were put together certain connections could be made. The meat was being processed with little care, and the workers were being taken care of with little effort from their bosses. The bosses wanted all of the money for themselves, and paid the workers almost fifteen cents an hour. Workers could have joined a union to help fight for better wages, but if they did a union would not have helped. Inspectors had to determine if the meat was useful or not, but when they came to the yards they did not do much. Since inspectors were not doing anything to help improve the meat, the situation with sanitation was stagnate. The issues of meat and fair wages could be separate, but some of them can be connected. Every time the problem's with meat were brought up, the working environment would be brought to our attention. If the meat was terrible to process and distribute, the working conditions for the workers were horrible. Sinclair talked about both issues often, and he did so by comparing the problems with wages and the process of making the meat. 

The book was very informative, and as a history buff I enjoyed reading a book that I always wanted to read. Dull moments were not present in the book , and it was one of the best historical fiction novels that I have read. History and truth may be nice things to talk about but of course there were some moments that were very sad. It is always heartbreaking to see terrible things happen to people who wanted to do what they wanted. More importantly if you don't get grossed out easily, then your stomach should be fine when you read certain parts of the book. This book is not for someone with a weak stomach. You will get grossed out by the meat in the stock yards, but it's one of the things that needs to be read in order to understand the truth about what Sinclair wrote about. If you can handle all of that, and a lot of history, you will enjoy The Jungle.

Beer Baptism

The last third of the book is very sad to discuss when it comes to the characters. Jourgas seemed to be on a downward spiral: he has been in prison a few times for incidents of violence and he has lost close family members. He did not know what to do, and Jourgas went through a symbolic baptism. But instead of water, he uses alcohol. He does not take a bath in it (he never seems to bathe often), but he drowns his sorrows in beer. Which is not healthy and not the best way to deal with your problems. However, the alcohol helped with his symbolic baptism, because of how he started to think.

Since you cannot tell in the last few chapters of the book Upton Sinclair was socialist. Socialism is a system that characterized by social ownership of the means of production and cooperative management of the economy. Jourgas would not have appreciated it much less heard of socialism if he didn't stumble into a meeting. Well, he actually went to the meeting so he can keep warm during the winter months. But the meetings awoke something inside of him. The ideas of having equality in work, and the working class rising up is something that intrigued him. He stopped drinking, and got a job that was better than working in the stock yards. Jourgas did not have much of a loud voice when it came to certain issues before, but the intimidating yet friendly giant found a voice through socialism.

Beer is what transformed Jourgas. His transformation was something that would have happened without the alcohol because of family issues that he was dealing with. But trying to drown sorrows in alcohol is something that was not uncommon. Jourgas was big and intimidating, but when you learned more about him he was very kind and gentle "...like a boy, a boy from the country (25). This is something that is expected when a man from the country moves to a big city. For Jourgas the city of Chicago is a new world for him. He has a job which he is very good at for a man that can "...take up two-hundred- and- fifty pound quarter of beef and carry it into a car without stagger...(6)."A man as strong (don't forget young) as Jourgas would be picked up in a second to work in a physically demanding place like the stock yards. He was trying to do all he could to support his family in times of hard ship while working in Packingtown and working there without seeing improvement took a toll on him. When members of his family died, drinking seemed to be the only solution. The kind and gentle boy became something that was not expected (by me at least) and was almost like an animal. He would have continued to be one if he had not discovered socialism.

Shut down, in Chi-town!

Sinclair was aware of who his audience was when he wrote chapter 14. He knew that those with an education would read it, and he knew that those who could afford an education would be the ones that would handle the issues that he brought to our attention in his book. But before he continued the very vivid description of how the meat was prepared in Packingtown he took a break from the story of a family and said "This is no fairy story and no joke... (141)." Of course it was not a joke because it was real preparation of deadly food that would be distributed all throughout Chicago. Ms.Romano warned me about this part, but never before have I felt so disgusted from what I read. The possibility of inserting quotes to talk about this important yet disgusting chapter in the book is not possible, the words would not hold as much worth to you if I copied and pasted them because to understand the truth you need to read it in context with all of what Sinclair wrote. 

Sinclair dedicated a good page to talk about the truth when the meat is being prepared. He is very descriptive which is good and helps a lot when you want to expose the horrors of what happens at a place like Packingtown. But Sinclair did something different. Usually, he inserts something about one of the characters because it is their story, but he takes the time to say what needed to be said. I know that sounds weird, and you say "That's what an author does". But the way it read, was almost like a report of what happened in the yards. Almost as hi he was a health inspector. The one page account of what happened did not say anything about it being a Chicago thing. Poor standards for food preparation was a problem that everyone had, everywhere. It was the first time something like this happened, and there were not any standards that were established to keep anything sanitary. But with Sinclair's one page account, he exposed the truth to politicians who would change everything for the better. 

The truth of how the meat was prepared was the most unsanitary thing possible. I have heard that Sinclair's intent of the book was to expose the harsh treatment of the workers, not the way the meat was being prepared. Nevertheless, Sinclair's account of the meat preparation brought about significant changes in how the meat was prepared. The Food and Drug Association was established in 1906, the same year The Jungle was published. If health inspectors back then, did their jobs like those of today, the stock yards in the Industrialization period would get shut down immediately. Sinclair's novel brought about change that created a standard that will last for many centuries. I am grateful to Sinclair for bringing about such a significant amount of change in the country's standards of how things were done. 

Welcome to the Jungle!

While reading the first third of The Jungle by Upton Sinclair you can't help but make certain assumptions about what might happen. If you have not read the book you definitely must have heard of it in a history class discussing the Industrialization Period starting in the 1880's. This is the book that exposed many truths about the harsh treatment of workers, children, and of course what people were ingesting at the time period. But what people ate is going to be saved for a different day. Characters and plot assumptions will be made today and I could be wrong, but that is the fun of reading: making assumptions and seeing if you are right.  Well, that's what I like to do when I read because I am an avid guesser.

In the first chapter there are a lot of names to keep track of, my head hurts just thinking about how they are important. We meet Ona and Jourgas on their wedding day in Chicago. These two love birds are from Lithuania and are hoping to get a taste of the "American Dream" when they work in Packingtown or the stock yards. Its a very happy occasion with food, family, and alcoholic beverages. There is a lot of talk about beer and the bartender in this chapter, so maybe alcohol is something that I should keep an eye on. Anyway, since the book opens up with a communion of both families, we know that the book will be about their journey searching for the "American Dream" and the family unfortunately seeing the truth of certain things.

Speaking of unfortunate things, I got the first glimpse of what Sinclair's world looked like when it came to what was happening in the stock yards. They mentioned in Chapter three inspectors who would check the meat, but when an inspector showed up what happened was unfathomable, yet true. He was a very social person which is fine, however, "while he was talking with you...dozens of carcasses would go past him untouched (41)". Why was he touching the carcasses? To check for tuberculosis! TB was an illness that was killing many people in the country, and it was an illness that attacked the body in a way that eventually made it useless. If the human body was becoming useless (from meat that should be useless if it has any trace of TB) then its presence in the novel might have other reasons besides being an illness of the time period. That makes sense, but maybe we can save that discussion if I find any more issues of illness it in the book. But I know that this was not the last time I heard something as grotesque as this. I know that there will be more. I just hope that I am ready for it.