In the Foreword of The Jungle, we are informed of what the history of the novel, The Jungle, is and what Upton Sinclair went through to get the novel published. We are informed that “Sinclair was sent to Chicago to do research on the meatpacking industry by the editors of the Socialist newspaper for $500” (Sinclair i). When Sinclair witnessed the unsanitary practices of the meatpacking industry, he quickly started writing a novel, modeled by the plot of Pilgrim’s Progress by John Bunyan. In efforts of getting The Jungle published, Macmillan published the novel half way through then resisted and gave Sinclair a long list of things to change due to the graphic descriptions. Macmillan agreed to publish the novel if Sinclair would rewrite a sanitized version but Macmillan declined to publish at all, for reasons that are unknown. It is questioned whether or not that Macmillan was, ”persuaded to drop publication because of pressure from the meatpacking industry” (Sinclair ii). Sinclair felt that it was important to state the facts, rather than what people wanted to hear, so he continued looking for a publisher.
Sinclair finally was given the opportunity to have Doubleday, Page publishing company publish The Jungle. Learning from experience, “Sinclair cut numerous scenes from the book” that would still convey the importance of the novel without some of the other graphic descriptions (Sinclair ii). The Jungle came out in 1906 and Theodore Roosevelt was given a copy of the novel. Roosevelt responded in a negative manner, not believing what he was reading. Roosevelt asked Doubleday to show him proof that The Jungle was portraying true facts. Once Roosevelt came to the realization that The Jungle was true, he started his own investigation with the Bureau of Commerce and Labor. Due to the popularity and the help of Roosevelt’s investigation, “Upton Sinclair became famous, and his novel helped push the federal government to pass its first comprehensive Pure Food and Drug laws” (Sinclair iii).
This is an example of how things can be overlooked because people are told what they want to hear. If it wasn’t for Sinclair being bold and standing firm for what he was “reporting”, who knows when Pure Food and Drug laws would have been passed.
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Lyndsay makes a really great point. I feel that Sinclair is not just bold for writing The Jungle, but also for how he wrote the novel and the follow up he did after publishing it. By making The Jungle and Anti-Sentimentalist novel, Sinclair is highlighting the lack of value that workers or victims lives have. As I quoted in class the other day, in chapter 13, "And then he died. Must have been the Sausage he ate for breakfast that morning." I think this is anti-sentimental quote is a bold statement to make because it is saying that these deaths occurred often, and no remorse is to be had by the meat packing industry.
ReplyDeleteAs far as the follow up after the novel, Sinclair continued to write about his feelings towards socialism and other injustices highlighted in the novel. Even after some of the negative feedback he received directly after the novel was published, he continued to write and inform the public about the wrongs in society that were usually swept under the rug.
Taryn, thank you for your insight and your comment, you added some great feedback. I found it interesting how you tied Upton Sinclair’s novel in as an anti-sentimentalist novel. I feel that it was necessary to have such a bold statement, especially since The Jungle is an anti-sentimentalist novel. Statements need to be straight forward and blunt in the novel to make his purpose clear, and that is to convey facts and reality. Sinclair was telling the audience how it really was and very bluntly, which we should appreciate his honesty. Maybe the awful deaths were so horrible that he had to portray the literature in this manner because this was what was normal for the society then. By Sinclair being blunt and straight forward with us, the audience, are able to understand, experience, and relate how their lives were.
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