Read Upton Sinclair, The Jungle (excerpt) and reflect on the following to prepare use for our inquiry into the Industrial Revolution. This period sees massive changes that will not only define the 20th Century, but also have borne fruit that effect the structure of modern life to this day. The Jungle highlights the complications of Modernization and "efficiency." A key question it offers is the idea of whether or not "efficiency" is always what is best for human interaction. Let's use this space to reflect:
1. Why do you think
he writes the jungle?
2. List five shocking
realities of the meatpacking industry. Use Sinclair’s language to highlight
your selections. What makes your choices so shocking?
3. Why do you think
these realities exist?
41 comments:
I believe Sinclair writes "The Jungle" because he wants to inform people that going through the new "industry" era was not all everyone thought it was. Industrialization was a hard process and took many centuries to become stable. Many people believe that industrialization was easy and positive to all of the people who were a part of it but Sinclair proves just how wrong those assumptions are. Working in the industries is a tiring and potentially unhealthy environment and was even worse during the time Sinclair wrote this piece. People working in the meat industries risked diseases and health problems on a daily basis while just trying to do their jobs.
One shocking reality of the meat packing industry was how the worker's hands became so swollen and diseased. Sinclair wrote: "They would have no nails, - they had worn them off pulling hides; their knuckles were swollen so that their fingers spread out like a fan." What Sinclair was saying was that the meat packers had so much pressure on their hands with the objects they used that their fingers were swollen on a daily basis and their finger nails were not even there anymore.
The second realization was how disease was so common. "There were men who worked in the cooking rooms, in the midst of steam and sickening odors, by artificial light; in these rooms the germs of tuberculosis might live for two years." Sinclair was saying that despite how disgusting the stench of the cooking rooms were, the workers also had to deal with germs and diseases that were present the whole time they had worked there.
The third realization was of how dangerous plucking wool had been. Sinclair wrote: "There were the wool pluckers, whose hands went to pieces even sooner than the hands of the pickle men; for the pelts of the sheep had to be painted with acid to loosen the wool." This is implying that it was not just bad enough that pulling wool put pressure to the worker's hands but that their hands were actually deteriorating because of the acid.
My fourth realization was the odor that came along with meat packing. "Worst of any, however, were the fertilizer men, and those who served in the cooking rooms. These people could not be shown to the visitor - for the odor of a fertilizer man would scare away any ordinary visitor at a hundred yards." This quote implies the unbarring odor each worker had to put up with each day.
My final realization was of how disgusting the meals were. "Every spring they did it; and in the barrels would be dirt and rust and old nails and stale water - and cart load after cart load of it would be taken up and dumped into the hoppers with fresh meat, and sent out to the public's breakfast." This quote shows how the workers cleaned the piles of waste in their industry only to allow the public to consume it!
I think these realities existed because there was no technology to stop all of the problems. In those times, people had to work by their hands for the majority of the time and because of this, they faced many troubles. Our world is completely different now with all of our modern day technology, so we do not have to face the life-threatening and disgusting "realities" the workers of the past had to face.
I believe Sinclair writes "The Jungle" to expose the secrets of the industrial Revolution. People saw the job opportunities popping up during the industrial revolution as blessings and those people jumped at the first opportunities to get a jump without knowing the consequences. I think he writes it to inform readers that lots of people were put through hardships and disgusting working conditions before laws were made to protect people trying to provide for their families.
Their were many shocking revelations that made me angry, and disgusted. One being the "Devyled Ham" which was dyed with chemicals to hide the white. The chemicals they out on the meat could have killed people and shortened their lifespans. Because I am a citizen of America in the 21st century for the most part I can feel safe eating food because it has to be approved by health companies before being sent out, but reading about how these people got away with doing what they did I just couldn't imagine that happening to anybody in America today.
The second reality told by Sinclair was that people working in the "pickle room" would lose their finger,or even die because of the working conditions they were exposed to. The third reality that stood out to me was the finger eating acid caused by picking wool. These realities stood out to me because even though I know working conditions weren't the best back then, I didn't know or understand how bad they were.
The fourth reality that stood out to me was the rat sausages. Workers knew that poisoned rats were in the sausage meet, but they still packed the meet without taking out the diseased, dead, poisoned rats, and had the nerve to sell it at a outrages cost.
The fifth and final reality Sinclair reveals that stands out to me is that he compares the strong men after a couple years working at the meat factories to a type of monkey, referring to the way their backs were hunched over. This stands out of me because the once healthy men carried such heavy loads that the quality of their walking was damaged in a short amount of time.
I believe these realities existed because people allowed it to. They cared about money, and back then their were no resources to make working conditions better so instead of just leaving those businesses along, they indulged in them resulting in the loss of fingers, death, production of rat meat, and finger eating acid.
I believe that The Jungle was written to become a story of the real life in the Industrial Revolution. Not everything was beautiful. There are things within this book that makes you want to cringe. This is exactly how life is.
A shocking reality to me was mixing up things that you're not really supposed to eat and mixing it up to actually eat. Sinclair says, "...and trimmings of hams and corned beef, and potatoes, skins and all, and finally the hard cartilaginous gullets of beef, after the tongues had been cut out. All this ingenious mixture was ground up and flavored with spices to make it taste like something. Anybody who could invent a new imitation had been sure of a fortune..."
Another reality was " The hands of these men would be criss-crossed with cuts, until you could no longer pretend to count them or to trace them. They would have no nails,—they had worn them off pulling hides; their knuckles were swollen so that their fingers spread out like a fan." The men that worked had to suffer. Their hand were a mess after a day's work.
Another shocking reality was the odor of the cooking room. "There were men who worked in the cooking rooms, in the midst of steam and sickening odors, by artificial light..." You would think that because things are cooking, it would smell good. But it doesn't which is very shocking.
This was very shocking because I didn't get why wool had acid in it. There is no problem like that today. So why use chemicals? " for the pelts of the sheep had to be painted with acid to loosen the wool, and then the pluckers had to pull out this wool with their bare hands, till the acid had eaten their fingers off."
The last really shocking thing was that a lot of the food wasn't sanitary. There were rats everywhere and they picked it up right off the floor and used it. "This is no fairy story and no joke; the meat would be shovelled into carts, and the man who did the shoveling would not trouble to lift out a rat even when he saw one"
I think these are very shocking because today, this would be top page news while back then this was a casualty.
I think these exist because people back then didn't really know any better. they just thought that food is food and it goes down anyway.
I believe Upton Sinclair wrote "The Jungle" because he wanted to show people what really went on in the industry business that no one really knew about. If people knew what went on, such as the meat processing, there would be no business.
One statement that really stood out to me was that all of the workers for the different kinds of meat had all different types of cuts and problems with their hands.
Another statement that stood out to me was what the workers at the stamping machines had to go through. They practically lost themselves and got their hands chopped off.
A third statement was that sausage from Europe was all moldy and white, yet the workers still had to fix it up so it would be ready for home consumption.
A fourth statement that stood out to me was that rats would walk all over the meat and dirty water would drip on the meat. The rooms were so dark that none of the workers realized what was happening to the meat inside the rooms.
The last statement that really stood out to me was that the sausage would have a "special" stamp on them and people would have to pay 2 cents more a pound.
I believe these realities existed because there wasn't much the workers could do. They didn't have many resources to help them out. Another reason is, the government never cared enough to stop all of the problems.
I think that Sinclair wrote "The Jungle" so he can let people know what is happening in the new era. I also think that Sinclair wanted to let everybody know what really happens.
My first shocking reality was what goes into sausage, "There was never the least attention paid to what was cut up for sausage;..." It is saying that anything no matter how gross or unhealthy could have been put in sausage and consumed by people.
My second shocking reality was how common disease was. "There were men who worked in the cooking rooms, in the midst of steam and sickening odors, by artificial light; in these rooms the germs of tuberculosis might live for two years." It says that workers had high risks of disease during their work, and work should be a clean healthy place most of the time.
My third shocking reality was rat sausages. The workers knew that there was rat, but they packaged it anyway. I personally hate rats and mice, so I am horrified that these people have the nerve to sell it to people.
My fourth shocking reality is people's hands. They would get all kinds of meat and cuts in their hands and I just think that they should have better care to treat cuts and keep hands clean. Their health is important.
My last shocking reality is the European meat. It was all mouldy and white, but the workers still fixed it up, so it could be eaten.
I think these realities exist because of money. Specifically, I think that the people in charge want to save money for their own pockets by cutting money for things such as well being of employees and quality of food.
I think Sinclair wrote the jungle to inform people about how industry was growing back then. It not only shows the positive sides of industrialization but also the negative. It explains hows industry wasn't as amazing as the books say it is.
1- Various chemicals were used on the meats. I think that's disgusting beause those harsh dyes and chemicals go into your body. He states the sausage was preserved with borax and colored with gelatin.
2- How they picked wool. They would pour acid on the sheep skin so the fur would come off easy. Acid could kill sheep so that's like animal abuse. I think it was wrong to do. Also the acid ate off the workers fingers
3- They let rats be part of the meet. Sinclair explains how if a worker saw a rat in the meat, he wouldn't bother to pick it out. That is gross because rats have diseases and people could end up eating them.
4- how they "recycled" old butter. They would "oxidize" old rancid butter by adding air to it. They would re-churn in and sell in in bricks on the streets. That is disgusting.
5-How diseases were so popular. The diseased workers could get germs into the things they are producing, then you could get sick from the products. That is not ok.
These realities exist because back then we were not as educated as we are now. Therefor, we didn't realize how bad the things we were doing were. We did not think we were doing anything wrong.
I think the reason Upton Sinclair wrote "The Jungle" was to expose what was really happening during this era. People were completely unaware of what they were eating and how badly it could affect them. I think it shows how industrialization had a lot of bad and definitely unsanitary factors.
One shocking reality is that thousands of rats would roam on top of meat and that at any given time you could "sweep off handfuls of the dried dung of rats". Rats are filled with disease and that is completely unsanitary and could cause the people consuming the meat to become extremely sick.
Another shocking reality was how dangerous it was to work in the meatpacking industry. There were so many chemicals that would destroy their hands, many of them had cuts all over themselves. Some workers might fall into a vat of acid. It was also a great possibility to get tuberculosis.
Another shocking reality was that they would use cows who had tuberculosis because they would fatten more quickly. It just shows the lengths they would go to make money.
Another reality is that the meat would come moldy and white, and they would use it anyway. They would try and cover it up with the use of chemicals.
Another shocking reality was how disgusting it was. They would only clean once a year. And all the dirt would go into the public's next meal.
I think these realities existed because they cared more about the money than the food. Also ,the workers were just trying to make ends meet for their families and they wanted to keep their jobs. I also think it existed because they were able to get away with it, there was no one inspecting the quality of the food and the customers were just assuming that they food was safe.
I believe Jungle was written and published to inform us readers what factories were made of up during this time. This tells us specific details on how tough it was for the wokers. This also teaches us how different work is today. In the 1700s they didn't have the technology that we are able to use today.
5 shocking realities:
"Let a man so much as scrape his finger pushing a truck in the pickle rooms, and he might have a sore that would put him out of the world; all the joints of his fingers might be eaten by the acid, one by one." This amazes me. Workers were so dedicated to their profession and they did not complain about the pain it put them through.
"The hands of these men would be criss-crossed with cuts, until you could no longer pretend to count them or to trace them. They would have no nails,—they had worn them off pulling hides; their knuckles were swollen so that their fingers spread out like a fan." This is so gruesome. These men, in other words seem to make this a daily routine and it didn't bother them. They were use to the pain and harm this job had done to them.
" in these rooms the germs of tuberculosis might live for two years" you have so many people working in one room and all these germs are present. Now they had to worry about diseases not only in the factories but when they go home to their families. This was harm to basically the whole community.
"Worst of any, however, were the fertilizer men, and those who served in the cooking rooms. "These people could not be shown to the visitor - for the odor of a fertilizer man would scare away any ordinary visitor at a hundred yards." This was horrible! They knew that if anyone were to see them they'd be taking care of and taken away from the place. The odor knew he was doing wrong.
"There was no place for the men to wash their hands before they ate their dinner, and so they made a practice of washing them in the water that was to be ladled into the sausage" so basically they wanted these hardworking men to die. Reading this makes me sick. People are so cruel. This was for their own health.
I believe these realities existed due to money issues. Everyone cared about money and that was it. There also was no technology and this made it difficult to get the jobs done faster. This story definitely shows how different the world is today.
I believe Sinclair writes "The Jungle" for the purpose of informing people that going through the new industry era was not exactly like everyone thought it out to be. Industrialization was a difficult career and took many centuries to become a thriving business. Sinclair proves that industrialization was not as easy and positive and everyone thought it out to be. Laboring in industries is hard working and unhealthy to the environment. Diseases were very easy to catch and the risk became extremely higher while working in industries.
One reality of the meat packing industry was all of the cuts, bruises, and painful scratches on the workers's hands.
My second realization was how the disease was so easy to catch. "There were the wool pluckers, whose hands went to pieces even sooner than the hands of the pickle men; for the pelts of the sheep had to be painted with acid to loosen the wool."
My third reality was the meat orders from other countries that came in so moldy, disgusting and unhealthy.
My fourth reality is how dangerous plucking wool had been. It was not bad enough that the plucking of the wool applied pressure to the workers's hands, but their hands were deteriorating because of the acid in the wool.
MY fifth and final realization was how the vermin would crawl and run all over the meat and the workers were completely oblivious to the fact due to the extreme and utter darkness in the work rooms.
I think these realities were once happening because technology was very scarce and the workers and bosses had no way to stop these things from happening. In this time and day, these struggles would not be happening because of our advanced technology.
I believe Upton Sinclair wrote "The Jungle" so that he could inform people about what is really behind the meatpacking industries. Not many people actually know about the horrors and lies the packages and industries tell, tricking people into putting these sickening foods into their stomachs. People must have thought that industrialization and the use of factories were a lot more efficient and better, but this excerpt reveals the truth: industrialization caused a great change in the food we eat today. Nothing is fresh and organic anymore.
One shocking realization of the meatpacking industry was that the government would pay inspectors to certified diseased meat within these industries. Everyone believes inspectors, but after reading this excerpt, who can we trust? We aren't even safe anymore because we don't truly know what kind of food we eat now. As long as the inspectors receive money, they wouldn't care if they lie. This is how corrupted the world is.
Another thing that shocked me was all the many different types of workers that had to work within these factories to package the meat. They go through hell getting burned by acid in order to package these meats that aren't even healthy for us. They expose themselves to cuts and scrapes from all the work they do and put themselves as risk for what? Just think of all the nasty germs surrounding them from the diseased meat This is no benefit to us or the workers; only to the industries.
Sinclair explains how deviled ham is made from a mixture of nasty and random parts of animals such as skin, throat, stomach, and other parts too small to be cut by machines. This was pretty shocking. All of this is disguised into the deviled ham in which people eat with the help of coloring and flavoring. Doesn't that make you want to throw up? Imagine what it would taste like without flavoring.
Something that totally made me sick to my stomach was the production of sausages. Sinclair says that the things cut up into sausages were paid no attention to. Therefore, rats could even poison the food with their toxic urine and even get chopped up with the meat in the hoppers. Workers who happen to notice don't even care. This description makes me never want to eat sausages again. These workers must be brainwashed by money.
Lastly, Sinclair states "they welcomed tuberculosis in the cattle." That is just sick. It really makes me feel sympathy for the cows. More importantly, we are eating cows with tuberculosis. This literally means we are eating sick cows. I am just completely disgusted. I don't think I could ever eat a steak again.
I believe these realities exist because these industries really don't care about the products they are packing and selling and how unhealthy and unnatural they are. As long as they make products using as less money as possible, they are able to receive the most profit. They are able to lie to people using inspectors with false certification. They don't care what happens to the people who eat their products, because they're not the ones eating it themselves. They do not care about the workers who live in hell packaging the meats, for they're not the ones doing it. Money is everything ever since industrialization was born. I think it is ideal to start being a vegetarian from now on. But then again, I don't think vegetables are just as unprocessed as these packaged meats.
I feel that Sinclair wrote "The Jungle" because he wants to tell people of the horrors of industrialization and how disgusting it is. In the industries there is no potential care, and it's all about working to getting the bigger profit. This means that people will use the cheap stuff just to make more money than more organic products. So using chemicals would help preserve foods so that they wouldn't spoil or to hide spoils in the food. This is what I think Sinclair wanted to show people of industrialization in "The Jungle."
One reality of the industries that I found disgusting was that when there was rotten meat they would put chemicals in it to cover it up. So when using the chemicals the meat won't go to wasted, which will give the industry a profit when they sell it.
Another was how chemically rigged the factories were. In the third paragraph it states, "Let a man so much as scrape his finger pushing a truck in the pickle rooms, and he might have a sore that would put him out of the world; all the joints of his fingers might be eaten by the acid, one by one." This means that if he was to let something from that factory get into a cut he would most likely die.
A third realization was the butchers section. In the third paragraph it states, Of the butchers and floorsmen, the beef boners and trimmers, and all those who used knives, you could scarcely find a person who had the use of his thumb; time and time again the base of it had been slashed, till it was a mere lump of flesh against which the man pressed the knife to hold it. The hands of these men would be criss-crossed with cuts, until you could no longer pretend to count them or to trace them. They would have no nails,—they had worn them off pulling hides; their knuckles were swollen so that their fingers spread out like a fan." This is saying that the workers flesh would get caught into the machines along with the meat, and then they would be sliced up and grounded in with all the other meat. So people might be eating human flesh back then.
A fourth realization would have to be how the workers would practically have to work till they die. Of all the dangers in the industries I realize that the big bosses really didn't care about their workers. In the third paragraph he states, "here were the wool pluckers, whose hands went to pieces even sooner than the hands of the pickle men; for the pelts of the sheep had to be painted with acid to loosen the wool, and then the pluckers had to pull out this wool with their bare hands, till the acid had eaten their fingers off." This practically means of the dangers from all the wool plucking and such they would have to do it till they die. This showed that the big boss never ever cared of the workers, and probably just shrugged them off, and hired new workers when they died.
My final realization of the industries was that when there was the rejected sausage that was moldy and filled with white spots they'd use chemicals on it. From paragraph 4 it states, "There was never the least attention paid to what was cut up for sausage; there would come all the way back from Europe old sausage that had been rejected, and that was mouldy and white—it would be dosed with borax and glycerine, and dumped into the hoppers, and made over again for home consumption." That is absolutely disgusting. This is saying that they would get the moldy sausage and let it not go to waste by dumping it in chemicals so they can sell it. That is absolutely gross.
I believe this all existed because the big bosses didn't really care much back then. They just wanted the money, and all the money they could make so they'd use these dangerous methods to recover foods that were spoiled. The big bosses didn't care about the people just the money. That is what I think that made those realities exist.
I believe that Sinclair writes "The Jungle" because he wanted to show that the Industrial Revolution was almost like a cheat. The positivity and hard work that the outside of it showed didn't match up with its undertone. Sinclair makes the Industrial Revolution into a huge allegory. These people don't even know, but they are eating diseased foods made to look and taste good with added chemicals in them. I believe he wrote this piece to warn the people of his time of what they were going through and that they needed to do something about it.
The first shocking reality that popped into my head were the workers hands. "There were the wool pluckers, whose hands went to pieces even sooner than the hands of the pickle men; for the pelts of the sheep had to be painted with acid to loosen the wool, and then the pluckers had to pull out this wool with their bare hands, till the acid had eaten their fingers off."(Sinclair;pg1). These people are working for you and you are going to have them deal with poor conditions like this!! You could have at least given them gloves to work with. That is totally outrageous.
My second shocking reality was the rat sausages...ewww. "...and then rats, bread, and meat would go into the hoppers together. This is no fairy story and no joke; the meat would be shovelled into carts, and the man who did the shoveling would not trouble to lift out a rat even when he saw one..."(Sinclair;pg2). These workers are the laziest people I have ever seen. Instead of keeping the people of their area healthy, they make their job easier by just mixing dead rats, poisined bread and sausage into the mixture and sell it to people for high prices!!!
My third shocking reality was the stamping machines. People are giving their time to help you and you make the risk their lives for a little money as pay?! "Some worked at the stamping machines, and it was very seldom that one could work long there at the pace that was set, and not give out and forget himself, and have a part of his hand chopped off." (Sinclair;pg2). People should be able to work in safety and not have to worry about their hands being chopped off.
My fourth shocking reality was the butter issue. Instead of getting fresh butter, they "recycled" the old butter and sold it in bricks on the streets!! ..." they bought up all the old rancid butter left over in the grocery stores of a continent, and "oxidized" it by a forced-air process, to take away the odor, rechurned it with skim milk, and sold it in bricks in the cities! . . ." (Sinclair;pg2). This is horrible for the well being of the town and the people in it.
My fifth and final shocking reality was the "Spring cleaning" (did u get it? lol). They only cleaned the waste barrels once a year at Spring time and all of the waste was dumped onto the fresh meat and right into peoples breakfasts's. ..."cleaning out of the waste barrels. Every spring they did it; and in the barrels would be dirt and rust and old nails and stale water—and cart load after cart load of it would be taken up and dumped into the hoppers with fresh meat, and sent out to the public's breakfast. (Sinclair;pg2).
I believe that these realities existed because there wasn't enough technology to fix the issues. Since all of these people were so lazy to clean, I feel that technology would have boosted the effort to clean a little more because of less manual labor. I also believe that money played a factor in all this. Workers were probably poor and to provide for their families, they had to do what their bosses told them to do. Thank god we don't live in the times of these people and that our produce is clean.
Upton Sinclair writes this disturbing piece to inform the public that the meat industry is a place of health horrors. This really shows how desperate money was in the industrialization times and how far people were willing to go to sell diseased and dirty meat. Sinclair brings us back to the rooms of absolute filth and the working men that had to endure and accept this reality.
There were some very terrifyingly shocking points made by Sinclair in this piece. One of them being "...that they (meat inspectors) were paid by the United States government to certify that all the diseased meat was kept in the state..." These men, who were paid by the GOVERNMENT, were told to keep the diseased meat and still sell it to the public. The government must have been so desperate to sell and get money that they did not care who they hurt or who they deprived of dignity.
Another surprising event was "where men welcomed tuberculosis in the cattle they were feeding, because it made them fatten more quickly..." That is unacceptable. The workers willingly let these cows have diseases because it made their jobs easier. The cows would fatten therefore more meat would be produced.
The next unbelievable quote is "Let a man so much as scrape his finger pushing a truck in the pickle rooms, and he might have a sore that would put him out of the world..." This shows how diseased and unsanitary these meat rooms, that the men worked in, were; that if someone were to get the smallest of a cut, that could be a sign of death.
The fourth quote from this disappointing essay is "...you could scarcely find a person who had the use of his thumb; time and time again the base of it had been slashed, till it was a mere lump of flesh against which the man pressed the knife to hold it." Men accepted the fact that their LIMBS WERE FALLING OFF! It all comes down to money and how desperate the world was back then.
Last but not least is the fact that "...there were things that went into the sausage in comparison with which a poisoned rat was a tidbit." There were much worse substances that were placed into these mixtures of sausage and God knows what, that was worse than a poisoned rat. These workers were careless and just didn't bother to clean the meat that was being sent out into the world.
These realities exist because of money. Money drives people because money is the supposed cure to a miserable life. Money can buy all your troubles away, these government, inspectors, and factory workers thought. That is why the industry was so unstable because they wanted their money quickly without any work.
I think Sinclair writes "The Jungle" so that he can inform people about how industrialization really was and how it wasn't as luxurious as some might have thought.Industrialization didn't automatically or easily become what is is now. It took a lot of time and effort for it to be as modern as it is today. I think Sinclair writes "The Jungle" to tell us about the risks that were taken during the period of Industrialization and how people were affected by it.
My first realization is the meat industry would sell meat that was drenched in chemicals just to hide its rottenness. My second realization was the fact that they let the cattle get sick because the sickness would make them fatter, therefore they'd have more meat for the industry to sell. A third realization was that the meat packers' hands would be scraped all over due to using knives to cut the meat. Their knuckles would be swollen as well and their hands could also get eaten up by all of the chemicals and acids found on the meat. A fourth realization was the commonness of disease. Sinclair wrote, "There were men who worked in the cooking rooms... in these rooms the germs of tuberculosis might live for two years, but the supply was renewed every hour." My final realization was how the meat was stored. It was stored in dark rooms where rats crawled over it and some would also get on the floor where the workers had spat and there was dirt and dust. All of this is shocking because we eat meat and all of this other stuff now and it is scary to think that it was once produced and manufactured in this way.
I think these realities existed because back then at the start of industrialization,it was all just about the money and profit instead of about the people and workers. Now we have better conditions and things to protect those workers from these sort of situations. There was also a lack of technology which could have helped in the factories with a lot of the jobs that could have been done by machine which could've prevented many workers from getting diseased.
I believe that Upton Sinclair wrote The Jungle because he wanted to make people aware of the terrible conditions in the meat business. Not everything in the Industrial Revolution was positive, such as this meat business.
One shocking reality of the meatpacking industry was what the health inspectors were doing. This was shocking because they were inspecting the meat and saying that it was clean and fine even if it was not.
The second thing that shocked me was that the customers were receiving food that was not what they thought it was. According to the article, businesses were serving de-vyled ham, but to take the odor away they “rechurned it with skim milk, and sold it in bricks in the cities!...” This is shocking because people could get sick from eating the waste ends of smoked beef.
The third thing that shocked me was that all of the workers would work so much that they would get cuts on their hands. Sinclair writes, “Of the butchers and floorsmen, the beef boners and trimmers, and all those who used knives, you could scarcely find a person who had the use of his thumb; time and time again the base of it had been slashed, till it was a mere lump of flesh against which the man pressed the knife to hold it.” This is shocking because the butchers were working so hard that they didn’t have thumbs anymore. It would be pretty hard to live without thumbs, especially in the Industrial Revolution.
The fourth thing that shocked me was that the fingers of the wool pluckers were eaten off by the acid of the wool on the sheep. This shocked me because they were doing this everyday, and everyday their fingers would get burned from the acid.
The last thing that shocked me was when I read that if a worker saw a rat in meat, he would not take it out. This is very shocking to me because you could get infected from the rat touching your food. The rat could be carrying a disease, and when you eat it, you could get that disease.
I think that these realities exist because there was nothing to do the work for them. The workers had to do everything by hand everyday, so their hands would get damaged from all of the hard work.
I believe Sinclair writes "The Jungle" because he wanted to expose the secrets of the Industrial Revolution. I think he saw this industry as a jungle. Eventhough the people saw the job opportunities as blessing because of the money they could make they didn't realize the hard work that came with the job. This was like a jungle to him it wasn't pleasant working conditions it was harming themselves along with society in order to make a profit for a product that was nothing but processed and diseased.
The first realization for me was where they claimed that the men welcomed tuberculosis in the cattle they were feeding because this made cattle fatten up quicker. Tuberculosis is so dangerous anywhere it wasn't even thought of that it could be transferred to the people nor did they care.
The second realization for me was how they would take rancid old butter and oxidize it by airforce to take away the order and then they would remix it with skim milk and resell it in bricks in the city. It seems to me that the butter even though it looked healthy was actually contaminated and people still bought it because they trusted these factories that were producing it.
The third realization for me was the workers who worked in the pickle rooms who might get a sore on his finger could put him out of this world. So if the workers were injured the working conditions were so bad that the cuts the men got would not heal and they would die from it.
The fourth realization shocked me that the men who worked in the chilling rooms had a special disease called reuhmatism which was nothing special about it it gave the men a five year working limit which to mean seemed to sound like they would die after five years. So they worked there for the money for five years.
The fifth realization was the fact that these waste barrels weren't cleaned on a daily basis because of the poor economy and that the cost wouldn't allow it so they did it once a year during Spring time and when they did it they were filled with rusty nails,dirt and stale water and then the mean would go right back in the buckets with fresh meat to be processed anyway they could for a profit.
I believe that this all took place because back then there wasn't any laws or health regulations that these companies had to follow and they weren't really worried about making people sick they were more worried about making a nice big profit my putting things in the meat or trying to make contaminated meat look like it was healthy by adding dye or borax to it. I never believed this was true until I read this and it makes me a little nervous about the things that we eat today. Alot of the foods we do eat today are processed and go through factories we don't know what they are doing when they are making the things we are eating. Money seems to be the only thing that mattered back then for the worker and for the bosses who hired the workers.
I believe that Sinclair wrote "The Jungle" because he wanted to inform people of the vile and gruesome conditions of meat in the meat industry during the industrial revolution period and how it was practical and helpful, but it also had a down side to it.
The first thing that I found to be interesting was the fact that the inspectors inspected the meat and said it was nothing wrong with the meat, even though there was a lot wrong with the meat packing industry.
The second thing that I thought was horrible and I pray that this never happens as long as I'm alive was that customers that purchased meat received deviled ham. I was disgusted by this because people could have received food poisoning if they weren't careful.
The third thing that I found interesting was how workers hands would be very swollen and infected, Sinclair stated that; " They would have no nails, they wore them off pulling hides".
The fourth thing I found to be crazy was the odor that came with meat packing, Sinclair stated that, "for the odor of a fertilizer would scare away any ordinary visitor at a hundred yards".
My final realization was awful and abominable the meals were "fresh meat, was sent out to the public breakfast". The workers cleaned the piles of trash in their industry, so they could let the public eat the mess.
I think that when change comes, there will be some hardships along with it; there may have been some bad things that existed in the industrial revolution, but that doesn't negate the fact that the industrial revolution influenced the businesses and factories that we have today.
Upton Sinclair write "The Jungle" to unveil the secrets that the 'industry' was feeding the public, and it wasn't what everyone believed it to be.
1st shocking reality - Disease was almost as common of food ! Upton Sinclair, wrote in his document, "There were men who worked in the cooking rooms, in the midst of steam and sickening odors, by artificial light ; in these rooms the germs tuberculosis might live for 2 years." It;s shocking because, you'd think companies & industries would want to enforce hygiene and sanitation rules more than anyone else.
2nd shocking reality - The diseased, inflated, bloated, and swollen hands the workers possessed. Upton Sinclair wrote, "They would have no nails, they had worn them off pulling hides ; their knuckles were swollen so that their fingers spread out like a fan." I think the expression 'work your fingers down to the nubs' applies in here. It's shocking to me because, I didn't realize employees could be pushed to a point I'd deem as fatal ! I'd hope that there are laws now where the extremity is illicit.
3rd shocking reality - The ingredients that were put into the sausages was very shocking to me because, they could be putting turds into the sausage and no-one would know ! Upton Sinclair wrote, "There was never the least attention paid to what was cut up for sausage;...."
4th shocking reality - Oh my sheesh ! When i saw this sentence, "These people could not be shown to the visitor - for the odor of a fertilizer man would scare away any ordinary visitor at a hundred yards". What the what ? Who....what....how....why would....2 words : personal hygiene ! Ewe !
5th shocking reality - When i read, "This is no fairy story and no joke ; the meat would be shovelled into carts, and the man who did the shoveling would not trouble to lift out a rat even when he saw one." Oh my sheebus if I was to find out that this was happening I would not only become a vegetarian, I would create my OWN food ! I mentally puked reading these circumstances people lived in !
I think these exist because people were greedy and didn't care about anything but making that money ! I'm not going to go all ' money is the root of all evil', but clearly it played a big factor in this .
1.I believe he wrote this to show all these horrible things that happened in the past, to show how cruel it was.
2.A. They would have no nails, they were worn off due to pulling hides.
B. They were swollen. Their knuckles and fingers. The fingers spread out like fans
C. Acid ate their fingers off.
D. Blood poisoning
E.Old sausage used for home consumption
3. Yes I believe these realities exist. Even today there are people in these conditions that suffer. Get sick or even die. We might not be living in it. But that doesn’t mean other people are ok.
I think Sinclair wrote "The Jungle" because he wants to tell people how the industry was. He tried to inform people that it wasn't what they thought it was. The work was tiring and unhealthy
Workers developed diseases and health problems. One shocking thing Sinclair wrote was "men welcomed tuberculosis in the cattle". They didn't care about the cattle, it didn't matter what they had, as long as they were fat. Another one says"They would have no nails, they had worn them off pulling hides; their knuckles were swollen so that their fingers spread out like a fan. All the work they did messed up their hands. Lastly, it says" This is no fairy story and no joke; the meat would be shoveled into carts, and the man who did the shoveling would not trouble to lift out a rat even when he saw one. These realities existed because no one didn't stop them. People just did their jobs. I guess they just worried about their food and money.
I think Upton Sinclair wrote "The Jungle" to explain that this new industrialization and industry era was glorified to something it was not. He wanted to express how terrible the meat industry truly was and that they were really disgusting.
The main thing that seriously shocked me was the fact that the inspectors were paid to say that the meat was okay and healthy. That is so crazy to me that they did that and were that money hungry. Makes me think about what our government could be hiding these days.
The next most shocking thing I took from this was that if a worker was to scrape their finger doing something or pushing something they could literally die from the chemicals/acid getting into their cuts. That is insane that these chemicals were all over and their lives were at risk every second of their job.
The third most shocking thing to me was that not only were these workers lives at risk but that they knew they were putting others lives at risk too. When I say this I am referring to when Upton says the workers were aware of the poisoned rats being in the meat and they didn't even bother to do anything about it or fix it. How could you go about your day knowing you are putting others in harm? That truly blows my mind.
The fourth thing that shocked me the most was the fact that they recycled butter. How do you recycle old food and get away with it? Just because they oxidized it does not make it better. That is truly disgusting they took old butter from grocery stores and then sold it over again. It makes me think what people could be getting away with at stores I buy from.
The last issue that also truly shocked me was that on top of all of the dirt, mold, chemicals, etc. they only bothered to clean the place once a year. They couldn't even clean their hands to eat. They were killing themselves if you think about it! I can't imagine how filthy and torturous these conditions were like.
I think these realities existed because they were so money hungry and focused on the big bills that nobody else mattered to them. I feel like the workers didn't have much of a choice if they wanted to make money or some type of a living for their families. This is all they knew at the time and had no way to change it.
Upton Sinclair wrote The Jungle to expose the "endless horrors" of the Industrial Era.
Shocking realities of this industry included selling meat from tuberculosis-infected cattle because it was more convenient, extremely painful working conditions, selling moldy meat, rat-infestations where the meat was stored, and the fact that even though health inspectors were around at this time, it seems no one noticed the monstrosity of this production.
I believe these realities existed because it was simply more convenient to ignore the issues than to deal with them.
I think that Upton Sinclair wrote “the jungle” because he wanted to tell us what was happening within the industrial businesses. He wants to prove to us that is was not an easy process to get the industries we have today. All the efforts were needed to form the modern industries. Many people were affected negatively by this meat industry that he explained.
I think one shocking point would be the inspectors who inspected the meat to see whether or not there is diseased meat. The inspectors would say that it was fine and protected even if it is not.
The second shocking point would be the workers in the industry whose hands would get many cuts while doing their work. They would work to the point that their thumbs would be mostly gone. “...all those who used knives, you could scarcely find a person who had the use of his thumb; time and time again the base of it had been slashed, till it was a mere lump of flesh against which the man pressed the knife to hold it. The hands of these men would be criss-crossed with cuts, until you could no longer pretend to count them or to trace them.”
The third shocking point would be the men who worked as wool pluckers. The wool are painted with acid and the wool pluckers would pluck the wool bare handed. The acid would had “eaten their fingers off.”
The fourth shocking thing is that rats would be in the sausage and they would package it and sell it to other people throughout. “This is no fairy story and no joke; the meat would be shovelled into carts, and the man who did the shoveling would not trouble to lift out a rat even when he saw one—there were things that went into the sausage in comparison with which a poisoned rat was a tidbit.”
The fifth shocking point to me is that they wold make these fake “smoked sausage” by preserving it with borax and color it to make them brown. The reason for them to do this is because the smoking process of the sausage is too long and expensive. The shocking thing is that they would call this sausage “special” and charge it 2 cents more per pound. “Some of it they would make into "smoked" sausage—but as the smoking took time, and was therefore expensive, they would call upon their chemistry department, and preserve it with borax and color it with gelatine to make it brown.”
I think that these realities exist because they did not have advanced technology to make the industries cleaner and safer. They also were just trying to make money for themselves and not considering the health of their workers and other people who eat their products.
I think Sinclair wrote the jungle because the people were going through an industry phase or era. This was a long process and took a long time to officially become secure. People of this era saw new job opportunities coming up and they wanted them right away.
One Shocker to me was that the workers that worked at the stamping machine got their hands torn off. This is not okay to be working in at all. People were getting hurt and that’s not okay. A second shocker to me was Deviled Ham. This meat was dyed with chemicals to hide the white. The chemicals they put into the meat probably killed so many people each day. A third shocker to me was that MOLDY sausage from Europe. This is disgusting and the workers didn’t do anything about it. They just did what they had to do so people would eat it. A fourth shocker to me was the pickle room. The people lost many fingers and sometimes died from it being unsanitary. The last thing that shocked me was about the rats. They would walk around all over the meat and them and dirty water would contaminate the meat making it not healthy for humans to eat. The rooms were dark so I guess the people who worked there wouldn’t see them, but that’s really nasty. People back then really had no clue about health and sanitation. It wasn’t the workers fault. They were just doing their job.
jada cooper
I think Sinclair wrote "The Jungle" because he wanted people to know what was really going on in the Industrial Revolution. Everyday people were risking their lives and health for a job, especially in the meat industry. He also wrote "The jungle" because people were lying about what was really going on because they were greedy for money.
Five shocking realities:
- The first shocking reality the meat industry was ruining men's hands. If they got a cut they would end up with blood poisoning. Their hands were full of cuts. Their knuckles would be swollen and sometimes they would have no nails. "The hands of these men would be criss-crossed with cuts, until you could no longer pretend to count them or to trace them. They would have no nails,—they had worn them off pulling hides; their knuckles were swollen so that their fingers spread out like a fan."
-The second shocking reality is they only cleaned the waste barrels once every spring. The barrels would be full of nails, dirt, rust and stale water. All of this would be mixed with fresh meat and sent out to the public to eat. “Every spring they did it; and in the barrels would be dirt and rust and old nails and stale water—and cart load after cart load of it would be taken up and dumped into the hoppers with fresh meat, and sent out to the public’s breakfast.”
-The third shocking reality is they welcomed diseases. Men used cattle they were feeding with tuberculosis because it helped them fatten quicker. This was unsafe and unhealthy because it would make people sick after eating the meat.
-The fourth shocking reality is wool pickers hands would fall off. They would pull wool with acid on it from sheep until their fingers would fall off. This job was even worse than the pickle men.
-The last shocking reality is inspectors were lying about what was really happening in the meat industry. They convinced people that they were safe from diseased meat and that it was only present in the states. The government paid these inspectors to lie. After they gave their inspection, there was no further investigation after that.
I think these realities existed because the government was only worried about money. Workers couldn’t do anything about it because they had no authority and they needed jobs. Also life was way different than how life is today.
I think Sinclair writes the Jungle to inform us about what was going on in the industrial world. It wasn't easy getting us the modern industries that we have now ad thats what he wants us to understand. People were risking their jobs especially in the meat industry. Most of that meat was not healthy to eat. People weren't telling the truth about what was going on in the industrial revolution which is also why he wrote "The Jungle".
The meat was ruining the men's hands. They had cuts everywhere which caused them to get blood poisoning. Whats also shocking is that they never cleaned the waste barrels accept once every spring and that's unsanitary. The barrels were filled with dirt nails , and stale water. This was where fresh meat went and then it was sent out to the public to be eaten. There was also old sausages that were sent out to the public . Lots of old food was sent out. The meat would be shovelled and there were rats inside the meat and the men had no problem picking it out. Acid had eaten their fingers after pulling wool with their bare hands. Their fingers were swollen and they sometimes had no nails . That's how hard they worked in the industrial revolution and it had to be known. At least some of it that's why it was important that Sinclair wrote "The jungle". I think these realities exists because nothing should be easy in life. So you need to know that it's not always going to be pleasant . That's why Sinclair let you know in the document how hard people worked and gave their blood, sweat , and tears.
I believe Sinclair wrote "The Jungle" in attempts to expose the appalling working conditions in the meat-packing industry. Also, to inform that going into the new industry era had its own side effects towards the economy and that industrialization was a hard process which can take many centuries in order to maintain a stable condition within the economy. Many people assumed that industrialization would be an easy process to obtain but Sinclair exposes the realities of these assumptions through this piece. He reveals that people working in the meat-packing industries were exposed to chances of catching diseases and health problems while working in these conditions.
I think one shocking point would be the inspectors who would just allow for the meat to pass by without even taking into consideration that the meat may contain diseases and sicknesses. The inspectors would say that it was fine and protected even if it really wasn't.
The second shocking point would be the workers in the industry whose hands would get many cuts while doing their work. They would work to the point that their thumbs would almost nearly be completely gone. As it is explained in the line, “...all those who used knives, you could scarcely find a person who had the use of his thumb; time and time again the base of it had been slashed, till it was a mere lump of flesh against which the man pressed the knife to hold it. The hands of these men would be criss-crossed with cuts, until you could no longer pretend to count them or to trace them.”
The third shocking point would be the harsh conditions of the men who worked as wool pluckers. The wool are painted with acid and the wool pluckers were told to pluck the wool bare handed. The acid would had “eaten their fingers off.” It was not just bad enough that pulling wool put pressure to the workers' hands were actually deteriorating little by little because of the acid as they continue to pluck the wool.
The fourth shocking realization is that rats would be found inside the sausage and they would still package it and sell it to other people throughout anyways. “This is no fairy story and no joke; the meat would be shovelled into carts, and the man who did the shoveling would not trouble to lift out a rat even when he saw one—there were things that went into the sausage in comparison with which a poisoned rat was a tidbit.”
The fifth shocking point to me is that they wold make these fake “smoked sausage” by preserving it with borax and color it to make them brown. The reason for them to do this is because the smoking process of the sausage would take up too much time and money. The shocking thing is that they would call this sausage “special” and charge it 2 cents more per pound. “Some of it they would make into "smoked" sausage—but as the smoking took time, and was therefore expensive, they would call upon their chemistry department, and preserve it with borax and color it with gelatine to make it brown.”
I think these realities existed because the advanced technology and sanitation that we have today were not in existence during these early centuries. So during this time, people were basically forced to work with their bare hands for the majority of the time; therefore, there were many troubles caused for the workers and the citizens who consumed these meat products. So thanks to Sinclair's hard work, we no longer have to eat sausage that includes bits of meat scraped from the drainage hole in the factory floor.
I think Sinclair writes "The Jungle" because he wanted to show that industry businesses like this are not all amazing, glittering, great places but are in fact terrible. Sinclair wants to let people know what this life actually was all about. Sure, it may look like a great opportunity for jobs but once you're in this business, is it really worth it?
One thing that shocked me was the conditions that the workers hands are in. As Sinclair wrote, there would be so many cuts on the workers hands and that it was uncommon to fins a person with any use of their thumb. They would have no nails and their hands would be swollen.
Another thing that surprised me was that there was no attention given to what was put into the sausage! Mouldy, white sausage from Europe was used as well as meat that has fallen onto the floor where there is "...dirt and sawdust, where the workers had tramped and spit uncounted billions of consumption germs."
Also, what surprised me were the rats. Rats were everywhere in these factories. The workers would put out poisoned rats so when the rats ate the bread they would die, but then they would throw the bread, rats AND meat all into the hopper. That is crazy how unsanitary and disgusting that is.
Another thing that surprises me is the wool pickers. "There were the wool pluckers, whose hands went to pieces even sooner than the hands of the pickle men;" To loosen the sheep wool, workers would have to use acid with their bare hands and the acid would eat their own fingers off.
Lastly, what surprises me is what the poor fertilizer men had to put up with everyday. "Worst of any, however, were the fertilizer men, and those who served in the cooking rooms. These people could not be shown to the visitor—for the odor of a fertilizer man would scare away any ordinary visitor at a hundred yards"
I think these realities exist because if you think about it, there really was no easier way to do something like this. To make a mass production of something and sell it was the intention and that was the way to go. People running these businesses of course were also greedy and probably only cared about the money but thanks to this, we have advanced into more clean and reasonable ways of processing and packaging items.
I believe that Sinclair wrote "The Jungle" to let people know about the so called "industry era". Industrialization was a very hard process of machinery being used for development of resources and a new world. What I mean by a new world is that with Industrialization, we have factories and machines that makes resource establishing a whole lot easier and somewhat deadly in which sometimes people get hurt and get diseases using these machines. Those who worked took the risk of industrialization.
One reality was how disease become more common. "There were men who worked in the cooking rooms, in the midst of steam and sickening odors, by artificial light; in these rooms the germs of tuberculosis might live for two years." Sinclair was saying that how disgusting te cooking rooms were, the workers had to deal with the germs and diseases that were in these cooking rooms the whole time.
The 2nd reality was how disgusting the food was when cooked and given for service. "Every spring they did it; and in the barrels would be dirt and rust and old nails and stale water - and cart load after cart load of it would be taken up and dumped into the hoppers with fresh meat, and sent out to the public's breakfast." This quote said by Sinclair himself shows how the workers cleaned the waste and trash that was in the industry only for the public to use it for certain needs.
My 3rd realization was how bad plucking wool from sheep was. "There were the wool pluckers, whose hands went to pieces even sooner than the hands of the pickle men; for the pelts of the sheep had to be painted with acid to loosen the wool." It was saying that it was not bad but really the worker's hands were deteriorating because of the acid.
My 4th realization was the odor that came from the meat packing. "Worst of any, however, were the fertilizer men, and those who served in the cooking rooms. These people could not be shown to the visitor - for the odor of a fertilizer man would scare away any ordinary visitor at a hundred yards." This quote explains how disgusting the smell of the meat was and how the workers had to deal with it.
My 5th and final reality was when the worker's hands got sore, swollen and diseased. They would have no nails, - they had worn them off pulling hides; their knuckles were swollen so that their fingers spread out like a fan." This quote explained how the workers worked hard until their fingers on a daily basis started to become a little hurt enough to make them swollen.
I think these realities exist because there was no technology like the technology we have today to help the workers have a better working experience. They had to use their hands to get things done while today, we have computers, smartphones, internet and vehicles. It was very different from today.
I think Upton Sinclair wrote The Jungle to inform everybody who was eating meat from the factories on what goes on within those walls. We never really know where our food comes from until someone actually informs us in detail like Sinclair did.
This entire excerpt was shocking. I've always known that meat packing factories were in bad condition, but I did not know it was this terrible. I found out so many horrifying things: 1. Everything was mixed together then added color dyes and spices to hide the real "meat" that was supposedly breakfast to many people. 2. People would buy old butter from the grocery and " 'oxidized' it by a forced-air process, to take away the odor, rechurned it with skim milk, and sold it in bricks in the cities. 3. Fingers would be eaten of by acid and have "a maze of cuts" that could be poisoned. 4. Men who worked in tank rooms with steam would sometimes fall into the open vats. They would stay there for days and when they were finally fished out, all that's left are bones. 5. Piles of meat being stored would be coated in random water from leaked roofs, and rat poo. To kill off the rats some workers would put poisoned bread out. When it comes to the time to shovel the pile into the hoppers, everything ( the meats, rats, and bread ) will be mixed together and be consumed.
People do not care much about what goes on in factories or they are very unaware of the conditions. They would do so little about the situation until many years after when conditions become worse.
i believe siinclair writes"The Jungle" because he want everybody to know what really happened in the Industrial Revolution.Alot of people believe that industrialization was easy.n. Everyday people were risking their lives and health for a job, especially in the meat industry.
One shocking reality is there would be so many cuts on the workers hands and that it was uncommon to finds a person with any use of their thumb.They would have no nails,-they had worn them off pulling hides,their knuckles were swollen so that their fungets speard out like a fan.
2nd reality is "De-vyled" ham,dyed with chemicals so that it would not show white.Those chemicals in meat could have killed so many people.
My 3rd reality is some of the workers had high risks of disease during their work, and work should be a clean healthy place most of the time.
My 4th shocking reality was finger eating acid caused by picking wool.
My last reality is a lot of the food wasn't sanitary. There were rats everywhere and all the dirty nasty trash.But they just picked up food right off the floor and used it.
I think that Sinclair wrote "The Jungle" so he can let people know what is happening in the new era. I also think that Sinclair wanted to let everybody know what really happens.
My first incite was what goes into sausage, "There was never the least attention paid to what was cut up for sausage;" It is saying that anything no matter how gross or unhealthy could have been put in sausage and consumed by people.
My second incite was how common disease was. "There were men who worked in the cooking rooms, in the midst of steam and sickening odors, by artificial light; in these rooms the germs of tuberculosis might live for two years." It says that workers had high risks of disease during their work, and work should be a clean healthy place most of the time.
My third incite was rat sausages. The workers knew that there was rat, but they packaged it anyway. I personally hate rats and mice, so I am horrified that these people have the nerve to sell it to people.
My fourth incite reality is people's hands. They would get all kinds of meat and cuts in their hands and I just think that they should have better care to treat cuts and keep hands clean. Their health is important.
My last incite the European meat. It was all white and moldy, but the workers still fixed it up, so it could be eaten.
I think these realities exist because of money. Specifically, I think that the people in charge want to save money for their own pockets by cutting money for things such as well being of employees and quality of food.
I think Sinclair writes "The Jungle" to expose the meat industry for what it truly is. The industries don't care for the cattle. Workers hands become swollen and are easily infected and "their fingers spread out like a fan". Acid was pored onto sheep wool to make it easier to come off and the people who touched it had worse disease and hands than others.Lastly, the meals were held in old barrels which is just truly disgusting
If these things happen the industry saves money; especially with the old meals. Therefore they are making big profits while spending little money.
I think "The Jungle" was written to inform readers that the Industrial Revolution wasn't really all that nice. It involved a lot of hardships that people had to go through in order to make some kind of reward. Working during this time was horrible since there were no good working conditions.
The five realizations I had were that disease was very common, there were a lot of harsh chemicals used, people would lose hands whats seems daily, it was extremely tiring, and spoiled meat was sold without a problems.
I think these things existed because the workers had no say in the matter. They were working to try and survive no matter the cost.
I believe that Sinclair wrote "The Jungle" to explain that the Industry Revolution wasn't just a transition to new manufacturing processes. It was an example that everything has pros and cons and in this case only cons. The Industry Revolution was a time of opportunity when it comes to jobs. This book was written to show the harshness and danger of being a industry worker.
Another example from the text is "They would have no nails, - they had worn them off pulling hides; their knuckles were swollen so that their fingers spread out like a fan." This really stood out to me because of the harshness of just simply trying to keep a job. It's basically like these people were slaves of big businesses that everyone pays and contributes to.
My final example is shocking example is “...all those who used knives, you could scarcely find a person who had the use of his thumb; time and time again the base of it had been slashed, till it was a mere lump of flesh against which the man pressed the knife to hold it. The hands of these men would be criss-crossed with cuts, until you could no longer pretend to count them or to trace them.” I actually found this on another students blog but it really stood out to me. This is a vivid and imagery filled section of the text. Even though it kind of bothered me to read it that's just the shocking truth of the harsh labor in working during the industry Revolution.
I think Upton Sinclair wrote about his opinion of “ The Jungle” because he wanted us to know what happened to the men working as meatpackers and how they’re working
Environment was like back then in 1906 during the Industrialization revolution. The six shocking events that happened when the men were working as meatpackers
1. “Where men welcomed tuberculosis in the cattle they were feeding, because it made them fatten more quickly; and where they bought up all the old rancid butter left over in the grocery stores of a continent, and "oxidized" it by a forced-air process, to take away the odor, rechurned it with skim milk, and sold it in bricks in the cities! . . .”
2.“There were the men in the pickle rooms, for instance, where old Antanas had gotten his death; scarce a one of these that had not some spot of horror on his person. Let a man so much as scrape his finger pushing a truck in the pickle rooms, and he might have a sore that would put him out of the world; all the joints of his fingers might be eaten by the acid, one by one.”
3.“They would have no nails,—they had worn them off pulling hides; their knuckles were swollen so that their fingers spread out like a fan.”
4.“There were the wool pluckers, whose hands went to pieces even sooner than the hands of the pickle men; for the pelts of the sheep had to be painted with acid to loosen the wool, and then the pluckers had to pull out this wool with their bare hands, till the acid had eaten their fingers off.”
5.“This is no fairy story and no joke; the meat would be shovelled into carts, and the man who did the shoveling would not trouble to lift out a rat even when he saw one—there were things that went into the sausage in comparison with which a poisoned rat was a tidbit.”
6.“Every spring they did it; and in the barrels would be dirt and rust and old nails and stale water—and cart load after cart load of it would be taken up and dumped into the hoppers with fresh meat, and sent out to the public's breakfast. Some of it they would make into "smoked" sausage—but as the smoking took time, and was therefore expensive, they would call upon their chemistry department, and preserve it with borax and color it with gelatine to make it brown. All of their sausage came out of the same bowl, but when they came to wrap it they would stamp some of it "special," and for this they would charge two cents more a pound. . . .”
The reason why my examples are shocking because this is how their working environment was like back then because during the industrialization revolution, immigrants from different countries were starting to come to America and their were a lot of jobs but with very poor health laws in building so they took a lot of advantage of their workers to work all day and night with little pay but if they get injured working they would get fired. Even though the working conditions were worse, it made many people to get sick.
I think these realities still exist today because some countries do have bad working environments due over health issues like benzene poising in china. Even though today our world has been trying to improve our working environment to be save and health for our works.
I think that Sinclair writes "The Jungle" for the readers to be informed that this industrial revolution era was not just a period of increased benefit and progress. I for one am shocked, but I also see what happened as being very believable. I think this is believable because the revolutuon did not just take place over night, and I feel that efficiency was what packers and workers worried about. Citizens saw inspectors, and by that they figured what they were eating was so healthy, especially if inspectors did not stop anything. If the citizens are happy and the workers are getting paid, what can go wrong right?
One shocking reality was how they saw rats in the meat, sometimes even dead, and did not even bother to move them. ut a man could run his hand over these piles of meat and sweep off handfuls of the dried dung of rats. Sinclaire says "These rats were nuisances, and the packers would put poisoned bread out for them, they would die, and then rats, bread, and meat would go into the hoppers together. This is no fairy story and no joke; the meat would be shovelled into carts, and the man who did the shoveling would not trouble to lift out a rat even when he saw one." I do not see how this is effectient. IS it effiecient for the workers time for being lazy?
The second shocking relay that caught my attention was when Sinclair said "Let a man so much as scrape his finger pushing a truck in the pickle rooms, and he might have a sore that would put him out of the world; all the joints of his fingers might be eaten by the acid, one by one." This is just terrible.
"Of the butchers and floorsmen, the beef boners and trimmers, and all those who used knives, you could scarcely find a person who had the use of his thumb; time and time again the base of it had been slashed, till it was a mere lump of flesh against which the man pressed the knife to hold it. The hands of these men would be criss-crossed with cuts, until you could no longer pretend to count them or to trace them. They would have no nails,—they had worn them off pulling hides; their knuckles were swollen so that their fingers spread out like a fan." How could working conditions like this be nearly acceptable. Nearly a lump of skin on your hand where your thumb used to be should not be sacrificed over a job.
The production of sausages is completely gruesome to me. The fact that a worker may not even know what was thrpwon in to make it, completely does not do any justice. No wonder why disease over the population was spreading and increasing so badly!
My fifth shocking realization was when Sinclair said "Worst of any, however, were the fertilizer men, and those who served in the cooking rooms. These people could not be shown to the visitor - for the odor of a fertilizer man would scare away any ordinary visitor at a hundred yards."
These realities exist for the same reasonwhy they exist today. We do not know what is in half the foods we eat. Yoga mat material is in McDonalds food. Many people know that and continue to eat it anyway, for the same reason citizens may have eaten everything then. We, the people eating these types pf foods allow this to happen.
Sinclair wrote this to be descriptive of what really goes on within the industries. What really are meats, and how they were made, before anticipating to be sold to the public. He mainly focused on the details of the extremely vulgar details. This gives you a depth of characters and sets up a unpleasant atmosphere, which i think is his whole point.
Five things that didn't blew my mine, but sold to me in the worse way possible, enough for me to puke on my computer, is the rats, and how they are part of the meats. "And the packers would put poisoned bread out for them, they would die, and then rats, bread, and meat would go into the hoppers together".
The working condition contributes to this whole thing. Tuberculosis were the real thing, that shows how careless of the condition was set for. "In these rooms the germs of tuberculosis might live for two years, but the supply was renewed every hour"
Inspectors? What!?
"These hundred and sixty-three inspectors had been appointed at the request of the packers, and that they were paid by the United States government to certify that all the diseased meat was kept in the state."
"All the joints of his fingers might be eaten by the acid, one by one." "That is horrible
They would have no nails,—they had worn them off pulling hides; their knuckles were swollen so that their fingers spread out like a fan." That is extremely horrifying
I think realities like these exists because ideas are more important to an individual than a person. The thought of impacting the world tends to exist more than the thought of making a difference in ones life. This shows the cruelties of powers, and controls. This also exist, because we are impacted by our environment, and when your environment is being set up already by someone more powerful than you, you mostly likely cannot change your thinking for most people.
I think Sinclair wrote "The Jungle" to inform people. To inform people about how the industry was expanding/growing back then. It not only shows the positive sides of industrialization but also the negative.
1) How they picked wool. They would pour acid on the sheep skin so the fur would come off easy. Acid could kill sheep so that's like animal abuse. I think it was wrong to do. Also the acid ate off the workers fingers.
2) Different chemicals were used on the meats. I think that's gross, beause those harsh dyes and chemicals go into your body. He states the sausage was preserved with borax and colored with gelatin.
3) They let rats be part of the meat. Sinclair explains how if a worker saw a rat in the meat, he wouldn't bother to pick it out. Thats terrible! Rats have diseases and people could end up with those diseases too by eating them.
4) They "recycled" old butter. They would "oxidize" old rancid butter by adding air to it. They would re-churn in and sell in in bricks on the streets. This is unsanitary and nasty.
5) How diseases were so popular. The diseased workers could get germs into the things they made or packaged. Then the people could get sick from the products.
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