Background: Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle had a monumental effect on the meat packing industry in the early 1900’s in the United States. His
intention, however, was to affect change in the treatment of the workers. He said, “I aimed for the public’s heart, and, by accident, hit it in
the stomach.” The nauseating descriptions of meat packing jump off of the page, but the deplorable treatment of the working immigrants is the
intended focus of Sinclair’s book. It is said, of Elzbieta’s day, “It was stupefying, brutalizing work; it left her no time to think, no
strength for anything. She was part of the machine she tended, and every faculty that was not needed for the machine was doomed to be crushed
out of existence.”
Post Instructions: When you read Chapter 14 of The Jungle, were you immediately struck by the nauseating descriptions of the meat packing or by
the dehumanizing descriptions of the poor and abused immigrant workers? Why?
Length Requirement: All original posts for this course must be at least 100 words. And, remember, because this is still an English course,
everything you write will be graded for grammar and style.
