The Jungle, by Upton Sinclair, is a very symbolic and influential book. It proves a point, and gets that point across very well. When first published in 1906 it made a huge impact on the nation, causing investigations and shocking discoveries in the meat packing industry. When it was found that what Sinclair had written was true, an uproar of outrage was caused by the public, forcing the industries to improve their ways. Though this wasn't what Sinclair had intended his reader to focus on, it was a large part of what drew publicity to his book. I believe that Upton Sinclair wrote The Jungle to show how unbearable and difficult the lower and working class‘s life was in the early 1900s, and showed this with symbolism and examples.

Upton Sinclair used symbolism to show the terrible problems of America. One example of this is how the cows and pigs were mercilessly herded to be slaughtered; wave after wave being murdered.(43-45) This compares to the wave after wave of foreigners that were lured into America by false advertisements and lies, only to be roped into a horrible job and a life of poverty, never to escape. That was the way that America thrived back then, the rich getting richer off the poor people's money. This was America at its worst, by far. Also, another example of symbolism is the fancy and shiny cans that hold the beef and hog. It may look nice on the outside, but there is probably some spoiled meat on the inside. This goes also for America; impressive and alluring outside and rotten and ugly inside. This was how the immigrants were attracted to America and caught in its dreadful trap. These are a few examples of symbolism in The Jungle .

Sinclair also tells of different problems that the lower class had during the 1900s. One was the ability to own a house in America. There were greasy salesmen all over that tried to swindle the foreigners who couldn't read the contracts they were signing. When they finally moved into the house, they found that the walls were paper thin, it wasn't really a new house, and they were paying twice as much for half as nice a house as they expected. Then, when they failed to pay the outrageous rent price, the house was taken from them and sold to another unsuspecting family.(202) Additionally, he writes, “There was no heat upon the killing beds; the men might exactly have worked outdoors all winter…- well, it was to be counted as a wonder that there weren't more men slaughtered than cattle.”(92) This would have been terrible; especially because most workers had very thin clothing and no shoes. The leaders of the industries were very inhumane towards the workers; the men might as well have been cattle. This is how Sinclair showed some common problems of the working lower class of America.

When Sinclair wrote The Jungle, he opened the eyes of many around the country. He showed how the impoverished lived and how terrible it was to be of the lower class. But that isn't all his book showed. When the evidence of the disgusting stockyards contained in The Jungle was released, the people were outraged that they had been eating the foods. But, they still continued to eat it. This just goes to show you that people just couldn't be without meat. Even after knowing what went into the meat, they still ate it, and probably still enjoyed it. People really are strange like that. Hopefully they will learn in the future that they should stick with choices, like their choices not to eat meat or to help the poor.