Upton Sinclair's Writing Style

Upton Sinclair influence on the roaring twenties was something much greater than himself. The 1920s, filled with the beauty of partying and industrial wealth that filled the pockets of many americans, as many believed it to be. However on the underside of this fake image, was the horrors of industry that many Americans unfortunately had to suffer. Sinclair single handedly went through the same misfortune as the rest, but unlike others he was inclined to seek change. Sinclair wrote The Jungle, which expressed the horrors many faced including himself. This novel was able to create change within the community, enabling President Theodore Roosevelt to bring acts to enforce change. Sinclair's socialist ideals that attacked the typical capital system

made many decide to listen to him more than ever before. Through The Jungle and other works, Sinclair was able to express the evils of capitalism which doesn't just promote the injustice and inhumanity of people widespread, but also promotes the upcoming ideals of socialism which is embedded through sinclair's life and works.
To understand the motive of one's work, the understanding of one's historical background reveals much of the author. Which points back to Sinclair, who was born in December 10, 1878 in Baltimore, Maryland. Bradbury would completed school at the age of 20 which would lead to the ultimate question, “what is next?” Sinclair would ultimately choose to face towards becoming a novelist. In Eric Badertscher biography titled Upton Sinclair, Badertscher mentions the early life of Upton Sinclair, his attendance at college, and his work as a hack writer. “Upon graduation, he attended Columbia University, where he literature and philosophy. He also taught himself to read a number of foreign languages, including German, French, and Italian. To help ease the family’s poverty, Sinclair became a prolific “hack writer,” turning out dozens of jokes and "dime novels" under pseudonyms for publishers such as Street & Smith” (Badertscher, p .4). Sinclair first received his start as writing short novels or books that interested him, mostly in order to support his family. Although, these novels would start the slow moving change towards his progression as a writer. As Algis Valiunas stated in their biography, The Blood of Upton Sinclair, “Sinclair's newfound social conscience soon got him noticed. He began to write for Appeal to Reason, a socialist weekly newspaper with 250,000 subscribers. His article urging the workers in the Chicago stockyards to persist in struggle despite their recently failed strike led to a deal for a serial novel on "wage slavery." Sinclair headed off to Packingtown on Chicago's South Side, where he spent seven weeks gathering material “(Valiunas, p. 3). Sinclair arrival in the Packingtown district would forever change his life as he would uncover the horrors of the industries that he had to work in. This experience is what ultimately lead him to write The Jungle. This experience which is put into fictional characters in his novel highlighted the destruction of capitalism. Towards the end of his novel, a socialist theme is put into place. This socialist agenda is reflected in real life, as Sinclair moves towards this idealistic view in his later novels and in his actual life.
Through Sinclair's life, he was able to produce many novels which reflected the main theme of him looking down upon capitalism. He did not only specifically target this in the industries, but to other aspect of his life. Valiunas writes, “There followed a decade emphatically not to his taste. His antipathy to the institutions and achievements of capitalist society was never more charged than in the 1920's. In a series of books — The Profits of Religion (1918), The Brass Check (1920), The Goose-Step (1923), The Goslings (1924), Mammonart (1925), and Money Writes! (1927) — he fried organized godliness, journalism, universities, high schools, and literature old and new, which to his mind represented a "dead hand" choking the life out of a putatively free society “ (Valiunas, p. 19). Now not only did Sinclair target the work industries, he targeted the organizations that denied the “free society” that many were promised in the 1920s. In regards to the 1920s, which was also the time for the “muckrakers”. These muckrakers were people who figuratively and realistically “raked the muck” off society. Sinclairs works fall into these, most importantly The Jungle. Badertscher also writes, “ His novel "Oil!" (1927), focused on labor relations within the growing petroleum industry. The following year, he released "Boston," a fictional portrayal of the Sacco-Vanzetti case...” (p. 15). To give some context, the Sacco- Vanzetti case was on two immigrants who've been tried for a crime they commited. They were both executed, but many socialists and radicals were angered because many felt they were executed based on their beliefs rather actual crime. Sinclair decided to put his spin on just as he did for the The Jungle, but this reflects on the idea of Sinclair supporting socialism as he took sides with the socialists. Valiunas wires, “In 1937, he published (in pamphlet form) a thinly veiled novel about carmaker Henry Ford, titled "The Flivver King." The work was intended to promote the unionizing of Ford Motor Co. workers, despite Ford’s opposition to unions” (Badertscher, p. 15). Sinclair was also motivated to help labor unions as reflected in the end of The Jungle. Most labor unions are in support of the idea of “equal rights” for all, or in another sense a socialist idea. Sinclair not only supported this, but wrote about directly at the end of his novel and other works. Now Sinclair was able to implement these ideas in the way he wrote specifically.
Sinclair was able to pursue success in order to get his voice heard using his style in which openly made readers turn their heads towards the readers of his time.

Badertscher describes Sinclairs style in his novel The Jungle, “...The book was written in the gritty, realistic style of the period, similar to the novelist such as Theodore Dreiser (“Sister Carrie”) “ (Badertscher, p. 10). This gritty and realistic style is what enabled Sinclair to have such an audience, the realistic descriptions used in his book showed the covered truth as it was. This style is directly what led people to realize how bad much of the industry and which in this period gave voice to the voiceless. The voiceless in which were monopolized in the system and were on the verge of going in to complete poverty. To give a better example of a description his style, Sinclair writes “There would be meat stored in great piles in rooms; and the water from leaky roofs would drip over it, and thousands of rats would race about on it… 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” (Sinclair, p. 137). This style is completely descriptive and disgusting which makes the readers stomach turn because this is what really happened in the meat industry. To help better understand the books impact, it helped lead to the “Meat Inspection Act of 1906” and the “Food and Drugs Act of 1906”. These acts would help forever change the way our food is inspected and verified. If Sinclair didn't use his gritty and realistic style, then our meat industry could have been the same as it or much worse than it ever could have

been.
Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle is the most influential novel he has ever written in his respective time. The novel is one of the few novels that if never made, our society would be much different. Not only did Sinclair open up society's awareness, but across the globe. As Britannica Biographies states, “Sinclair's works were highly popular in Russia both before and immediately after the Revolution of 1917” (Britannica Biographies, p. 3). Meaning, after sinclair's socialist ideals were published on paper, it spread and gained momentum. The evils of capitalism is reflected solely in every aspect of the novel: from the misfortune of the protagonist, the evil of industrial organizations, and the worthless lives wasted to try and achieve the american dream. Sinclair states, “To Jurgis the packers had been equivalent to fate; Ostrinski showed him that they were the Beef Trust. They were a gigantic combination of capital, which had crushed all opposition, and overthrown the laws of the land, and was preying upon the people”(384). The very destruction of capitalism is displayed in meaningful statement of the quote, which doesn't fail to mention the powerful tyrannical businesses that ran the people almost as slaves. This message is what Sinclair purposely wanted to portray and did spectacularly well by addressing it in almost every single chapter. With that being said, Sinclair was able to wrap the entire idea with a bow tie of socialism, which at its time wasn't necessarily popular. Despite its unpopularity, Sinclair was able to use themes and strong and powerful descriptive language that wasn't just fiction, but the truth. His socialist views do still stand today and in the contrary has forever changed the beef trust industry and those in front waiting to be uncovered.
Upton Sinclair was able to achieve much throughout his life by becoming a soliacist and exposing the monopolized world as it was. Now as Lauren Coodley states in her review Upton Sinclair: California Socialist, Celebrity Intellectual, “Apart from Sinclairs Literary oeuvre, he was a tireless crusader for the rights of factory workers, coal miners, and women”(Coodley, 2003). Sinclair was able to accomplish much in his life and spent his days breaking apart the evils of Capitalism. Sinclair was able to use his gritty and realistic style through different important novels to display many themes that reflected Sinclair's socialist views. Sinclair ultimately proved the evils of capitalism only shows the injustice and humanity mixed with the greed of humanity, which only leads Sinclair to promote Socialism through his literary and “political” career.