5.04 Upton Sinclair
" Muckraker for Social Reform?"

The Virtual Times

Opinion

Click on the image above to learn more about this great American writer.

With the sudden flood of workers into the cities with the Industrial Revolution, there were soon more people seeking employment than there were jobs available. This created an environment in which employers could demand long hours at low pay. If a worker did not like the conditions, there were always many waiting outside to replace him.

Because jobs were in high demand and the supply of labor was high, the life of the average worker in the city was very hard. While one could certainly make a higher wage in a factory than as a laborer on a farm, the sacrifice for such income was work conditions that were often intolerable.

Naturalism

During the time of the Industrial Revolution, the Naturalism movement was taking root in American literature.

The Jungle by Upton Sinclair is an American novel that best exemplifies the true definition of Naturalism as it relates to America. Read about Upton Sinclair and read an excerpt from The Jungle.

Note: You will be expected to read either paragraph one, three, or six from the excerpt to your instructor as part of the oral assessment at the end of module 6. Refer to reading rubric to see how you will be graded.

In Brief

Did you know that Upton Sinclair had to publish The Jungle himself because he had his novel rejected by six publishers?

A consultant at Macmillan wrote: "I advise without hesitation and unreservedly against the publication of this book which is gloom and horror unrelieved. One feels that what is at the bottom of his fierceness is not nearly so much desire to help the poor as hatred of the rich."

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Are you prepared for the lessons in Module 6? You can be... Start reading To Kill a Mockingbird today!

5.04 Upton Sinclair " Muckraker for Social Reform?"

5.04 Upton Sinclair
" Muckraker for Social Reform?"