"The Jungle" - Literary Analysis Essay

Introduction

Upton Sinclair explored multiples of social problems experienced by the immigrants who moved to the U.S.A in early 1900 in his book- The Jungle. All the problems described are based on capitalism (Sinclair, 2015). The writer majors the family of Rudkus, which is composed of all members of the extended family. The family faces many challenges, including economic, social, and legal issues. Based on social work perspectives, this family lucks the essential social amenities, and more significantly, they do not have sufficient housing (Sinclair, 2015). The novel is one of the most noteworthy books that identify social problems more practically. Several instances throughout the book reflect on social welfare issues. In every country, the law is expected to serve and protected both ordinary citizens and immigrants. However, in The Jungle, the government neglects the immigrants. Despite the government's being irresponsible, the people (from wealthier class) who own big firms offer employment for the family; surprisingly, the immigrants are exposed to poor working conditions; they are oppressed and treated with brutality. Their rights are not observed not only by the government but by the people. Rudkus is the main character the writer focuses on, and he represents and serves to provide for the family in many instances; generally, he is the breadwinner in the family. This paper, therefore, explores the evolution of social welfare policies in the book- The Jungle by Upton Sinclair, the purpose is to identify the policy programs that were developed since the 1900s and how they would have helped the immigrants solve their social issues. It is structure focus on social problems, described to the legal policies. It also identifies common trends and themes and barriers to policy development (Wood, 2017)

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Policy, Institutional and Programmatic Responses to Social Problems

Upton, the author, wrote the book to expose some of the social welfare issues in the meatpacking plant; these problems reflect on the nature of the social policies and legal programs that were employed at this time. Although The Jungle was partly a fiction story, it was entirely based on reality about the family of Rudkus (Kyongsang, 2017). His contribution to the progressive era in the United States is highly recognized. He may not have had a significant impact as he hoped for, but he managed to bring awareness to the Americans, the house Congress in response approved a bill within a short time. His focus on the family of Rudkus gives a clear implication on how the governments and legal regulation agencies perceived the immigrants. Throughout the book, the evolution of institutional, pragmatic, and policy development since the 1900s is evident. At the beginning of the book, the immigrants are treated differently, and as they continue living and experiencing several challenges, institutions and policymakers begin to show concern for their situation; however, their response is little and slow (Stoklasova, 2016).

The family goes through all the temptations, working in poor conditions and lucking social amenities for a long time. During this era, there was a rapid development of industries, including meatpacking plants in Packintown, where Rudkus and some of his family members acquired the job. The company was exposed, and legal programs began to be established in response to these matters. At this time, Roosevelt was the president of the United States of America. As a result of the conditions of the meatpacking firms, his government responded by enacting some of the rules and regulations to govern meat production and workers. This was the beginning of new federal food regulations; this is known as one of the significant moves in response to social and economic challenges, which affected most of the firms, including Rudkus' workplace.

Poor Working Conditions

The legislation, therefore, was established to address poor working conditions, which is one of the significant social problems facing the family; the employees were mistreated and harassed. The government, however, ordered for inspection of the working conditions-based production of clean food with less attention on the workers and the family. The institution that considerably responded to this problem was the department of Agriculture in the U.S, and the government ordered meatpacking firms to observe proper hygiene and sanitation within the premise and avoid mislabeled meat products from entering the market. This law significantly expanded the role of government as an agency to protect the immigrants and ordinary citizens as well.

The federal government significantly worked on eradicating social welfare issues, which occurred within the workplaces; this moves positively impacted the family of Rudkus as the government was concern about the hygiene and the production of clean meat. The level of oppression considerably reduced as the legal programs took action concerning some of the social welfare of the workers and the meat consumers. The work of Upton Sinclair greatly influences the evolution of legal programs to govern food production, which in turn helps to improve the Rudkus and his family's lifestyle (Zimbalist, & White, 2016). Meat production did not just affect local consumers but also foreign markets. the law was strict to ensure that meat produced to foreign markets was in good condition. The legal program authorized the agencies to form the national Agriculture department to inspects and meat production. Upton did not like the approach of the regulations, even though it influenced the positively, but indirectly, he preferred the change of ownership of meatpacking plants from private to public ownership. With this idea, the family would have directly benefited the legal programs.

Through The Jungle, the public was informed of the social welfare issues being meat production, and the book acts as a Lithuanian immigrants' Harrowing account who experienced brutal laboring in the city of Chicago. The book grotesque explanations of the conditions endured by the family of Rudkus and the livestock, as well as the contaminated meat that came of them, resulted in a runaway hit, which catalyzed the government and the public's fury and fear of meat consumption. The regulations also focused on the health risk, which the writer believed to have been missed by the readers and the government agencies as well because the legal programs that were introduced were in favor meat production process and lose focus for the results.

Later in 1906, another law was established- pure food and drug act, this law was passed to control mishandling of food, it was from this moment when mislabeling of food products was made illegal (Wood, 2017). More importantly, this law gave rise to food and drug administration (FDA). While many reasons contributed to the development of the FDA, The Jungle helped to bring awareness for many audiences to understand the need for change. The main aim of the writer was to promote socialism. As the government continued to focus on hygiene and sanitary issues, the family of Rudkus benefited in some ways, including access to clean food and improved working conditions. The government ordered meatpacking plants to change their working conditions and clean up the systems in order to reduce food contamination. At the time, most of the workers were the immigrants, their masters mistreated, and exposed to poor working conditions, which the government was now against.

Exploitation of Workers

The government did not put a considerate focus on the exploitation of workers, which include the family of Rudkus. This kept the theme of poverty and poor and harsh treatment transpiring throughout the book. The working class remained in poverty, unpleasant living conditions, and lack social support from the public and the government. The changes brought that was brought about by the legislation only targeted food consumption rather than exploitation of the immigrants in Packintown. It was, however, because of poor working conditions and harsh treatment of workers that lead to the mishandling of meat and other problems associated with it (Zimbalist & White, 2016). Later after the implementation of the legislation, it was realized they were designed to address health issues. The introduction of labor institutions and regulations of the labor force would have helped the immigrants to overcome issues of forced labor and exploitation. Services such as labor insurance would have also helped the immigrants to overcome some of the problems associated with labor during this era.

The family would greatly benefit from these legislations if the government designed them to address both productions of meat and harsh treatment of workers, the problems in which the family is directly associated with meatpacking plants. Insufficient housing was as a result of low wages; this also extended to other problems such as reduced health and lose children through food poisoning. the government should have established regulations to control working conditions to ensure workers enjoy their rights. The inspection was only carried out to ensure sanitary and proper handling of food with no concern about the background of the workers. The immigrants were, therefore, neglected by the government and the public. Based on the responses which the society addressed to the government, there was no concern about the exploitation of workers.

Child Labor

Child labor was evident, and the government was not concerned because the children were often found working with adults in some of the firms for full-time jobs. The family members sacrificed the best of them to provide for the basic needs. One of the family members, Antennas, had a rough experience as he worked in the factory. He used to pack fresh meat into a truck ready for sale while in bad condition. the legislation required regular inspection of working conditions in the meatpacking industries; this move was of great significance in eradicating child labor.

From 1906, when the law was approved and implemented, all the meatpacking plants were cleaned and ordered to adhere to rules and regulations, children who were forced to work in these places were removed from work (Wood, 2017). The evolution of these laws and institutional concerns grew little by little addressing social issues one after the other. The development of laws that controls child abuse would have helped the immigrants overcome this problem of child labor.

Diseases

Furthermore, the book helped the public and the government to understand the cause of some of the diseases, which was one of the problems legislations were designed to address. There was an increasing number of diseases reported as a result of consuming contaminated food, the government's concern was provoked by the content of the book, as a socialists Upton, therefore, succeeded in addressing health problems experienced by some of the workers in the meatpacking industry, however the legislations greatly benefited the consumer rather than the immigrants who worked in the industries. According to one of the government agencies- the Center for Disease Control (CDC), Upton began a revolution for the adoption of procedures and processing of meetings. He influenced social concerns from the CDC to participate in reducing the development of disease associated with meat production. The need to observe sanitary conditions and precautions that were implemented through inspections led to many developments of strategies that saved many lives. The development of medical insurance policies would have significantly helped the immigrants. Medical insurance policies today have significantly been embraced, and if they existed during this era, it would have been of positive influence in their lives.

Shelter

Upton also id...