Progressive Era - The Jungle

Progressive Era - The Jungle

By: Alec Winsor

1. What qualities did Sinclair believe that a person must have to succeed in Packingtown?

• He believed that the person is a knave, a liar, and a deceiver.

2. According to the passage, what is the plant owners main goal?

• All the plant owner cared about was making as much money for himself as possible, no matter how bad working conditions were.

3. What does Sinclair mean when he says, "…there was no place in it where a man counted for anything against a dollar…?"

• It means that nobody in the factory cared about anyone else, all they cared about was themselves and the money they were making.

When it was published, The Jungle was so shocking that it launched a government investigation of the meatpacking industry.  The investigation eventually led to the establishment of laws regulating the industry.  Using the internet, research an area that our government enforces now (meat packing, environment, pharmaceuticals) and report how this is enforced today.

• With global warming, pollution, and growth of industry happening in the world, people are not very concerned with the conservation of the environment, so the government had to intervene. The Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC), enforces environmental laws by using administrative and civil actions, along with traditional police-type enforcement. 

 Source: http://www.dec.ny.gov/regulations/391.html