Upton Sinclair's Accidental Success: The Jungle An American writer, reformer and idealistic supporter of socialism, Upton Sinclair, became a famous "muckraker" in the early 1900s. Through his writings, he set himself the main objective of denouncing political and social evils (Daniel Mark Fogel). The Jungle, by Upton Sinclair, appears rather basic as far as novels go; however, the way the story reads is not what was so important about the book. In writing the book, the author aimed to expose the horrendous working conditions in the meatpacking industry in early 1900s Chicago, Illinois. As a worker himself on meatpacking plant construction sites, Sinclair has often witnessed firsthand illegal practices and unsafe food handling (Gallagher). In addition to the poor working conditions, it attempts to shed light on the diseased, rotten and contaminated state of the meat products produced by these destitute workers. Upton Sinclair's The Jungle highlights the devastating plight of meatpacking industry workers, their poor sanitation practices at the turn of the century, and by reaching the White House, this anti-capitalist, pro-socialist author's novel changed the way our food reaches the American public forever. The novel begins with a veselija, the traditional Lithuanian wedding, for Jurgis and his new wife, Ona. Ona Lukoszaite and Jurgis Rudkus, two Lithuanian immigrants, recently moved to Chicago to realize what they perceived as the "American Dream." Many of their wedding guests show up to the celebration just for the free food and drinks, and the wedding couple soon begins to realize that they'll be paying off their celebration for months to come. Sinclair is quick to describe these hard-working immigrants as… middle of paper… propaganda for socialism, The Jungle, which led to an immediate investigation into the meatpacking industry as ordered by the President. Sinclair became an overnight celebrity and socialist icon; he finally became financially stable. Despite the novel's overall success, the President and the nation focused only on the meatpacking industry and food handling practices; this was not Sinclair's plan. His goal was to highlight the exploitation of labor, not of the food we eat. Eventually, President Theodore Roosevelt launched an investigation into the meat industry, which led to two major new federal food safety laws, the Pure Food and Drug Act and the Meat Inspection Act, both acts on the quality of processed foods. reads June 30th. 1906 (Gallagher). Sinclair famously joked: "I aimed at the audience's heart and accidentally hit them in the stomach" (Gallagher).