The Jungle and American Muckraking Movement

张 科（西安欧亚学院 陕西 西安 710000）

In the beginning of the 20th century， there emerged a large-scale muckraking movement in America aimed at unveiling the dark side of the society.The initiators were mainly journalists and a small group of writers.They articulated and promoted a wide variety of reform causes that stemmed from such serious problems as corrupt politics， economic monopolies， harmful foods and medicines and endangered natural resources.

The terms muckraker and muckraking primarily connote investigative reporting， exposure journalism，sensational disclosures， ultimately even moral crusade and a literature of protest.These muckrakers worked hard to arouse sentiment in the hearts of the public and made muckraking a powerful journalistic force.Major muckraking journalists included Lincoln Steffens and Ida Tarbell.A number of journals， most notably McClure’s，led the movement， but certain novels， especially Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle， also contributed a lot.

The Jungle tells the epic tragedy of a Lithuanian immigrant Jurgis Rudkus and a group of his friends and relatives.Penniless and unable to speak English，they are mercilessly exploited by employers， foremen，police， political bosses， and others with access to power in Packingtown.Women are forced into prostitution;older men， unable to work， are left to starve.Jurgis loses his wife in childbirth， and his infant son drowns in a pool of stinking water outside their shack.

In particular， Sinclair shows the brutal working conditions in Packingtown of physical danger，insecurity， fear， exploitation， corruption and filth.His description of the slaughterhouse makes the reader feel as though you can smell the warm， sweet， sickly stench rising from the blood and guts you are standing in!

What enabled Sinclair’s novel to have its sensational impact was his enormous dossier of irrefutable details， straightforwardly presented and linked to affecting human drama.(Morris 2) The Jungle’s graphic account of the presence of chemicals，diseased meat and rodent excrement in sausage is enough to turn anybody’s stomach.Actually， when it was published in January 1906， the novel unleashed a storm of public indignation.One reader who was impressed was Theodore Roosevelt， the American president.It is said that he choked on his breakfast and turned vegetarian when reading an advance copy.Roosevelt was so curious that he sent his own team of investigators to Chicago to look into Sinclair’s charge.He also met Sinclair and told him that radical action must be taken to do away with the efforts of arrogant and selfish greed on the part of the capitalist.And this novel quickly became an international bestseller and helped force through Congress the long-stalled Pure Food and Drug Act and the Meat Inspection Act.The first Pure Food and Drug Act， passed in 1906， required all medicines to be investigated and approved by the Department of Agriculture.The Meat Inspection Act， passed the following year， said that all meat sold in the United States had to be checked by federal inspectors.With the passing of the Pure Food and Drug Act， Sinclair as well as all muckrakers was able to show that novelists could help change the law.This in itself would inevitably inspire a tremendous growth in investigative journalism.Therefore， Sinclair’s novel The Jungle greatly pushed the development of muckraking movement.

The Jungle has exerted enormous influence on American society and particularly on the American Muckraking Movement.Firstly， the book tremendously aroused the conscience of the general public and drew people’s attention on the dark side of the society: the social evils and injustices.Secondly， as a prominent muckraking novel， The Jungle， gave impetus to the development of the Muckraking Movement and pushed it on.Thirdly， the publication of The Jungle and the indignation and conscience it aroused in the public are the direct causes of the passage of the Pure Food and Drug Act and the Meat Inspection Act.It doesn’t offer any concrete policies about regulating the food industry that can be adopted today， but it does suggest a frame of mind that is much needed to improve the way people talk about politics as a whole.

Works Cited：

[1]Dickstein， Morris.The Introduction of the Jungle， Upton， Sinclair.The Jungle.New York: Bantam Books， 1960.

[2]Josephson， Matthew.The Robber Barons.San Diego: Hartcourt Brace& company， 1962.

[3]Sinclair， Upton.The Jungle.New York: Bantam Books， 1981.

[4]Weinberg， Arthur， and Weinberg， Lila.The Muckrakers: The Era in Journalism that Moved America to Reform.New York: Simon and Schuster， 1961.

[5]肖华锋.“《屠场》与美国纯净食品运动”.江西财经大学学报.2003年1期.2003.

[6]张淑华.“美国历史上的黑幕揭发运动”.山东省青年管理干部学院学报.2003年3期.2003.