nd educated criminal who is also “politically connected”. The entire book was meaningful to me. The thing that was meaningful in a bad way was the Packingtown its self. Another thing that shocked me while reading the novel was the cruelty to animals. The animals were packed in freight cars, and shipped across the country. Many of them died on the trip. Once reaching Packingtown, each hog had a chain fastened around its leg, was hoisted into the air, and carried into a room where its throat was slit. When the cattle reached Packingtown, they were stunned by electric shock, and dropped onto a conveyor belt, where a man with a sledgehammer pierced their skulls. These animals existed in very poor conditions, especially the “steerly” cattle that developed boils. Despite the cruel conditions, the anti-American sentiment, and the one-sided views, the novel was well-written. Upton Sinclair did an excellent job of describing the massive organization and efficiency of Packingtown. It is clear that he despised Packingtown, for being a center of Capitalism and for its working conditions, but he was impressed with it. Packingtown slaughtered, processed, packed, and shipped hundreds of thousands of cattle and hogs every day. It ran twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, and never stopped. Even during holidays and during union strikes, Packingtown still ran at full speed.Now that I have read The Jungle, I am amazed that our country survived to be the world superpower it is today. I am even more amazed that we did not all die from eating food made in such poor conditions. The novel did not persuade me to become a Socialist, but I did consider a vegetarian lifestyle. Nevertheless, I think it was a book everyone should read.. The End...
