Muckraking, "to seek out and expose actual or suspected corruption, scandals, or other matters, especially in politics" (dictionary.com). Upton Sinclair rose to fame in the early 1900s with his wild novel, The Jungle, describing the life of a young Lithuanian immigrant, Jurgis, living in Chicago in pursuit of the American dream. Jurgis discovered that America is not as good as it seemed; higher wages led to more expensive goods, and cheaper homes led to higher interest rates. The Jungle, a fiction novel, chronicles the true horrors of working in a Chicago meatpacking plant. Sinclair had gone undercover in a meat factory for seven weeks to obtain the information needed to write the book. Throughout the novel there are allusions to Sinclair's belief in socialism. “Yet Upton Sinclair wasn’t about food security; it was aimed at social security. He wanted to change the structure of American society so that even poor immigrants would be protected from gross exploitation and oppression. » (Shmoop.com) The author of this article believed that Sinclair did not necessarily want to raise food standards, but rather wanted the government to help the working class have a chance. The article goes on to provide a modern example of the difficulties facing the working class: "All we have to do is look at the BP Deep Horizon oil rig that polluted the Gulf of Mexico to see that industrial accidents and pollution have not disappeared. . And many federal judges already have ties to the oil industry, so how is BP going to get a real trial in our biased justice system? The author of the article showed that it is easier for the rich to break the law, also a theme of The Jungle. In The Jungle, the rich own the factories, pa...... middle of paper...... World War I and II. Sinclair won the Pulitzer Prize for Dragon's Teeth in 1945 with this series. Again, in his later works, Sinclair wrote with political overtones, stating that "the most important and dangerous book I ever wrote" was The Brass Check (wordsocialism.org). Sinclair who in the 1920s ran for office in California. used his work for activism and to educate the public. First under the Socialist Party of America and eight years later under the Democratic Party. He wrote contradictory statements in newspapers, confusing his political views. Irony of change? The Jungle has several versions, many without the full ending. This is similar to the work Great Expectations by Charles Dikens. Two American authors often compared to writing with Sinclair's influence are John Steinbeck and John Dos Passos. They describe the treatment and injustices of the character.