Imagery in The Jungle :: Upton Sinclair

The scenes that I encountered when reading about the meat packaging industry in the early 1900's were very graphic. Some images were more graphic than others. The first scene that comes to mind when I think about the passage "The Jungle" was the huge iron wheel with pigs on it. This scene sticks out in my mind because I can almost see the pigs squealing as they are ripped away by their feet up higher and higher into the air. I can also see the massive "river" of hogs awaiting their turn to be chained up by the burly Negro. Another scene that is easy to describe is the scene where the "knockers" struck the cows on the head with a sledge hammer. In this scene all I can imagine is worn out man who has swung a sledge all day. This man would have to be worn out in a couple of years due to the physical demand. The next scene im going to describe is the scene in the steaming room. This is probably one of the most disgusting scenes in the entire text. Knowing all the germs that could poss ibly be there and the fact that there was new germs brought in every hour. The odor those men had to have worked in would have been gut wrenching. The bubbly creek was the part of the Chicago river into which all the blood, lard, hair, and any other possible thing that came off of a pig or cow was swept into. The idea that a man came along and collected the film that formed on the top and sold it as "pure lard" is appalling. And to think that unsuspecting families purchased the waste and then cooked with it. One of the jobs the men in the factory could apply for was the "knocker." This was the man who would knock out the cows before they were slid out of the "killing bed." Another job there was in the factory was the "butcher" this guy was the one who was to bleed out the cow. The way in which he did this was to make one swift stroke to the cow. After which the cow was hung to bleed out. The "headsman" was one of the other jobs men had in the factory. It was his job to make two or three swift strikes to the neck and severe the head in the fastest manner possible.