Upton_Sinclair

Kevin Robinson 1 The author, Upton Sinclair, was born into a poor family in Baltimore Maryland on September 20th 1878, the only child of Upton Beall Sinclair who was an unreliable alcoholic father and Priscilla Harden. To escape poverty Sinclair spent most of his childhood with his wealthy grandparents. This gave him insight into how both the rich and the poor lived during this time period, which he claimed is what turned him into a socialist and greatly influenced his novels (Upton Sinclair). When he was five the family packed up and moved to New York in search of a better job for his dad who at the time made a living selling liquor, hats, and men’s clothing. At the same age Sinclair was able to teach himself to read which began his interest in literature. Sinclair was a very shy and thoughtful kid which gave him a great deal of alone time which he spent a lot of reading which cultivated his love for literature (Upton Sinclair Biography), When he turned 14 years old Sinclair was ready to go to college where he had originally planned to study law and become a lawyer one day so that he could make the money his family never had. He enrolled at New York City College. He graduated in 1897 at age 19 and entered Columbia to pursue his degree in law, but became more interested in politics and literature. Through his years in college he was able to support himself in college by writing several stories for adventure-story magazines. His love for writing became so large that he worte 8,00 words a day while attending college. Not just loving to write Sinclair read everything ever written by William Shakespear in a two-week span which opened his mind to new ideas of writing (Upton Sinclair Biography). Kevin Robinson 2 Upon graduating from Columbia Sinclair was offered a job by a socialist magazine called Appeal To Reason. He was hired to write on the conditions for stockyard workers. Armed with a pen and a camera he spent six weeks observing what was going on and had is work published in the magazine (Upton Sinclair Biography and Works). In the year 1900 Sinclair married his first wife Meta Fuller and has a son named David. Within a year of that he wrote his first full length novel Springtime and Harvest which had little sucsess. In the next four years he wrote three more novels which made almost no money for him and his family. Now living in New Jersey sinclair was active in politics and officially became a member of the socialist party in 1902 and ran for congress in 1906 (Upton Sinclair Biography). 1906 was the same year Sinclair’s most sucessful and most memorable work came out. That year he released The Jungle, a fiction novel based off actual things he had seen while observing the horrors in the meat packing and butchering industry. The conditions for these workers were terrible, and this novel aimed to reveal the poverty, lack of social programs, unpleasant living and working conditions, and hopelessness among the working class, which is contrasted with the corruption of the powers of the people above them. This novel sparked peoples intrest in fixing the conditions of wage-based labor and it even gained the interest of president Theodor Roosevelt who sent in specialists to examine if the claims made in this book were factual. Sinclair’s book directly contributed to the passing of the Pure Food and Drug act of 1906 and the Meat Inspection Act (Upton Sinclair 1878-1986). Kevin Robinson 3 In 1911 Sinclair’s wife left him to be with a poet by the name of Harry Kemp, but Sinclair remarried in 1913 to Marry Craig Kimborough. The couple moved to Pasadina, California where they became involved in politics. The two organized several socialist reform movements while living there. Sinclair even made a run at govorner of California in 1933, which he eventually lost (Upton Sinclair Biography and Works). Sinclair breifly left the socialist party to support president Woodrow Wilson, but returned when Wilson favored intervintion into the Soviet Union. (Upton Sinclair Biography) He remained interested in curroption and politics throughout his entire life. Oil! Which he wrote in 1927 dealt with dishonesty in President Warren G. Harding's administration. He also wrote Boston, a novel based on the Sacco-Vanzetti case in which two men, believed to have been innocent by most, were found guilty and exicuted for a robbery, demonstrated the research that always lay beneath Sinclair's writings (Upton Sinclair Biography). In 1940 Sinclair began an 11 part series called Worlds End, where he tried to give an insite into the early 1900’s government. One book in that novel, Dragon’s Teeth, won him a Pulitzer Prize. (Upton Sinclair Biogrpahy) Tired of California, Sinclair and his wife moved to Buckeye, Arizona. It was here that after 50 years of marrage Mary died from a stroke. Sinclair would spend the rest of his life here where he remarried again at the age of 83 to Mary Elizabeth Willis (Upton Sinclair Biogrpahy and Works). Kevin Robinson 4 When Sinclair died in 1968 he had writted over 90 books and earned over 1 million dollars from the novels. He is buried in the Rock Creek Cemetery in Washington D.C. (Sinclair Biography and Works).