During the19th century industrialization and urbanization were at their peaks. With constant labor, and the power to run business anyway one might like, the rich kept getting rich at the expense of the poor. By offering jobs to immigrants at the wages that barely sufficed for the income of a family, cheating people by selling non quality products at quality prices, and demanding long work hours, business owners took advantage of the poor with no remorse. It was the journalists, or muckrakers, like Upton Sinclair who exposed these conditions to the public and started the reform movement known as progressivism. By writing about the corruption of industrialism, muckrakers enlightened the middle to upper class to the ailments of everyday life of the poor. Upton Sinclair's The Jungle was one of the most popular novels during this time that showed the public the truth behind industry. The Jungle, with main character Jurgis, exposes life as an immigrant during the time of booming industry and widespread corruption. In it there are many examples of the treatment of immigrants, working conditions and conflicting attitudes on the subject, and what led the United States into Progressivism.
             The Jungle portrayed the move of a Lithuanian family to the land where "dreams come true" only for them to find out that it was the land where dreams where shattered. The majority of the foreigners that crowed American soil were looking for the fame and fortune of successful immigrants such as Andrew Carnegie. Others that came were looking for a better life than the one that they had left behind. But when entering America they're ignorance of American policy was against them. As we saw in The Jungle many were tricked into buying houses that should have been condemned. Because many worked in unsanitary factories and lived in these houses, many were stuck down by illnesses. For those who did try to heal their illnesses were either taking s...