1) What qualities did Sinclair believe a person must have to succeed in Packingtown?
He believed that the good, honest workers wouldn't succeed; their employers would "speed them up" until they were worn out and not useful anymore. The men who did not mind their own business, the ones who spied on the their fellow workers and told stories to the bosses - they would rise. "…if you met a man who was rising in Packingtown, you met a knave," Sinclair wrote.

2)According to the passage, what is the plant owner's main goal.
The plant owner's main goal was to make lots and lots of money, no matter how; the conditions for the workers certainly didn't matter.

3) What does Sinclair mean when he says, "...there was no place in it where a man counted for anything against a dollar....?"
He meant that money was more important than anything; it made people selfish and made them stop caring about other people. There was no room for honesty if you wanted to make some extra bucks.


The year Sinclair's The Jungle was published, it helped change the nation's meat industry. The Pure Food and Drug Act and the Federal Meat Inspection Act were passed, and labor organizations began tackling the poor working conditions which the meat packers had to deal with every day.  The question many ask today is how well, or ill, the meat packing industry treats its workers now.
Working in the meat industry is a difficult and dirty job, which causes it to have a high rate of employee turnover. Excessive processing line speed, animal remains spread around the work spaces, and stress disorders caused by repetitive motions are just some side effects you might have to endure as a meat packer. According to a report made by Human Rights Watch in 2005, working conditions in the American meat packing industry were so bad that they violated basic human and worker rights. The conditions are improving, but it's still a harsch industry compared to others. Government surveys show that there's an increase in overall safety, but all information doesn't reach them. Some won't tell about injuries they've suffered in fear of their immigration status (more than 30 % in the meat packing industry are immigrants) being looked up; other times employers want to earn safety awards and low-injury bonuses.