The Coal War, by upton sinclair :: essays research papers

THE COAL WAR Book 1, The Social Chasm By: Upton Sinclair Upton Sinclair wrote The Coal War in 1976 being published by Colorado Associated University Press. Book One; "The Social Chasm," contained 69 pages while the entirety of The Coal War had 399 pages with two other Books. "The Social Chasm" was easy to follow and had an intriguing beginning. The Coal War portrays many situations common to the people of the coal fields and those making an effort to improve its conditions. This sequential story takes place in Western City and Harrigan College, where Hal attends. Through Hal, the main character of Upton Sinclair's story, Sinclair reveals his optimism as Hal's determination to fight the coal and mine laborers. The idea of Hal working alone to see that the fields and mines improve shows a general optimistic view. The Social Chasm tells of the hole that has been dug between the social classes. Hal, a wealthy man that has come from a prosperous and classy family, has heard of the cruelty and chaos that has been taking place at the coal camps in North Valley. Hearing stories of corruption, beatings, and even murders, Hal is convinced that the laborers' treatment be acknowledged and somehow improved. All of Hal's family and friends and even his fiancà ©e, Jessie Arthur, think his troubles and efforts are nothing more than stirring up controversy and disorder. Hal's first plan to expose the North Valley mistreatment was to use a poor boy that had lived in the coal camps and knew of its harm and neglect, named Little Jerry. His father, Jerry, had been beaten by guards who had found out he was a union leader, and was left to die. He recovered eventually, but incidents such as these were common in the camps and Hal was going to make sure that Little Jerry told everyone who could stop such treat ment, particularly those attending the Arthur party. The boy, however, just aroused sympathy and compassion from the higher classed people. He was just an unfortunate boy whom Santa Clause had not visited, and so the classy people filled his stomach with food, his hands with toys, and his eyes with glorious sites as he was given a tour of the Arthur estate. Now, having the actual crimes exposed, Hal wished to see the number of people who wanted to help him in his efforts to improve the camps and fields increase.