Chapter 9 serves primarily as Sinclair's muckraker chapter. A muckraker searches for and publicizes corruption by public officials and businesses. The problem with muckrakers, though, is that they publicize both real and alleged corruption. The abuses described in this chapter are what gives The Jungle its notoriety; however, the accuracy of Sinclair's reporting is definitely in question.
Sinclair was not writing an exposé of the meatpacking industry. Rather, he was describing the plight of the immigrants. He has taken some incidents of abuses and problems, added a bit of poetic license, and fictionalized the accounts of what he knew was going on. As noted, Sinclair admitted that "I aimed at the public's heart, and by accident I hit it in the stomach." Sinclair's bias is best illustrated when he refers to factories in Packingtown as the "spoiled meat industry."
Citing the U.S. Rules and Regulations is a journalistic technique Sinclair uses that detracts from the novel. The citation, in the form of a footnote, adds nothing to the development of the plot, characters, or themes; rather, it exists as a means for something to rail against. Sinclair uses this chapter to find fault with regulations and procedures. His famous controversial example of the man falling into the vat and becoming fertilizer is presented as realistic when in all probability it is very far-fetched. Many people reading The Jungle, however, may accept this anecdote as a common occurrence and may remember the novel as a meatpacking industry exposé rather than as a novel about the plight of immigrants.
An important thematic element resonates throughout Chapter 9: The rich own everything and that's just the way of the world. This situation existed in Lithuania and is demonstrated very clearly in Chicago. Another reality of America is the political system, depicted as two parties of elected grafters; politics is as corrupt as the meatpacking industry.
