revised hypertext

theperfectprep.weebly.com

Media Project

For my media project, I will start it with short interviews with two sons and fathers. First, I will interview the son (one at a time) if he find out that he like boys, would he tell his parents and how would he say. The second question will be if he knows he is gay, would he choose to go to a not famous college in relatively open minded city instead of a famous, popular and good college in relatively conservative areas. For the father (also one at a time), ask he how would he react when his son say that he is gay. And would the father agree that his son should go to a open minded college in order to avoid discrimination. After these individual interviews, I will let the son to see his father and tell him in person that he has found out that he might be homosexual. And record his father's reaction. Based on my research and experience, the father would probably act differently from what he said in the interview. And then, let the son ask that if he could got to the open minded college and reject the better college in conservative area and record the father's reaction.

Website Updates

Almost finished website (need to add data)
Survey

updated website(almost done)

changmengproject.weebly.com
("proposal?" for media project included)

media project

My video is going to be a short skit showing 2 riders talking as they groom their horses. To make it easier to explain, I'm going to go ahead and say that I'll play the "Natalie" character, and a friend will play "Sarah." So we'll be getting ready to ride, and I'll see Sarah about to give her horse an injection of Ace. I ask Sarah what she's doing, and she says she's worried her horse will be a little fresh since its cold. Then we'll discuss medicating horses for a while, and talk about what's good training/horsemanship and what's not. That would probably be 3-5 minutes long.

Tactile Media Project

For my tactile media project, I would like to make a documentary consisting of numerous interviews. I want the first part of the documentary to be clips of random students around campus answering the question, “Is teenage pregnancy too controversial of a topic to be addressed in high school newspapers.” I want the answers to be either “yes” or “no.” After that, I want to have more personalized interviews of perhaps 5-7 journalism students, asking them about their journalism experiences, whether or not they experienced censorship, and ultimately what they feel about censorship. I will then ask them if they believe teenage pregnancy to be a “legitimate pedagogical concern,” and if so to explain why. Finally I would like to interview a teacher (probably you Marc) asking them what their thought is on this whole issue, and what he or she thinks about teenage pregnancy and the whole argument that is it a “legitimate pedagogical concern.” This is my idea as of right now, but it may adapt as I start actually writing a script.

Proposal for Kirk's and Jenny's Tactile Media Project/YouTube Video

We're going to incorporate our live interviews recorded on video with shots of various students of different demographics reading Yik Yaks off their phone that they find to pertain to themselves and are offended by. Students will be sitting in front of a black background that can be found on the 3rd floor of the library, and demographics will be obvious from the Yik Yaks they read. We're going to aim for 7 different students, at most. When making this video, student readers don't necessarily have to be pro or con Yik Yak, but rather, the goal is to demonstrate how Yik Yaks can affect and target a variety of different demographics. Students' actual opinions of the app will be expressed through the live interviews that will be dispersed throughout the video, between the readings. We are aiming to make a powerful video that will use melodramatic techniques to demonstrate the effects of anonymous hate speech on social media, precisely on Yik Yak.

Updated Website w/ new look

http://english212w-website.tumblr.com

Updated website

http://yuchenproject.weebly.com/

Research Hypertext

Full research hypertext: Feedback encouraged!

research Hypertext

http://yuchenproject.weebly.com/

Research hypertext

Still a very rough draft, but I have included more pages and links, and I slightly changed my research proposal. Still working on my lit review, so it is not included yet.

project site

research hypertext

http://theperfectprep.weebly.com

Updated Website

Research page not fully completed, as I'm still waiting on more responses.

Project Website

Literature Review Bitstrips

http://english212w-website.tumblr.com/literaturereview

Annotated Bibliography

http://english212w-website.tumblr.com/annotatedbibliography

hypertext and lit review

http://yuchenproject.weebly.com/

6 hypertext pages

http://english212w-website.tumblr.com

Lit Review + First Draft Hypertext

Lit Review

Project Site -- please take my survey guys!

Updated website

project site

UPDATED
Research Proposal
Annotated Bibliography
Manifesto
and added pages (some not yet completed)

Updated Website

http://tacklinghatespeech.weebly.com

Bitstrips lit review

Lit review

US!

Upton Sinclair’s novel The Jungle is a typical melodrama, which portrays the harsh living and working condition of the working class under the ruthless American capitalism. Through describing the struggle and victimization of the immigrant family of Jurgis who move to the United States in search for a better future but are constantly brought to troughs, Sinclair successfully created a melodrama that condemns the evil, inhumane capitalism and glorifies socialism that he believes is the elixir to save people from suffering.

Chris Bachelder’s U.S.! strikes me as a peculiar piece. I have never seen any novel in which so many types of writing are present – short stories, letters, poems, book reviews, interviews and syllabus, which confused me in the first place. Upton Sinclair is portrayed as an eccentric in this book – he is moody, can get overly excited when talking about socialism, and is easily addicted to candy? I have never read any novel that makes fun of a real novelist in this way. While Sinclair is so constantly resurrected and assassinated in this novel, it seems to me that he is victimized in this process. He is resurrected in times of need and assassinated when his beliefs are no longer adored. The description of Sinclair’s wounded body undergoing so many tortures makes me sympathize with him. However, although Sinclair is tortured again and again in the novel, it delivers the message that he never really dies - once Sinclair is assassinated, there is hope that he will come back to life again. Bachelder shows that the passionate Leftist is always around and ready for revolution. Through this we can see that though Bachelder pokes so much fun at Sinclair, he is actually a great supporter of Sinclair’s views.

Bitstrip Lit Review

http://bitstrips.com/r/5Q46F

Bitstrips Comic Literature Review

http://supportfordepression.weebly.com/literature-review.html

Laura's Bitstrip

Speech Codes

Comic Strip on Censorship

comic strip

Lit Review

BitStrip Comic

Bitstrips Lit Review

http://bitstrips.com/r/3DG6F

Bitstrips Literary Review

Literary Review

lit review

http://changmengproject.weebly.com/lit-review.html

Bitstrips lit review

http://theperfectprep.weebly.com/literature-review.html

US! by Chris Bachelder

In comparing U.S.! by Chris Bachelder with The Jungle by Upton Sinclair, both two symbolic pieces of the work by Bachelder and Sinclair, one can find many melodramatic elements in both novels.

The Jungle by Upton Sinclair not only incorporates the simplest element: the obvious separation between the good and bad guys, it also incorporates a downward spiraling storyline. In melodrama, it there seems to be a very obvious fate set for the characters that cannot be changed or affected by the behavior of the characters but by environmental factors. The characters involved in the meat-packing industry are on a downward spiral that seems inescapable. Melodrama also often introduces the "homespun, often undying clothing of the working class and peasantry" (Bousquet) as the good. Where there are millionaires, there are socialists (Bachelder), and in The Jungle, the socialists are represented as the good. In contrast, the "top hates of the aristocracy" (Bousquet) are considered the villains, just like in The Jungle where the bosses are involved in corruption and prostitution. "The reward of virtue is only a secondary manifestation of the recognition of virtue" (Bousquet). According to Sinclair, what is virtuous is obviously the workers union and the socialist party, and the goal of the novel was more so to deliver this message as opposed to showing the workers union and socialist party succeed.

In U.S.! by Chris Bachelder, there are also two sides of good and evil: those helping Upton Sinclair rise from the dead and those opposed to him. Sinclair "was once considered a middy important figure in American literature and politics who wrote scores of so-called novels illustrating the plight and sordid working conditions of the poor" (Bachelder). Bachelder plays both sides, convincing us through melodramatic rhetoric that the writing style of Sinclair's is no longer convincing to us because it was so melodramatic. The irony and satire in U.S.! cannot be overseen. Overall, Bachelder is not against Sinclair's point of view as he is against his delivery. In the second part of U.S.!, Sinclair is about to publish a new novel titled A Moveable Jungle! which is an "exposé of corporate outsourcing and of the wretched working conditions of foreign employees" (Bachelder). As he ridicules the way Sinclair tries to stay relevant today, Bachelder ironically helps Sinclair stay relevant because every author is resurrected when we talk about them, in whatever way. "The Left may be dead, but the feat and hatred of the Left will never die. It's an American passion" (Bachelder) is a good overview quote that represents the way the socialist movement was in back in the days of Sinclair is no longer where America is at. A big part of melodrama is irony, and U.S.! by Chris Bachelder definitely uses this technique in every sense of the word, critiquing the left views and Upton Sinclair's writing, but ironically, at the same time, by doing this, promotes it and resurrects Sinclair from the grave by a world that still needs him.

Annotated bilbliography

Forgot to post the link--here it is
http://siezethecarp.weebly.com/annotated-bibliography.html

annotated bibliography

new project site: http://theperfectprep.weebly.com

annotated bibliography: http://theperfectprep.weebly.com/annotated-bibliography.html

Annotated Bibliography

http://supportfordepression.weebly.com/annotated-bibliography.html

Annotated Bibliography

http://english212w-website.tumblr.com/annotatedbibliography

P.S. I will do the U.S.! and Upton Sinclair blogpost this weekend, sorry!

Annotated Bibliography

http://yuchenproject.weebly.com/annotated-bibliography.html

Annotated Bib + Revised Manifesto and Research Proposal

Annotated Bib
Manifesto
Research Proposal

Annotated Bib

http://yinguoproject.weebly.com/annotated-bibliography.html

Annotated Bib

My Annotated Bibliography

Annotated bib

Annotated bibliography

Research proposal - revised 2

http://yuchenmanifesto.weebly.com/research-proposal1.html

Melodrama in U.S.! and Upton Sinclair

Rather like some other students in the class, my familiarity and relationship with Upton Sinclair is limited to rumblings about “The Jungle” in high school from other classmates who were in the standard junior year U.S. history course. After skimming a bit of “The Jungle” and taking note of its various themes, I gathered that Upton Sinclair is quite a melodramatic character himself. He uses the story of Jurgis and Ona to describe the evils of capitalism and how socialism should be embraced by society, rather than simply a taboo topic that automatically is associated with communism. Melodrama is used in “The Jungle” to help sway the reader into thinking that capitalism is our society’s true evil. Sinclair’s annihilation of Jurgis’s immigrant family by the capitalist system illustrates socialism as the cure-all to our society’s injustice and portrays socialism as the victimized hero. By doing this, he also attacks capitalism and shows that capitalism itself is an attack on the values that support the American Dream, and that those who succeed in this corrupt capitalist system are indeed corrupt themselves. Sinclair uses “The Jungle” as his own form of melodrama and to discuss his own political opinions.

            As a result of publishing “The Jungle” and nearly 87 other books, Sinclair received much criticism. He ran unsuccessfully in a campaign for congress as a socialist in 1934. Sinclair was a natural muckraker and liked stirring the pot, bringing up issues he knew would be unpopular, and he used melodrama to do this. In Chris Bachelder’s novel U.S.!, he examines Upton Sinclair using many forms of political satire. Bachelder criticizes Sinclair and judges him quite harshly, pointing to examples of other writers’ critiques of Sinclair as well as his own. Bachelder is constantly “assassinating” Sinclair, and in turn, brings him back to life to symbolize the political left’s constant need to bring Sinclair and his ideals back to the forefront of American politics, only to be shut down again.  For example, in one of Bachelder’s satirical pieces, he describes a fictitious syllabus that Upton Sinclair writes. “Students will use journalistic techniques and sexual repression to write socially engaged, morally outraged fiction with unambiguous endings. Students will also grow their own food on the narrow but fertile strip of land that runs between the Junior Faculty Parking Lot and the Graduate Student Parking Lot. On Wednesdays we will fast” (Bachelder, 67). Not only does Bachelder satirize Sinclair’s politics, but also his various ways of life (e.g. "no sex and no alcohol", 67).

One might assume after reading Bachelder’s novel that he is not a fan of Sinclair and that the book is more of a criticism of his role in American politics. However, after listening to an NPR interview with Chris Bachelder on his novel, I got the impression that Bachelder doesn’t dislike Sinclair. He has more of a general interest and appreciation for Sinclair’s revolutionary spirit that can’t be fully stamped out and simply keeps coming back to haunt the American right and left. At one point during the interview, Bachelder even states that we could use Sinclair in our society today because of his extreme passion for social justice. Perhaps both Sinclair and Bachelder would be supporters of “Passionate Politics”? Overall, Bachelder’s novel uses melodrama in its extreme to show Sinclair portrayed both as the victimized hero and the villain of our society, and does so in a satirical way to prove that Sinclair was a controversial but important figure in our political history.

U.S. and U.S!

Chris Bachelder's novel, U.S.!, is both means of praise and pity for Upon Sinclair. While Bachelder recognizes Sinclair's passion and determination by making him a character capable of enduring multiple assassinations and resurrections--a process that Sinclair becomes so used to he lists it on a course syllabus like a simple leave of absence--he also acknowledges the futility of his efforts. Sinclair's activities, though sincere, are met in the novel with similar reactions of his original time. In 1906, Sinclair's aspirations for America were too extreme, which seems to be the case each time he is resurrected. The public of each reincarnation, however, do not have anywhere to redirect their fear of extreme, unusual political philosophies like Socialism, as they did when Sinclair published The Jungle, and thus react to Sinclair's ideals with violence. The demeanor of the audience just before his assassination at Bulldawg County in 1987 is one example. This repetitive sequence of events, Sinclair's resurrection (usually at the hands of young leftists who feel they have no other ammunition for change), the vehement, sometimes unintentional profession of his beliefs followed by a negative reaction in the environment around him, ultimately leading to his death, is Bachelder's way of pointing out how the American public never was, never is, and never will be ready to take on Sinclair's ideals. America's unwillingless reignites Sinclair's determination each time he is brought back to life, creating a vicious cycle of tumult and death.
Let's revisit the frustration of those who resurrect Sinclair. Several of the chapters in Bachelder's novel are narrated by these young leftists in first person. Barring the ones told from Sinclair's viewpoint, most contain a mix of admiration and realization. The beginning chapter, for example, is narrated by a character who has obviously studied and followed Sinclair before, given away by small things such as his knowledge of Sinclair's partiality for Dr. Pepper. As their direct interaction begins, however, the narrator realizes the frailty that Sinclair is burdened with. In a later chapter a different resurrector takes Sinclair to his uncle's house by the lake and continuously alludes to Sinclair developing madness over the creation of socialist America. The chapter ends with that narrator still following Sinclair mostly because he has no other way to incite change.
This plot of death and resurrection plays on a sense of melodrama that Sinclair himself used in his novels. In his most notable book, The Jungle, he puts the main character through trial after trial, killing off his family members one by one as a means to show the evil of capitalism. Each time his characters are victimized, the guilt can be traced back to the American industry in some way. In Bachelder's novel, Sinclair is victimized by the public and subsequently, his own efforts for change. He is constantly and repeatedly put through the pain of coming alive again for the sake of his ideals and his vision of America, only to be shot down by some part of America that fears radicalism. Both characters incite sympathy because they must endure physical and emotional pain--Jurgis injured on the job many times and must watch his family suffer for no justified reason while Sinclair is brought alive again and again only to watch his beliefs crash and burn. Despite this use of dark melodrama, Bachelder's novel contrasts sharply against Sinclair writing in that it manages to be comical and melodramatic. Sinclair's writing is heavy, blunt; you can tell that he writing is simply a tool for him to broadcast his ideals. Bachelder himself points this out many times in his book. In reaction, he uses Sinclair's odd habits (dropping everything he's doing to scribble furiously about an idea he is suddenly struck with) and strange quirks (his unfortunate penchant for exclamation points in unnecessary places) to instill a dry sense of humor in his novel. This makes Sinclair as Bahcelder's character inherently different from Sinclair's own suffering protagonists--he is endeared to the reader because he appears more human, a sympathy that can translate over to his cause. Ultimately, Bachelder recognizes both Sinclair's merits and faults as an author and a figure and seeks to resolve his ideals towards something that the public can stomach (pun intended) better than what Sinclair put out in his (first) lifetime.

Annotated Bibliography

http://changmengproject.weebly.com/bibliography.html

US! Bachelder, and melodrama

            In the novel US! Chris Bachelder takes a satirical look at the endless optimism of the American left. Just when it seems that all is lost, that America is too welded to its unfair capitalist society to ever change, the Left is able to resurrect Upton Sinclair, the socialist crusader of the early 1900’s who almost won his bid for the California governorship, to lead the movement. Sinclair is utilized by the Left for his impractical willingness to stand up for values when it is the most dangerous. Even after repeated assassinations, this zombified zealot is able to return, deluded by his blind faith of imminent social and economic change.

            I had never heard of Sinclair or read any of his novels before this class. However it is easy to see how this political novel fits into our discussion of melodrama. In literary naturalism, the form of literature most preferred by Sinclair, novel writing is viewed as a social experiment dedicated to depicting typical life in different parts of the world. Sinclair used naturalism to push his own political agenda. Authors often utilize pathos in melodrama to push a political agenda as well. Melodramatic rhetoric can be used to create a moral imperative in the audience to act, feel, or think a certain way. By ignoring complexity, melodrama boils conflict down into the good versus the bad. Both naturalism and melodrama can be utilized to serve a political purpose.

More specifically, in naturalism, the characters are not viewed as individuals, but are rather meant to represent a group. Although melodramas usually focus on one individual, the victim-hero, he is often combating an individual that represents a larger group: the greedy, heartless capitalist. Both forms of literature use stereotyping to increase the power of their political messages. Bachelder uses some of this technique in his novel, making Huntley and Sinclair’s other assassinators representative of the hysterical right wing, while the narrator embodies the young, energetic followers of socialism, who not only “wanted to be class heroes” but also long for the sixties and “to get laid by our beautiful, serious, kerchiefed comrades” (5). They resurrect Sinclair for a chance to dissuade their anger at missing the sixties and soon become disillusioned by his repeated assassinations.

            While Bachelder is clearly a proponent of Sinclair’s politics, he has a lot of fun mocking the liberal icon. Sinclair is constantly writing new books to mobilize the revolution, forever believing that the next one will make a difference. Meanwhile, Bachelder inserts a chapter of customer reviews for Sinclair’s novels; all of them blank save for a few insulting his work. He also acknowledges Sinclair’s unappealing writing “aesthetic: Sinclair has never understood that art and polemic do not mix, that great and lasting art has no authorial agenda” (14). Sinclair writes to Arnold Schwarzenegger and Ronald Reagan, in impossible attempts to change the world. While Bachelder acknowledges that the brand of socialism Sinclair preaches may be dead, he also shows respect for the persistent and ever-hopeful members of the Left who are willing to go against the grain and fight for social justice.

Laura's updated research proposal

New Research Proposal

Edited Research Proposal

http://english212w-website.tumblr.com/researchproposal

Research proposal-revised

http://yuchenmanifesto.weebly.com/research-proposal1.html

Also the page limit is lifted! :)

Research Proposal

research proposal

Research Proposal and U.S.! Paper

Click here for "Research Proposal"

               

            Since I did not have much of a familiarity with Upton Sinclair’s works, I ended up having to familiarize myself by skimming over The Jungle and King Coal. The first thing that stuck out to me was the usage of emotional melodramatic elements in these books in order to raise awareness and bring about change in the existing political system in America. Even though I did not actually take the time to read the entire book, The Jungle I started feeling extremely sympathetic with Jurgis which clearly shows the extensive uses of emotions evoking elements in this work. The way I perceived Sinclair’s works was by looking at the as novel-like manifestos. They were meant to evoke a certain emotional response against the existing capitalistic state. The daily struggles of the lower class were portrayed so that the audience could actually feel the pain and realize the evil nature of capitalism. This realization was meant to then be followed by the understanding of the virtuous and heroic nature of socialism.

Chris Bachelder does a phenomenal job of familiarizing his readers with Sinclair’s works and shrewdly admiring his political beliefs at the same time with extensive uses of sarcasm. Bachelder believes that even though Sinclair’s political view might not be completely prevalent in today’s society but there are many noteworthy points that if modernized, can change the society for the better. For example in the section Every Knock is a Boost, the publisher of the Lanny Budd series says that Lanny belongs to the early- to mid-twentieth century and therefore they need a “younger hero” to whom the modern-day audience can relate (193). Therefore, in the book U.S.! Sinclair is assassinated and resurrected whenever socialism is hated or needed in a certain situation. This constant dying and resurrecting of Sinclair is meant to show the constant struggle in our society and the great need of a socialistic political system in America.

It is not hard to notice many melodramatic characteristics in Upton Sinclair’s works as well as Bachelder’s book U.S.!, as both of them use make use of emotion evoking elements to promote socialism. Sinclair does so by writing about the everyday lives of the lower class, sometimes through overdramatizing their struggles to show the sense urgency for change. He tries to make his audience sympathize with the characters in the story by portraying socialism as the hero, the people of the lower class as the victims and the anti-socialists as the villains. Bachelder, writing his book only 8 years ago, believes that although the way Sinclair portrayed socialism might be old fashioned but if modernized, it can still have a great influence, improving the lives of the lower class people. Therefore, he mocks some of Sinclair’s writings to grab the attention of his readers and then takes his readers through the second half of the book where he focuses more on very specific problems in society and how Sinclair would react to them. Hence, Upton Sinclair and Bachelder both see the need for socialism in society and both use many melodramatic elements in order to present those needs to their audience.  

Relationship between Bachelder’s U.S! and Upton Sinclair

Relationship between Bachelder’s U.S! and Upton Sinclair

Bachelder’s US is a satirical novel that simultaneously praises and pokes fun at the life and beliefs of novelist and socialist Upton Sinclair. Sinclair, famous for his novel The Jungle about the meatpacking industry in the early 20^th century wrote hundreds of political novels aimed at creating social change. As a political writer, Sinclair’s writing is melodramatic by nature. In The Jungle, his grotesque depiction of the meatpacking industry in the 20^th century was intended to elicit an emotional response from readers that would lead them to want change. His writings were provocative in so far as they argued a clear side and attempted to convince readers that the opinion argued was the best option.

In US, Bachelder uses melodrama in a less clear cut way as he choses to show both sides by allowing readers to see the opinion of those who oppose Sinclair and those who show immediate support. Yet this melodramatic rhetoric that involves the assassination of Sinclair is used to contribute to the debate of whether or not writers are politically relevant. The fact that Sinclair must be assassinated so that his ideas do not permeate melodramatically pays tribute to his writings.

Bachelder’s novel resurrects and kills Sinclair in a fashion that is almost comical. In the novel, there becomes a clear distinction between the types of people who support Sinclair and those who oppose and later kill him. This melodramatic rhetoric that involves the cyclic revival and killing of Sinclair is used to create an idea of hope and despair. Bachelder stated in an interview that he chose Sinclair as a sort of “hero” because he felt that Sinclair embodied an indistinguishable hope for political change, “But it’s not artful in the way we think about artfulness when you study literature and read literature. He was a ferocious, and absolutely indefatigable figure. Everybody hated him, everybody tried to mow him down, and he got up every day and he wrote and wrote and wrote. He cranked out these books, and his hope never diminished—his hope for a better society” (Bachelder). Although Sinclair’s writing was not the best, the fact that he churned out hundreds of political novels expressed his desire to reconcile politics and creative writing.

In a way, this is the same goal that Bachelder is attempting to reach in his novel. Although there is no clear political agenda in the novel as in The Jungle, Sinclair’s resurrections and “scars” are symbolic of the social traumas that led up to the time when Bachelder wrote US.  Underneath the jokes and the insults, Bachelder is resurrecting Sinclair for a purpose. Sinclair represented a hope and a drive for political change in the eyes of Bachelder. Bachelder uses Sinclair as a figurehead to allow readers a glimpse into what he believes are the political issues of the day and to argue that writing, as a political tool, is insignificant but necessary.

Revised Research Proposal & Belated Poem Imitation

Research proposal: http://supportfordepression.weebly.com/research-proposal.html

Imitation of Langston Hughes' "White Man" for new topic (on project site): http://supportfordepression.weebly.com/poem.html

U.S!

            Chris Bachelder’s U.S.! revolves around his infatuation with the late author Upton Sinclair. Although hilariously critical in many of his stories about Sinclair, Bachelder utterly admires the radically Left politician. His entire book is somewhat nostalgic, as Bachelder mourns for the downfall of the radical Left in the United States. Bachelder yearns for a passion like Sinclair’s in modern day political fiction, a genre of writing that has has experienced a downfall in recent years. The entire novel is ironically sarcastic, as Bachelder entwines a hilarious sense of humor in recounting fictitious stories about one of the driest authors to ever attain notable fame. U.S! creates a parallel between Sinclair and Christ. “His spasms continued, as did Tony’s erratic driving and my hapless nursing. This went on for five minutes, maybe longer. Eventually Sinclair’s convulsions subsided to trembling and he tried to say something.” (pp. 5) Just as Christ rose from the dead, Upton Sinclair is resurrected throughout Bachelder’s novel. Bachelder begins his novel in the back seat of a car with Sinclair’s limp body next to him. He instantly pokes fun at Sinclair’s hatred for capitalism. After the narrator gives him a bottle of water, Sinclair questions “‘They sell this?’ . . . ‘You buy this?’ ‘Yes,’ I said. He looked at me as if to ask another question, but remained silent. I could not tell if he was impressed or disgusted.” (pp. 6) Sinclair is demonstrating his contempt for capitalism in the United States. He continues by asking questions about modern day United States, questioning if it was Socialist yet. Just as Sinclair’s novels do, U.S! highlights the discrepancy what the government implements what people actually want. Bachelder expresses his frustration with the difficulties in being a politician in the 21^st century.

            Sinclair’s story “The Jungle” is an example of melodrama used in politics. It recounts the fictitious tale of Jurgis Rudkus, an immigrant working in a meat-packing facility. He then loses his job and his wife and son pass away. The melodramatic rhetoric used in the Jungle is obvious, and Jurgis finds renewal in joining the socialist movement.

            Bachelder wrote U.S! in a melodramatic manner as well. He portrays Upton Sinclair as a victim of the unforgiving, corrupt politics of today’s capitalistic society. Throughout the novel, we see Sinclair struggling to get a grasp on modern society, ending up in jail at certain points.