Angel-Portilla 1

Andres Angel-Portilla
Professor Rivas Gmez
English 1A-6545
2 February 2014
Write Your World
Today we live in a world where we can open portals with the click of a button. We
generally tend to forget the ability we each have in shaping our surroundings through the
consciousness of others. Although we have desires to morph and construct the reality around us,
most of us do not because we dont believe our writing has power and we lack the ability to
realize we possess the one gift that makes us human; thought. Through literature these thoughts
can be expressed to better the world we live in.
Change writing is as popular now as it was in ancient eras because of its importance and
contribution to civilizations through expression. Whether we acknowledge this through aged
cave-carvings, the bible, or even the newspapers we read today, the evidence speaks for itself.
Enlightening in her book, Mary Pipher types, "Writing to connect is "change writing," which,
like good therapy creates the conditions that allow people to be transformed. Its goal is not to
evoke one particular set of ideas, feelings, and actions, but rather to foster awareness and growth
(8)." Change writing does not try to invoke certain ideas, rather its attempt is to instill awareness
and innovation. With these two assets we are reminded of we can produce ideas and assist with
bettering the world around us the way others did. Upton Sinclair is one of the most influential
change writers to have existed. Upton Sinclairs original intention was to cater to the immigrant
factory workers and expose the abuse they experienced every work day. When referring to the
workers he writes, ...their peculiar trouble was that they fll into vats; and they were fished out,

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there was never enough of them left to be worth exhibiting, - sometimes they would be
overlooked for days, till all but bones of them had gone out to the world as Durhams Pure Leaf
Lard (117)! He explains that the workers were not even acknowledged if they died, rather they
became the product of ignorant human cannibalism. Readers of his book, now knowing they
were being fed human parts grew a greater passion for change and a greater consciousness for
inhumane working conditions. Because of this unions within factories were born.
In Writing to Change The World, Mary Pipher exemplifies, Most likely, Mary Oliver
did not write her poem Wild Geese to inspire environmental activists and yet
environmentalists found it motivational (21). Here she explains that change writers may not
realize the thoughts, motivations, and perspectives they open. Upton Sinclair did more than just
raise popular conscious awareness of factory workers, he exposed the lack of sanitation
measures. When describing the factory conditions he writes, It was too dark in these storage
places to see well, but a man could run his hand over these piles of meat and sweep off handfuls
of dried dung of rats (Sinclair, 161). Upton Sinclair fostered awareness by displaying to the
audience the disgusting realities in these factories. Writers like these change our lives for if they
dont express the horrors of this world we may otherwise be eating dried rat feces in our meat. If
Upton Sinclair had never written The Jungle, Theodore Roosevelt would never have been
advised to read this book. Because of this he raised awareness and allowed for the
implementation of the Pure Food and Drug Act and the Federal Meat Inspection Act. If we had
not done so the sanitary conditions would not have been improved, thus the health of American
citizens would still be plagued with deadly diseases.
As explained in writing to change the world, Writers tend to be sensitive people, and yet
to write we need to be tough. Change writers in particular require a certain stolidity to deal with

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adversity (Pipher, 78). Upton Sinclair was passionate about improving such conditions in the
1900s. His desire was to implement measures through people, which he was able to do because
of his drive. Dealing with the adversities we encounter we can do one of two things: We can
look away or we can demonstrate strength through words and the actions they cause. Consider
how difficult it is for someone to have witnessed and replay horrors through words such as Let
a man so much as scrape his finger pushing a truck in the pickle rooms, and he might have a sore
that would put him out of this world; all the joints in his fingers might be eaten by the acid, one
by one (116). Those who choose to use their observations and struggles to construct a world of
justice are change writers.
We learn from mistakes and must expose them to the world so that others do not commit
these same errors. Upton Sinclair did just that by exposing the gruesome horrors and realities in
meat factories. We too can write to change the world and build the world we desire to live in by
opening thoughts in others. We can look away or we can be change writers.
Works Cited
French, Kimberly. "Modern Slavery." UU World: Bitter Harvest. Unitarian Universalist
Association, 2004. Web. 27 Jan. 2014.
Pipher, Mary Bray. Writing to Change the World. New York: Riverhead, 2006. Print.
Sinclair, Upton. The Jungle. Cambridge, MA: R. Bentley, 1971. Print.