The Metropolis

by Upton Sinclair

When an injustice befalls the poor, Allan is the first to fight for what is right. But as he continues his lawsuit, he begins to realize that the very people he's fighting with are the very people who rule New York. He must be wily and careful if he is to survive this pursuit of justice. Upton Sinclair is the Pulitzer Prize winning author of Dragon's Teeth. His best known work is The Jungle, a novel about the abhorrent practices of the meat packing industry at the time.

Genres: Classics, Fiction, Historical Fiction, Audiobook, American, Novels

216 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1908

About the author

Upton Beall Sinclair, Jr. was an American author who wrote close to one hundred books in many genres. He achieved popularity in the first half of the twentieth century, acquiring particular fame for his classic muckraking novel, The Jungle (1906). To gather information for the novel, Sinclair spent seven weeks undercover working in the meat packing plants of Chicago. These direct experiences exposed the horrific conditions in the U.S. meat packing industry, causing a public uproar that contributed in part to the passage a few months later of the 1906 Pure Food and Drug Act and the Meat Inspection Act. The Jungle has remained continuously in print since its initial publication. In 1919, he published The Brass Check, a muckraking exposé of American journalism that publicized the issue of yellow journalism and the limitations of the “free press” in the United States. Four years after the initial publication of The Brass Check, the first code of ethics for journalists was created. Time magazine called him "a man with every gift except humor and silence." In 1943, he won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.

Sinclair also ran unsuccessfully for Congress as a Socialist, and was the Democratic Party nominee for Governor of California in 1934, though his highly progressive campaign was defeated.

Reviews

[Jordan Anderson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Now before I begin, let me preface my review by saying that I loved "The Jungle". There was so many things to enjoy about that novel, aside from what it did for the meat packing industry. There was a real story there, characters you could relate with, or, at the very least, feel sorry for and hope the best for. And of course, who could forget the nasty (and true) details that Sinclair worked so hard to weave into that incendiary story?

With that in mind, I found myself drawn back to another classic after a 2 month gap. "The Metropolis" definitely seemed compelling enough. One, it was written by Sinclair (who as I just said is a master of the detail) and two, it appeared to be almost a "Great Gatsby"-esque kind of story (yet another classic that I found immensely more powerful after a second read through). What could possibly go wrong with both of those characteristics?

Well, the answer, unfortunately, is a lot. I'm not going to say that "The Metropolis" is a bad story. It's actually fairly compelling and if what Sinclair writes is true (and I have little doubt it is), the early 1900's must have been an insanely crazy, carefree, never ending party, kind of lifestyle. It's in these details that we see the immense fortunes and the seemingly infinite amounts of money those "In Society" would spend to stay relevant. Even now the boatloads of cash that these folks forked over is almost unbelievable. And the way they lived their lives mirrors almost modern-day celebrities.

The problem is that "The Metropolis" can get rather boring at times and the descriptions tend to ramble on far too often. What worked in "The Jungle" doesn't really have the same impact here. I don't know if Sinclair was attempting to give readers the same kind of grossed out feeling about high society as he was about the disgusting conditions of the Chicago stockyards, but for me, at least, it didn't work. Instead of make me hate the society of 1900 New York, it fascinated me, and, more often than not, bored me. Yes, at first, I couldn't put the book down as each described party was more over the top than the last, but after awhile, I didn't need to know the cost of every single flower, and the crab legs, and millions of dollars worth of diamonds in attendance.
And speaking of problems, it's the general plot. You can read the synopsis to see what this book is really about, but let's just say that doesn't come into play until just past the half-way point, and even then, it's wrapped up so quickly, you wonder if it was just a secondary idea to move Sinclair's lavish descriptions along.

That's not to say that the book doesn't work. In some parts, it's actually pretty good and moves right along. Montague's relationship with Mrs. Winnie grows and grows until it reaches a very believable climax and the tension Montague and his brother feel during their insider trading is palpable and tense. Even in the rather brief car scene is pretty entertaining. It's just that these parts are a little far and few between and rarely justify the large gaps of rather mundane material separating them.

I think that 3 stars is a fair enough rating for this one. It's not so boring that it's impossible to read, and there are some good parts in it, but when comparing this to better works of fiction, it just doesn't stack up. Can't say I regret reading it though.

[Dr.J.G. · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Metropolis was intended to be part of a trilogy, and if one read another part first, it isn't clear as a reader until one reads Brass Check when he mentions something about this one. It's still unclear after reading The Moneychangers if he ever did write the third part.

This work introduces the Montague family, consisting now of the mother and son and daughter Alice who is a debutante, relocate from Mississippi to metropolitan New York after the death of the father; he was in the union army, and had married a southern lady and stayed on in Mississippi, raising his family their on an estate. Allan Montague, the elder son, with the rest of the family, is put up at an expensive hotel by younger brother, Oliver Montague, who is entrenched in the society and facilitates their entry, by way of not only getting introductions but seeing to their wardrobes.

Detailed descriptions of the said wardrobes and those of the said society, their prices, their routines and houses, and generally extensive details of their lifestyles - activities, acquisitions, expenditures - follow. They remain extravagant a century later, not only in content but the numbers, after inflation has meanwhile reduced value of currency, especially vis-a-vis gold.
..............

"A phenomenon that had struck Montague immediately was the extraordinary freedom with which everybody in New York discussed everybody else. As a matter of fact, one seldom discussed anything else; and it made not the least difference, though the person were one of your set,—though he ate your bread and salt, and you ate his,—still you would amuse yourself by pouring forth the most painful and humiliating and terrifying things about him."

After a hunting party,

"Leaving the game to be gathered up in carts, they made their way home, and there the two victors received their prizes. The man's consisted of a shaving set in a case of solid gold, set with diamonds. Montague was simply stunned, for the thing could not have cost less than one or two thousand dollars. He could not persuade himself that he had a right to accept of such hospitality, which he could never hope to return. He was to realize in time that Robbie lived for the pleasure of thus humiliating his fellow-men."

When Montague first sees the clothes Oliver has got for Alice -

"But Oliver was not discussing questions of ethics; he was examining sets of tinted crepe de chine lingerie, and hand-woven hose of spun silk. There were boxes upon boxes, and bureau drawers and closet shelves already filled up with hand-embroidered and lace-trimmed creations-chemises and corset-covers, night-robes of "handkerchief linen" lawn, lace handkerchiefs and veils, corsets of French coutil, dressing-jackets of pale-coloured silks, and negligees of soft batistes, trimmed with Valenciennes lace, or even with fur.

""You must have put in a full day," he said.

""I never looked at so many things in my life," said Alice. "And Mr. Mann never stopped to ask the price of a thing."

""I didn't think to tell him to," said Oliver, laughing.

"Then the girl went in to dress—and Oliver faced about to find his brother sitting and staring hard at him.

""Tell me!" Montague exclaimed. "In God's name, what is all this to cost?"

""I don't know," said Oliver, impassively. "I haven't seen the bills. It'll be fifteen or twenty thousand, I guess."

"Montague's hands clenched involuntarily, and he sat rigid. "How long will it all last her?" he asked.

""Why," said the other, "when she gets enough, it'll last her until spring, of course—unless she goes South during the winter."

""How much is it going to take to dress her for a year?"

""I suppose thirty or forty thousand," was the reply. "I don't expect to keep count."

"Montague sat in silence.

""You don't want to shut her up and keep her at home, do you?" inquired his brother, at last.

""Do you mean that other women spend that much on clothes?" he demanded.

""Of course," said Oliver, "hundreds of them. Some spend fifty thousand—I know several who go over a hundred."

""It's monstrous!" Montague exclaimed.

""Fiddlesticks!" was the other's response. "Why, thousands of people live by it—wouldn't know anything else to do."

"Montague said nothing to that. "Can you afford to have Alice compete with such women indefinitely?" he asked.

""I have no idea of her doing it indefinitely," was Oliver's reply.

""I simply propose to give her a chance. When she's married, her bills will be paid by her husband."

""Oh," said the other, "then this layout is just for her to be exhibited in."

""You may say that," answered Oliver,—"if you want to be foolish. You know perfectly well that parents who launch their daughters in Society don't figure on keeping up the pace all their lifetimes."

""We hadn't thought of marrying Alice off," said Montague.

"To which his brother replied that the best physicians left all they could to nature.

""Suppose," said he, "that we just introduce her in the right set, and turn her loose and let her enjoy herself—and then cross the next bridge when we come to it?"

"Montague sat with knitted brows, pondering.' He was beginning to see a little daylight now. "Oliver," he asked suddenly, "are you sure the stakes in this game aren't too big?""
..............

An invitation to visit -

"To decorate this mansion a real palace in the Punjab had been bought outright and plundered; there were mosaics of jade, and wonderful black marble, and rare woods, and strange and perplexing carvings."

Upton Sinclair on music -

"also a strange contrivance called a concerto, put together to enable the player to exhibit within a brief space the utmost possible variety of finger gymnastics. To learn to perform these feats one had to devote his whole lifetime to practising them, just like any circus acrobat; and so his mind became atrophied, and a naive and elemental vanity was all that was left to him."

Another invitation has Montague observe -

"The roof of this building had many gables, in the Queen Anne style; and from the midst of them shot up the tower, which was octagonal and solid, suggestive of the Normans. It was decorated with Christmas-wreaths in white stucco, and a few miscellaneous ornaments like the gilded tassels one sees upon plush curtains. Overtopping all of this was the dome of a Turkish mosque. Rising out of the dome was something that looked like a dove-cot; and out of this rose the slender white steeple of a Methodist country church. On top of that was a statue of Diana."
..............

Here the subconscious prejudices of the author with his socialist conscious persona with a Southern family roots, show equally -

"Montague was rapidly getting used to things; he observed with a smile how easy it was to take for granted embroidered bed and table linen, and mural paintings, and private cars, and gold plate. At first it had seemed to him strange to be waited upon by a white woman, and by a white man quite unthinkable; but he was becoming accustomed to having silent and expressionless lackeys everywhere about him, attending to his slightest want. So he presumed that if he waited long enough, he might even get used to horses which had their tails cut off to stumps, and their manes to rows of bristles, and which had been taught to lift their feet in strange and eccentric ways, and were driven with burred bits in their mouths to torture them and make them step lively."

At a horse show -

"It was a great dress parade of society women. One who wished to play a proper part in it would spend at least ten thousand dollars upon her costumes for the week. It was necessary to have a different gown for the afternoon and evening of each day; and some, who were adepts at quick changes and were proud of it, would wear three or four a day, and so need a couple of dozen gowns for the show. And of course there had to be hats and shoes and gloves to match. There would be robes of priceless fur hung carelessly over the balcony to make a setting; and in the evening there would be pyrotechnical displays of jewels. Mrs. Virginia Landis wore a pair of simple pearl earrings, which she told the reporters had cost twenty thousand dollars; and there were two women who displayed four hundred thousand dollars' worth of diamonds—and each of them had hired a detective to hover about in the crowd and keep watch over her!

"Nor must one suppose, because the horse was an inconspicuous part of the show, that he was therefore an inexpensive part. One man was to be seen here driving a four-in-hand of black stallions which had cost forty thousand; there were other men who drove only one horse, and had paid forty thousand for that. Half a million was a moderate estimate of the cost of the "string" which some would exhibit. And of course these horses were useless, save for show purposes, and to breed other horses like them. Many of them never went out of their stables except for exercise upon a track; and the cumbrous and enormous; expensive coaches were never by any possibility used elsewhere—when they were taken from place to place they seldom went upon their own wheels."

Montague meets women, eligible and married -

"Miss Yvette possessed over a million dollars' worth of diamonds—the finest in the country, according to the newspapers; she had spent a hundred and twenty-six thousand dollars this year upon her clothes, and she gave long interviews, in which she set forth the fact that a woman nowadays could not really be well dressed upon less than a hundred thousand a year. It was Miss Yvette's boast that she had never ridden in a street-car in her life."

Alice meets an heiress, realising her own clothes are not much -

"Then Alice went on to describe the unpacking of fourteen trunks, which had just come up from the custom-house that day. Mrs. Virginia's couturiere had her photograph and her colouring (represented in actual paints) and a figure made up from exact measurements; and so every one of the garments would fit her perfectly. Each one came stuffed with tissue paper and held in place by a lattice-work of tape; and attached to each gown was a piece of the fabric, from which her shoemaker would make shoes or slippers. There were street-costumes and opera-wraps, robes de chambre and tea-gowns, reception-dresses, and wonderful ball and dinner gowns. Most of these latter were to be embroidered with jewellery before they were worn, and imitation jewels were sewn on, to show how the real ones were to be placed. These garments were made of real lace or Parisian embroidery, and the prices paid for them were almost impossible to credit. Some of them were made of lace so filmy that the women who made them had to sit in damp cellars, because the sunlight would dry the fine threads and they would break; a single yard of the lace represented forty days of labour. There was a pastel "batiste de soie" Pompadour robe, embroidered with cream silk flowers, which had cost one thousand dollars. There was a hat to go with it, which had cost a hundred and twenty-five, and shoes of grey antelope-skin, buckled with mother-of-pearl, which had cost forty. There was a gorgeous and intricate ball-dress of pale green chiffon satin, with orchids embroidered in oxidized silver, and a long court train, studded with diamonds—and this had cost six thousand dollars without the jewels! And there was an auto-coat which had cost three thousand; and an opera-wrap made in Leipsic, of white unborn baby lamb, lined with ermine, which had cost twelve thousand—with a thousand additional for a hat to match! Mrs. Landis thought nothing of paying thirty-five dollars for a lace handkerchief, or sixty dollars for a pair of spun silk hose, or two hundred dollars for a pearl and gold-handled parasol trimmed with cascades of chiffon, and made, like her hats, one for each gown."

Laura Hegan answers Alice -

"She said, 'You'll get used to it. Everybody you know will be doing it, and if you try to do differently they'll take offence; and you won't have the courage to do without friends. You'll be meaning every day to stop, but you never will, and you'll go on until you die.'""

More of society -

"Mrs. Alden herself had a cousin (whom she cordially hated) who had gotten a divorce from her husband and married her lover forthwith and had for this been ostracized by Society. Once when she came to some semi-public affair, fifty women had risen at once and left the room! She might have lived with her lover, both before and after the divorce, and every one might have known it, and no one would have cared; but the convenances declared that she should not marry him until a year had elapsed after the divorce."

He talks to Mrs Winnie Duval.

"I can remember when our girls wore pretty muslin gowns in summer, and sent them to wash; now they wear what they call lingerie gowns, dimity en princesse, with silk embroidery and real lace and ribbons, that cost a thousand dollars apiece and won't wash. Years ago when I gave a dinner, I invited a dozen friends, and my own chef cooked it and my own servants served it. Now I have to pay my steward ten thousand a year, and nothing that I have is good enough. I have to ask forty or fifty people, and I call in a caterer, and he brings everything of his own, and my servants go off and get drunk. You used to get a good dinner for ten dollars a plate, and fifteen was something special; but now you hear of dinners that cost a thousand a plate! And it's not enough to have beautiful flowers on the table—you have to have 'scenery'; there must be a rural landscape for a background, and goldfish in the finger-bowls, and five thousand dollars' worth of Florida orchids on the table, and floral favours of roses that cost a hundred and fifty dollars a dozen. I attended a dinner at the Waldorf last year that had cost fifty thousand dollars; and when I ask those people to see me, I have to give them as good as I got. The other day I paid a thousand dollars for a tablecloth!"

""Why do you do it?" asked Montague, abruptly.

""God knows," said the other; "I don't. I sometimes wonder myself. I guess it's because I've nothing else to do. It's like the story they tell about my brother—he was losing money in a gambling-place in Saratoga, and some one said to him, 'Davy, why do you go there—don't you know the game is crooked?' 'Of course it's crooked,' said he, 'but, damn it, it's the only game in town!'""

"I saw a woman here to-day that I never saw in my life before, and I heard her say she'd paid two thousand dollars for a lace handkerchief; and it might have been true, for I've been asked to pay ten thousand for a lace shawl at a bargain. It's a common enough thing to see a woman walking on Fifth Avenue with twenty or thirty thousand dollars' worth of furs on her. Fifty thousand is often paid for a coat of sable, and I know of one that cost two hundred thousand.

[Diana Szaiak · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sinclair a fost un activist politic care a militat puternic pentru deconspirarea corupției din guvern și afacerile începutului de secol XX, a luptat pentru îmbunătățirea condițiilor de muncă a claselor mai puțin favorizate și a ironizat fățiș falsa poleială a înaltei societăți americane. Întreaga sa operă literară reflectă fidel condiția acelei societăți și scrierile sale au ajuns sa fie considerate istorice, documentarea minuțioasă și acuratețea relatărilor recomandându-i în acest sens.
În liceu am citit Jungla, un roman manifest care a atras atenția asupra condițiilor mizere din industria cărnii, a exploatării umane și a corupției care dădea tonul. Volumul a stârnit o revoltă, un adevărat scandal public și a împins oleacă rotița justiției, în scurt timp apărând o lege care a îmbunătățit considerabil industria cărnii chiar și din punct de vedere sanitar. Un om cu o valoare morală deosebită, un romancier apreciat și jurnalist vertebral, a muncit cu perseverență și a desconspirat sistematic nedreptățile din sistemul american.
Despre Metropola am crezut că este o nuvelă de sine stătătoare dar am citit azi c-ar face parte dintr-o trilogie. Sau așa ar fi trebuit, având astfel o continuitate a acțiunilor personajelor. A mers perfect și stand-alone.
Autorul spune că “Metropola nu cunoștea decât un singur criteriu: banii”. Să-i faci, să-i împrumuți, nu contează, important este să-i cheltui. Sinclair demască societatea elitistă ascunsă frivol sub poleiala dolarilor. Ipocrizia, minciuna, falsitatea și moravurile ușoare conduc oamenii și singura diferență dintre ei este dată de zerouri. Cu cât mai multe au fost risipite, cu cât mai numeroase sunt viețile nenorocite, cu atât crește stima și respectul pentru făptuitor.
Într-o societate a cărei scară de valori s-a întors cu curu-n sus, a cărei cod moral a fost demult îngropat sub vicii, autorul vine și arată punctual fiecare tară. A luat un Pulitzer și numeroase premii pentru jurnalism deci, cu siguranță, n-a făcut-o în van.
Ținând cont strict de tema adusă în discuție , am fost mult mai încântată de abordarea brutală a lui Sinclair față de cea ironică a lui Fitzgerald din Marele Gatsby. Este mult mai pe sufletul meu si recomand. Deși mai mult o poveste a detaliilor, merită o dată-n viață.

[Victor P · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am a big fan of Upton Sinclair, and this book has all you would expect. But it’s not quite as good as The Jungle, Flivver King, Oil or King Coal. It manages to hit the notes, but perhaps descriptions of opulent dresses, diamond encrusted shaving kits and palatial homes were never going to be as compelling as those of Chicago meat packing industry, oil rigs and all that. It also felt a little more subdued and a bit rushed when compared to these other books he wrote. But it’s still pretty good and a worthwhile read (or listen).

[Felicia Cimillo · Rating 2 out of 5]

I think i would have enjoyed the book more if it had not been the public domain audiobook version because the narration really ruined any interest i had in this story.

[Chris Schaffer · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some biting observations on the wealthy class and financial big shots of the early 1900s.

[Holly · Rating 2 out of 5]

Man experiences the vice and excesses of "Society" when he comes to NYC in the early 20th century.

[Chloe Campbell · Rating 5 out of 5]

Upton Sinclair does tend to provide the same message within most of his novels and describe the cruelty and injustice pouring out of the richer societies. However, The Metropolis purely focuses on all of its characters and the struggle that Guy has facing the harsh realities of the people that swarm him. This socialistic writer hits another nerve and spreads more information about this land.

[Tim Brown · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ninth of public-domain classics I never read from Project Gutenberg read on my iPod using iBooks software.

Lots of over-the-top descriptions of the obscenely rich New York Titans of
Oil, Steel, and Insurance circa 1908, as seen through the eyes of a lawyer with a conscience who enters their world.

[Anthony Morena · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you like Upton Sinclair you'll likely enjoy this as well. That said, it does get rather tedious in the on-going portrayal of the excesses of 'Society' in NY during the 20th Century...

Perhaps a bit too long...

[Jerilyn Tribo · Rating 2 out of 5]

Too much repetition about the luxury and greed of the upper class—society. I was surprised about the wealth in New York in the 1900’s. I got bored and skimmed some pages. I would have liked to read more about the 2 brothers.

[Tweedledum]

Game of Thrones leveled up to 1900's. Plot twists, back stabbing and hypocrisy in the high society makes a young lawyer question his purpose in New York.