Final answer:
The novel 'The Jungle' by Upton Sinclair was intended to stir social reform but led to food safety laws due to the public's misinterpretation of the message, focusing on their own health rather than labor conditions and socialism.
Step-by-step explanation:
The novel in question seems to be Upton Sinclair's The Jungle, which had a significant impact on America during the Progressive Era. The intended impact of Sinclair's work was to stir the public's heart and inspire a movement for social reform, specifically to address the lives of the workers in the meatpacking industry and to promote Socialism. However, the public responded with more concern for their own health and the physical conditions of the food they were consuming, leading to the passage of the Federal Meat Inspection Act and the Pure Food and Drug Act in 1906. This response demonstrates how Sinclair's message was misinterpreted; the visceral descriptions of the meatpacking industry's conditions impacted readers' concerns about food safety rather than prompting a social uprising to improve labor conditions or advance socialist ideals.
Therefore, the answer to the student's question is c) Misinterpretation of the message, since Sinclair's purpose was overshadowed by readers' concerns about the food industry rather than the socioeconomic issues he highlighted.