The Jungle: Characters

Jurgis Rudkus

The protagonist. A Lithuanian immigrant who comes to America with his wife, Ona. Strong, determined with a faight in the American Dream of self-betterment, but his health, family, and hopes slowly deteriorate by the horrible working and living conditions in Packing town. Sinclair’s instrument to express the exploitation of the common worker by the capitalist system

Ona Lukoszaite

Teta Elzbieta’s stepdaughter and Jurgis’s wife. A kind, lovely, and optimistic girl. She is ruined by the forces of capitalism that drive the family to ruin, especially after she is raped by her boss, Phil Connor.

Teta Elzbieta Lukoszaite

Ona’s stepmother and the mother of 7. Resilient, strong-willed old woman. Sinclair uses her to depict the power of family, home, and tradition.

Marija Berczynskas

Ona’s cousin who travels to America with the rest of the family because her former employer is unkind to her. Large, strong woman. Initially tries to fight back against corrupt bosses. Represents a spirit of defiance among the immigrants that is slowly crushed.

Phil Connor

Ona’s boss, who sexually harassed her at the factory where she works. Bullying, depraved man. Represents the moral corruption that took over Chicago as well as the relationship between politics, crime, and business. Has ties to all three, has the ability to destroy Jurgis’s life.

Dede Antanas Rudku

Jurgis’s father, travels to America with the rest of the family. Proud man and cannot get a job due to his old age. Must resort to the humiliation of paying a man a third of his wages in return for a jobw with miserable and danagerous conditions.

Antanas Rudkus

The son of Jurgis and Ona. Strong, sturdy little boy, but he drowns in the mud in the street while Jurgis is at work. His death signals the death of hope in Jurgis’s life.

Grandmother Majauszkiene

The family’s Lithuanian neighbor when they move into their house. A concerned old woman who has seen generation after generation of immigrants go into ruin by the labor practices of the factories. A socialist.

Juozapas Lukoszaite

One of Teta Elzbieta’s two crippled children. Injured when a wagon ran over one of his legs. Unwittingly helps the family when he meets a rich lady while foraging for food in the local dump.

Kotrina Lukoszaite

One of Teta Elzbieta’s children, who is forced to care for the children and do household chores. When Jurgis is sent to prison, Kotrina has to go work selling newspapers on the streets with her brothers.

Stanislovas Lukoszaite

One of Teta Elzbieta’s children, a young boy of about fourteen. Stanislovas shirks his responsibilities as a wage earner because he is terrified of frostbite. Jurgis often has to beat him to make him go to work.

Jonas

Teta Elzbeita’s brother, who was the person that encouraged the family to travel to America. After going broke in Packingtown, he disappears, depriving the family of a wage earner and throwing them further down a financial drain.

Jack Duane

A polished, charismatic criminal whom Jurgis meets during his first prison term. Jack later introduces Jurgis to Chicago’s criminal underworld, where money comes easily to Jurgis for the first time in America.

Miss Henderson

the forelady in Ona’s factory. Cruel and bitter. tthe jilted mistress of one of the factory superintendents. Runs a brothel and arranges to get jobs for some of the prostitutes who work for her. hates Ona because Ona is a “decent married girl,” and makes Ona as miserable as possible. .

Tommy Hinds

the proprietor of a small Chicago hotel and a well-known proponent of socialism. Jurgis obtains a job as Hinds’s porter not long after he converts to socialism

Ostrinski

A Polish immigrant who speaks Lithuanian. After Jurgis hears a rousing speech at a socialist political meeting, Ostrinski is assigned the task of teaching Jurgis about socialism.

Nicholas Schliemann

A spokesperson for socialism, he gives a long explanation of socialist philosophy to a magazine editor who has written against socialism in the past. He functions as a mouthpiece for Sinclair’s own political philosophy.

Mike Scully

A corrupt, wealthy democrat in Chicargo who owns the festering dump where Juozapas and other children forage for food. Makes money off the housing scheme to which Jurgis’s family falls victim. Works at rigging elections, and Jurgis becomes one of his henchmen during his brief stint in the Chicago criminal underworld.

Jokubas Szedvilas

the failing proprietor of a delicatessen in Packingtown who knows Jonas from the old country. A kind but troubled man, he represents the harsh reality of capitalism and reveals the naivete of Jurgis’s dreams of success.

attacks Phill Connor for raping Ona

Why does Jurgis get sent to jail?