-
Jokubas Szedvilas
- The failing proprietor of a delicatessen in Packingtown
- who knows Jonas from the old country. A kind but troubled man, Jokubas
- represents the harsh reality of capitalism and reveals the naïveté
- of Jurgis’s dreams of success.
-
-
A
- corrupt, wealthy democrat in Chicago who owns the festering dump
- in which Juozapas and other children forage for food. Scully makes
- money off the housing scheme to which Jurgis’s family falls victim.
- He works at rigging elections, and Jurgis becomes one of his henchmen
- during his brief stint in the Chicago criminal underworld.
-
Nicholas Schliemann
- A spokesperson for socialism. Nicholas 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.
-
-
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.
-
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
- his conversion to socialism.
-
Miss Henderson
- The
- forelady in Ona’s factory. Cruel and bitter, Miss Henderson is the
- jilted mistress of one of the factory superintendents. She also
- runs a brothel and arranges to get jobs for some of the prostitutes
- who work for her. She hates Ona because Ona is a “decent married
- girl,” and she and her toadies try to make Ona as miserable as possible.
-
-
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.
-
-
Teta
- Elzbieta’s brother, who first encourages the family to travel to
- America. After months of poverty in Packingtown, Jonas disappears,
- and the family never hears from him again. His absence deprives
- the family of a key wage earner and throws them into a greater financial
- crisis.
-
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.
-
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 to work selling newspapers
- on the streets with her able-bodied brothers.
-
Juozapas Lukoszaite
- One of Teta Elzbieta’s two crippled children, injured
- when a wagon ran over one of his legs when he was a toddler. Juozapas
- unwittingly helps the family when he meets a rich lady while foraging
- for food in the local dump.
-
Grandmother Majauszkiene
- The family’s Lithuanian neighbor when they move
- into their house. A concerned old woman, Grandmother Majauszkiene
- has lived in Packingtown for many years and has seen one generation
- after another of immigrants ground into ruin by the merciless labor
- practices of the factories. She became a socialist before she even
- came to America.
-
Antanas Rudkus
- Ona
- and Jurgis’s son. Antanas is a strong, sturdy little boy, but he
- drowns in the mud in the street while Jurgis is at work. The death
- of Antanas signals the death of hope in Jurgis’s life.
-
-
Jurgis’s father, who travels to America with the
- rest of the family. A proud man, Dede Antanas is prevented by his
- old age from obtaining a job through normal means. He has to resort
- to the humiliation of paying a man a third of his wages in return
- for a job, whose unsanitary and unsafe working conditions destroy
- his health.
-
Phil Connor
- Ona’s
- boss, who sexually harasses her at the factory where she works.
- A bullying, depraved man, Connor represents the moral corruption
- of power in Chicago as well as the complicated relationship between
- politics, crime, and business. He has ties to all three and, thus, has
- the power to destroy Jurgis’s life.
-
Marija Berczynskas
- Ona’s cousin, who travels to America with the rest
- of the family because her employer in the old country is unkind
- to her. Marija is a large, strong woman, capable of standing up
- for herself; because she first tries to fight back against the corrupt
- bosses, she represents a spirit of defiance among the immigrants that
- is slowly crushed.
-
Teta Elzbieta Lukoszaite
- Ona’s stepmother and the mother of six others. A
- resilient, strong-willed old woman, Teta Elzbieta is one of the
- strongest and most important characters in The Jungle. Sinclair
- uses her to represent the redemptive power of family, home, and
- tradition.
-
Ona Lukoszaite
- Teta
- Elzbieta’s stepdaughter and Jurgis’s wife. A kind, lovely, and optimistic
- girl, Ona is ruined by the forces of capitalism that work against
- the family, particularly after she is raped by her boss, Phil Connor.
-
-
A
- Lithuanian immigrant who comes to America with his wife, Ona. Jurgis
- is a strong, determined individual with a faith in the American
- Dream of self-betterment, but his health, family, and hopes are
- slowly destroyed by the miserable working and living conditions
- in Packingtown. Jurgis, who doesn’t elicit much more from the reader
- than pity, is an obvious instrument that Sinclair uses to express
- his vision of the exploitation of the worker by capitalism and his redemption
- by socialism.
-
-
Setting (place)
Packingtown, the meat-packing sector of Chicago
-
Setting (time)
Early 1900s
-
Who is the first
person to abandon the family?
Marija
-
Who develops a
drug addiction?
Marija
-
Why is Jurgis
sent to prison the first time?
For attacking Phil Connor
-
Who plays the
violin?
Tamoszius
-
Whose delicatessen
is a financial failure?
Jurgis
-
Why is Stanislovas
afraid of the cold on winter mornings?
Because he has seen the effects of frostbite
-
Where is Ostrinski
from?
Poland
-
In what year
was The Jungle first published?
1906
-
What law was
passed due to public outcry caused by the novel?
The Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906
-
How does the
young Antanas die?
He drowns in the mud-logged street.
-
At the beginning
of the novel, what is Jurgis’s response to learning of the debt
caused by his marriage feast?
“I will work harder.”
-
How does Kristoforas
die?
He eats diseased meat.
-
From what country
do Jurgis and Ona emigrate?
Lithuania
-
To what political
party does Mike Scully belong?
The Democrats
-
What is Teta
Elzbieta’s relationship to Ona?
Elzbieta is Ona’s stepmother.
-
Who becomes a
prostitute?
Marija
-
What does Jurgis
seek to avenge in attacking Connor?
Connor’s rape of Ona
-
Where does the
philanthropic woman find a job for Jurgis?
At a steel mill
-
To what political
party does Tommy Hinds belong?
The Communists
-
Who convinces
Jurgis to live for Antanas after Ona’s death?
Teta Elzbieta
-
What does Freddie
Jones give to Jurgis?
A one-hundred-dollar bill
-
Why does Jack
Duane leave town?
- Because his associates abandon him after
- he barely escapes arrest
-
Why do Marija
and Tamoszius postpone their marriage?
Because they cannot afford to get married
-
What is the
Lithuanian word for “wedding feast”?
Veselija
-
How do the smaller
children earn money?
By selling newspapers
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