The Jungle Characters

Jurgis Rudkus

The Jungle is Serious Biznez. It has Important Ideas to get across, and it has doesn't really...

Ona Lukoszaite

Back in Lithuania at the beginning of The Jungle, Ona is around fourteen when Jurgis first meets...

Marija Berczynskas

Marija Berczynskas is Ona's cousin. She is much, much tougher than Ona. In fact, she joins the...

Teta Elzbieta

Teta Elzbieta is Ona's stepmother. ("Teta" means aunt in Lithuanian, so her name is like Auntie...

Stanislovas Lukoszaite

Stanislovas is, hands down, the character with the worst death in this whole book. We'll get to...

Kotrina Lukoszaite

Kotrina is Teta Elzbieta's only daughter and Ona's half-sister. When Teta Elzbieta is forced to...

Vilimas and Nikolajus Lukoszaite

Vilimas is Teta Elzbieta's second oldest son; Nikolajus is third in line. Like Stanislovas, they...

Juozapas Lukoszaite

Juozapas is Teta Elzbieta's second youngest child, and the youngest child after Kristoforas...

Kristoforas Lukoszaite

Kristoforas is Teta Elzbieta's youngest child. He is about three years old when he dies from a...

Jonas

Jonas is Teta Elzbieta's brother. He is also the one who first brings the whole idea of "America"...

Antanas Rudkus

Antanas Rudkus is Jurgis's father. He is incredibly eager to work, but he is elderly and not very...

Baby Antanas

Ona's first child is a big, healthy boy called Antanas. To distinguish him from Jurgis's father,...

Harry Adams

Harry Adams is Tommy Hinds's assistant clerk. He is originally from Massachusetts, but as a...

Judge Pat Callahan

Judge Pat Callahan sentences Jurgis to thirty days in jail plus costs for beating the crap out of...

Phil Connor

Phil Connor is the boss of a loading crew at the meatpacking factory where Ona works. He is also...

Mary Dennis

Before things start to go south for Jurgis's family personally, they hear some ominous stories of...

"Scotty" Doyle

We never actually meet this guy, but it's worth remembering his name: this is the Republican...

Jack Duane

Jack Duane is the first educated man Jurgis has ever met personally. The two guys meet in jail...

Tommy Finnegan

Tommy Finnegan is a crazy guy who approaches Jurgis at Jurgis's first union meeting. Jurgis is a...

Fisher

Fisher is a Chicago millionaire who has dedicated his life to working with poor immigrants in the...

Goldberger

"Buck" Halloran introduces Jurgis to Goldberger. Goldberger gives Jurgis and Jack Duane some tips...

"Buck" Halloran

"Buck" is one of the guys working for Mike Scully; he gives Jurgis some gigs as a courier in the...

Hamilton

Hamilton is the Jones family butler. He has been paid by Mr. Jones to watch out for alcoholic...

Mr. Harmon

Mr. Harmon is a head manager at Durham's meatpacking plant. Even though Jurgis has been...

"Bush" Harper

"Bush" Harper is Mike Scully's second-in-command at the stockyards. He is key to organizing Mike...

Madame Haupt Hebamme

Madame Haupt Hebamme is a midwife. Sinclair describes her as a Dutchwoman, but "Dutch" and...

Miss Henderson

Miss Henderson is Ona's boss at the meatpacking plant. She is also partially responsible for...

Tommy Hinds

Tommy Hinds is a former Union Army officer (so he must be getting on in years, since the Civil...

Alena Jasaityte

Alena only appears in two chapters of The Jungle, Chapters 1 and 27. In the first chapter, at...

Freddie Jones

Jurgis bumps into Freddie Jones one cold night as he is begging. Freddie is the son of one of the...

Aniele Jukniene

Mrs. Jukniene manages an apartment in a tenement house. (For some really cool photographs of what...

Tamoszius Kuszleika

Tamoszius Kuszleika is a gifted violinist. His skills mean that he could make lots of money. But...

Mr. Lucas

The final chapter of the novel is basically a long discussion between Mr. Lucas and Nicholas...

Grandmother Majauszkiene

As an elderly woman, Grandmother Majauszkiene has plenty of grim experience of life in the...

Jadvyga Marcinkus

Jadvyga is a lot like Ona: she is an honest working girl who must support her large family with...

Mr. Maynard

Mr. Maynard is an East Coast newspaper editor who has come to meet with socialist Party leaders...

Mikolas

Mikolas is Jadvyga Marcinkus's sometime fiancé. Like Tamoszius Kuszleika, Mikolas gets an...

"Pat" Murphy

"Pat" Murphy is Jurgis's immediate boss when Jurgis becomes a hog-trimmer (and political...

Mrs. Olszewski

One of Mrs. Jukniene's neighbors. She contributes a little bit of money to Jurgis to pay for...

Ostrinski

Ostrinski is a Polish immigrant and socialist who speaks Lithuanian. When Jurgis first attends...

Juozas Raszius

Juozas is the guy Alena Jasaityte is engaged to in the first chapter of the novel. He pulls in a...

Nicholas Schliemann

Nicholas Schliemann is basically the voice of socialism at the end of The Jungle. He lays out...

Mike Scully

It's because of political bosses like Mike Scully that Chicago politics still have a reputation...

Amos Struver

Amos Struver is Tommy Hinds's head clerk. He had been a farmer in Kansas fighting against the...

Jokubas Szedvilas

Jokubas is the guy Jonas knew back in Lithuania who immigrated to Chicago years ago. Although...