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Freddie Jones, son of a wealthy beef baron.
Buck Halloran, an Irish "political worker" who oversees vote-buying operations.
Bush Harper, a man who works for Mike Scully as a union spy.
Ostrinski, a Polish immigrant and socialist.
Tommy Hinds, the socialist owner of Hinds's Hotel.
Mr. Lucas, a socialist pastor and itinerant preacher.
Nicholas Schliemann, a Swedish philosopher and socialist.
Durham, a businessman and Jurgis's second employer.
Summary
The main plot of The Jungle follows Lithuanian immigrant Jurgis Rudkus, who came to the United States in the hope of living the American dream, and his extended family, which includes Ona, Jurgis’s wife; Elzbieta, Ona’s stepmother; Elzbieta’s six children; Marija, Ona’s cousin; and Dede Rudkus, Jurgis’s father. They all live in a small town named Packingtown in Chicago. The title of Sinclair’s novel describes the savage nature of Packingtown. Jurgis and his family, hoping for opportunity, are instead thrown into a chaotic world that requires them to constantly struggle in order to survive. Packingtown is an urban jungle: savage, unforgiving, and unrelenting.
After being scammed into renting a barely livable house, they get to work. As winter comes, the conditions at each of their places of work become even more dangerous. Dede dies. Jurgis responds to these terrible working conditions by joining a labour union. His membership reveals to him the corruption deeply embedded in the factory system, which prompts him to take English classes in the hopes of promotion. Ona gives birth to a boy who is named Antanas, and she is forced to return to work just a week later. After suffering a sprained ankle from a work-related accident, Jurgis is bedridden for three months without pay; this lack of income puts a massive strain on his family. During this time, one of Elzbieta’s children dies of food poisoning.
Jurgis, finally recovered, tries to find work, but, after three months of being sedentary, he has lost some of his strength, causing all the factories to deny him work. Eventually he gets a job at a fertilizer plant—the worst possible job, because the chemicals used there kill most workers after a few years. Jurgis takes to alcohol.
Ona is pregnant for a second time and, after returning home late one night from work, is revealed to have been raped by her boss, Phil Connor. Jurgis finds and attacks Connor and then is jailed for a month. Jurgis meets Jack Duane, who is a criminal; the two become friends. When Jurgis is released from prison, he finds that his family has been evicted from their house. When he finds them, he discovers Ona prematurely in labour. Both she and the child die. Jurgis, defeated, goes on a drinking binge. Invoking Antanas’s needs, Elzbieta finally convinces Jurgis to find another job. A wealthy woman takes interest in the family and provides Jurgis with a job at a steel mill. Jurgis feels renewed hope; he has dedicated himself entirely to Antanas. However, Jurgis’s life is shattered once again when he arrives home to find Antanas drowned in a mud puddle outside their house. Jurgis abandons the rest of the family and wanders the countryside for a while, returning to Chicago the next winter to live on his own. He finds a job digging freight tunnels, where he soon injures himself. When he recovers, he is unable to find a job and is forced to beg on the streets. He gets hold of a hundred-dollar bill after spending a night with a wealthy man named Freddie Jones.
However, when he attempts to change out the hundred for smaller bills at a bar, the bartender swindles him. Jurgis attacks the bartender and lands back in jail, where he is reunited with Jack Duane. Upon release, the men commit a number of burglaries and muggings as partners. Mike Scully, a corrupt politician, eventually hires Jurgis to cross picket lines as a scab. He makes a substantial amount of money doing this.
Jurgis encounters Phil Connor again and, in a fit of rage, attacks him. Jurgis is once again sent to prison. When he is released, he has no money and survives on charity. He finds Marija, who has become a prostitute in order to support Elzbieta and her remaining children. Marija has become addicted to morphine. Jurgis is eager to find a job before he goes to see Elzbieta. One night Jurgis wanders into a socialist political rally, where he is transformed. The novel ends with a hopeful chant of revolt: “Chicago will be ours.”
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