Jurgis Rudkus, The Jungle’s protagonist, is a Lithuanian immigrant to the United States. He is a young, strong man with “great black eyes […] beetling brows, and thick black hair that curl[s] in waves about his ears” (2). He meets and falls in love with Ona, his eventual wife, while still living in Lithuania but lacks the money and family standing to marry her. It is only when Ona’s father dies that the couple are able to become engaged, emigrating to America in search of a better life.

Jurgis initially has few doubts they will succeed in this endeavor. Optimistic and energetic by nature, he is dazzled by the modernity of the meatpacking warehouses and trusts that his physical strength will always enable him to find work. However, it doesn’t take long for the brutal conditions and corruption of life in Packingtown to turn Jurgis’s hopefulness and determination into bitter cynicism. Once a devoted father, Jurgis adopts a calculatedly selfish attitude towards life after Ona’s death and the death of his son Antanas. He abandons the rest of his wife’s family and becomes involved in the world of organized crime and dirty politics. It’s only when Jurgis once again loses everything that he rediscovers his more principled side.