The Jungle: A Signature Performance by Casey Affleck characters

Appears from the start

A powerful young Lithuanian immigrant who arrives in Chicago determined to support his extended family through hard work. Newly married to Ona, he is confident that strength and persistence will be enough to build them a secure life, even as the stockyards begin exposing how little control workers have over their conditions.

Appears from the start

Jurgis's young Lithuanian bride. Gentle and devoted to her family, she has immigrated with them to Chicago and works to help meet the household's mounting expenses. The opening wedding feast celebrates her marriage while also showing the financial pressures already surrounding the couple.

Also known as Teta Elzbieta

Appears from the start

Ona's stepmother and the practical center of the immigrant household. She cares for a large group of children and relatives, stretches the family's scarce resources, and remains strongly attached to home, kinship, and Lithuanian custom.

Appears from the start

Ona's energetic cousin, a strong and outspoken young woman who works alongside the rest of the family. She is generous with her wages and savings, but quicker than the others to protest unfairness and confront anyone who cheats her.

Also known as Dede Antanas

Appears from the start

Jurgis's elderly father, who has come to America with the family. Proud and anxious to contribute rather than remain dependent, he searches for a place in an industrial system that has little use for an old worker.

Appears from the start

A Lithuanian delicatessen owner who has lived in Packingtown long enough to guide the newcomers. He helps explain the stockyards and the neighborhood's traps, offering the family a more experienced view of life in Chicago.

Appears from the start

A young violinist who plays at Jurgis and Ona's wedding feast. He is cheerful, sociable, and in love with Marija, though the couple's hope of marriage depends on achieving a financial stability that Packingtown rarely permits.

Appears from the start

One of Elzbieta's sons, still a child when the family arrives in Chicago. Economic need pushes him out of school and into wage work, making his experience part of the novel's picture of how industrial poverty consumes an entire household.

First appears in chapter 15

A foreman at Ona's workplace whose authority over hiring and dismissal gives him power over vulnerable women. When Ona finally explains her distress to Jurgis, she identifies Connor as the man threatening her employment and her family.

First appears in chapter 23

A confident professional criminal whom Jurgis meets in jail. Duane treats theft as a trade governed by skill and useful connections, presenting an alternative to the punishing honest labor that has brought Jurgis so little security.

First appears in chapter 24

A wealthy, intoxicated young man who encounters Jurgis on the street and impulsively welcomes him into his luxurious home. His careless access to money and comfort sharply contrasts with the hunger and exposure Jurgis has endured.

First appears in chapter 30

A committed socialist and hotel proprietor who gives Jurgis work after his political awakening. Hinds treats the movement as an everyday moral obligation and makes his business a meeting place where socialist ideas can be discussed and organized.