Jurgis Rudkus as a Dynamic Character in Upton Sinclair's the Jungle
The Jungle (1906), by Upton Sinclair, is a story mainly about the life and turmoil of a man who came to American in hopes that he will become a free, rich man with a beautiful wife, Ona, and happy family; this man is the young Jurgis Rudkus, a strong, energetic Lithuanian whose personality and life are all changed several times over the coarse of the story. Major usually tragic events that occur in the story serve as catalysts for Jurgis's dramatic, almost upsetting, transformations. There were four major turning points in Jurgis's life: after he loses his job and is forced to work at a fertilizer mill; when he loses his wife and children; when he is incorporated into the criminal and political underworlds; and when he picks his life back up again. These events in his life all trigger reactions that are very much unlike the first Jurgis Rudkus we are introduced to his spirit squashed, his family either in despair, dying or dead, and all of his money gone, Jurgis's dream is thoroughly shattered.
Coming to America, marrying Ona Lukoszaite, and to live the American Dream' were Jurgis Rudkis's only aspirations, but once there, him and his family's unfortunate outcome was ominously foreshadowed, and the Jurgis that we were first introduced to, whose motto was once to "work harder" (Sinclair 17), slowly turns into an alcoholic due to terrible living and working conditions. He is a man "with the mighty shoulders and giant hands," "great black eyes with beetling brows, and thick black hair that curled in waves about his ears" (4), and an immensely strong physique, who rarely loses his temper, even when treated unfairly or when robbed. After living in America for a while, and with most of the family having to acquire jobs to pay for the hidden fees of the newly bought house which was a sham of a deal in which the whole family could lose everything they ever paid on the house if they missed just one month's payment the loss of one of more jobs within the family
Coming to America, marrying Ona Lukoszaite, and to live the American Dream' were Jurgis Rudkis's only aspirations, but once there, him and his family's unfortunate outcome was ominously foreshadowed, and the Jurgis that we were first introduced to, whose motto was once to "work harder" (Sinclair 17), slowly turns into an alcoholic due to terrible living and working conditions. He is a man "with the mighty shoulders and giant hands," "great black eyes with beetling brows, and thick black hair that curled in waves about his ears" (4), and an immensely strong physique, who rarely loses his temper, even when treated unfairly or when robbed. After living in America for a while, and with most of the family having to acquire jobs to pay for the hidden fees of the newly bought house which was a sham of a deal in which the whole family could lose everything they ever paid on the house if they missed just one month's payment the loss of one of more jobs within the family
Cited: Sinclair, Upton. The Jungle. Massachusetts: The Viking Press, Inc., 1906.