The Jungle Summary

A young couple and their family, recent Lithuanian immigrants, throw their matrimonial feast at a bar in a grimy, perilous, and hard-to-survive area of Chicago known as Packingtown. They soon find themselves in debt to the bar owner and face the harsh reality of life in America, contrary to their hopeful vision of the American Dream. The young man, energetic and optimistic, finds work along with some family members and they buy a house, only to be swindled with hidden costs and poor construction. As the cost of living grows, everyone including children are forced into labour in terrible conditions with rampant corruption. Eventually, the hardship takes the life of the man's father.

As the harsh winter sets in, the man works in a freezing slaughterhouse, risking his life daily. Despite their struggles, the family is not able to save enough for a wedding between a family member and her suitor. The woman loses her job and when she voices her concern about being cheated of her wages, she gets fired. In the midst of all this, the young bride is now pregnant, gives birth to a healthy boy, but is forced back to work a week later by her corrupt supervisor. Any mishap is disastrous in Packingtown; the young man injures himself and loses his job, and his youngest brother-in-law dies of food poisoning. He is forced to work in the foulest factory and resorts to alcohol to cope.

The woman is pregnant again when she is forced to sleep with her boss. In a fit of rage, the man attacks her boss and is jailed. After an unfair trial, he is sentenced to a month in prison. Once out, he finds his family evicted and living in their initial, rundown boarding house. His wife dies due to premature labour along with their unborn child, and the man spirals into a drinking binge. After the tragic death of his only surviving child, he abandons the rest of his family and wanders alone. After multiple jobs, injuries, and another jail sentence, he finds himself living on charity. He becomes a criminal, and later a corrupt political worker. In the end, he stumbles into a socialist political rally and is deeply moved. He finds a job at a socialist hotel and is finally able to reunite with his remaining family.