The character I’ve chosen from The Jungle for this character sketch is the suave safe cracker Jack Duane. Essentially Jurgis’ mentor in his life of crime, he is also the first educated man Jurgis’ meets in America. Jack is someone who has completely given up on society, despite being born in the middle class and possessing a quality engineer’s education. He was driven to a life of crime when his father died, and Jack’s own marvelous invention was stolen by a corporation. Jack went broke trying to sue them for the patent. Fed up with society, he skipped town to Chicago to pursue a life of crime.
I would be interested in seeing Jack observe Jurgis’ first attendance at the socialist rally. For Jurgis, it is both an awakening to the root problems…show more content… Especially when they ask for donations to the party: Jack would assume this was some kind of swindle. Also, Jack was seen to be heavily involved in politics, so he was no doubt familiar with the corrupt nature of the political process. He would be very unlikely to trust that true change could be had through votes. In many ways, Jack is a warning for what could happen to Jurgis if his hope wasn’t saved by socialism.
Now, what is Sinclair trying to say about society through Jack Duane?
In terms of the novel, he serves as a foil to Jurgis. While Jurgis is uneducated, poor, and is shown to(through the beginning and end of the book at least) have a moral compass, Jack is educated, comes from a middle class family, constantly skeptical, and free from society’s morals.
However, they have one big thing in common: both been mistreated by society, specifically by capitalists.
While Jurgis was taken advantage of for his physical labor, Jack was robbed of his invention, and bled out of his family’s money in an impossible-to-win legal battle. Jack is used by Sinclair to appeal to middle class families. He’s saying, “See? The evil corporations don’t only exploit lower class immigrants, they also exploit regular middle class
