The Jungle · Chapter
XXVII explained
Jurgis, now a crippled outcast and tramp, struggles to find work during an economic crisis and strike.
What happens
Jurgis, now a crippled outcast and tramp, struggles to find work during an economic crisis and strike. He encounters Alena Jasaityte, who directs him to Marija. He attends a political rally for Senator Spareshanks but is ejected for falling asleep. Later, he meets a well-dressed woman who turns out to be Alena, and she tells him where to find Marija.
Themes in this chapter
Poverty and Survival
Jurgis's desperate struggle to find work and avoid starvation, reduced to begging and sleeping in doorways.
Corruption and Injustice
The political rally uses homeless people to manufacture a show of support, and Jurgis is ejected for falling asleep despite his efforts to stay awake.
Illusion of the American Dream
Jurgis contrasts his current misery with the lost opportunities of political patronage, highlighting the false promise of prosperity for workingmen.
Characters to notice
- Jurgis Rudkus
Now a crippled outcast and tramp, desperate for work and haunted by the fear of starvation.
- Alena Jasaityte
Former belle of Jurgis's wedding feast, now well-dressed and employed; she directs Jurgis to Marija.
- Marija Berczynskas
Mentioned by Alena as having a good place and being able to help Jurgis.
- Elzbieta Rudkus
Mentioned as someone Jurgis had been escaping from, but now longs to see.
- Jack Duane
Referenced as a former companion in crime during the assault on a 'country customer.'
- Mike Scully
Referenced in connection with the 'Doyle Republican Association' and the election of his tenpin setter.
- Juozas Raczius
Mentioned as the teamster who danced with Alena at the wedding but later threw her over.
Key passages
“Poor Jurgis was now an outcast and a tramp once more. He was crippled—he was as literally crippled as any wild animal which has lost its claws, or been torn out of its shell.”
Jurgis has become a homeless wanderer again, utterly helpless and stripped of his ability to survive.
Highlights Jurgis's complete vulnerability after losing his job and social standing.
“There is one kind of prison where the man is behind bars, and everything that he desires is outside; and there is another kind where the things are behind the bars, and the man is outside.”
Jurgis feels imprisoned by poverty, surrounded by plenty he cannot access.
Powerful metaphor for the torment of seeing wealth while being destitute.
“The eloquent senator was explaining the system of Protection; an ingenious device whereby the workingman permitted the manufacturer to charge him higher prices, in order that he might receive higher wages; thus taking his money out of his pocket with one hand, and putting a part of it back with the other.”
The senator describes protective tariffs as a scheme where workers pay more so they can earn more, but it's really just a shell game.
Satirical critique of protectionist economic policy as benefiting capitalists at workers' expense.