The Jungle
(Excerpts from The Jungle, by Upton Sinclair, 1906, Chapter 2)
	
Coming from the country, very far in the country, Jurgis Rudkus had never seen a city, scarcely even a fair-sized town, until he set out to make his fortune in the world and earn his right to Ona. His ancestors had lived in that part of Lithuania known as the Imperial Forest, a hundred thousand acre tract of land and hunting preserve of nobility. Of the few peasants holding title, his ancestors had toiled upon several acres of cleared land in the wilderness.

Jurgis longed to marry Ona Lukoszaite, the daughter of a wealthy man who had rejected his proposal. Through the spring and summer, Jurgis labored on his father's farm, endeavoring to forget her, but after harvest, Jurgis tramped the fortnight's journey that lay between them. Upon arrival, he discovered unexpected affairs: Ona's father had died, and his estate was tied up with creditors. Left adrift, an uncle suggested that the family immigrate to America.

Jurgis had heard that, in America, a man might earn three rubles a day. He understood what that would mean, with prices as they were where he lived. Jurgis decided forthwith that he would go to America, marry, and become a rich man in the bargain.

Rich or poor, in America a man was free; he might do as he pleased and count himself as good as any other man. If he could only manage the price of passage, Jurgis could make his fortune in the world and count his troubles at an end.









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