The Jungle

Maria explains that Antanas must have fallen off the sidewalk into the flooded street below and drowned. Jurgis silently leaves the house and then keeps walking until he reaches a railroad crossing. As a train passes, he impulsively jumps into one of the cars. Throughout the night, Jurgis “[fights] a battle with his soul […] he had not wept, and he would not—not a tear! It was past and over, and he was done with it; he would fling it off his shoulders, be free of it, the whole business, that night” (239).

By morning, Jurgis is well outside Chicago. Overjoyed to be back in the countryside, he hops off the train and walks until he comes to a farmhouse. Here, he buys some breakfast, which he eats beside a stream before bathing and dozing off. That evening, he approaches another farmer, who refuses to serve him; in retaliation, Jurgis pulls up some of his newly planted trees. He then finds another farmhouse, where he pays for dinner and a night’s shelter. His host offers to hire Jurgis, but he declines, explaining that he doesn’t want to have to look for a new job when winter comes.

Jurgis passes the next several months in much the same way; he forages for food, sleeps in fields or deserted buildings, and occasionally takes an odd job chopping wood.