The Jungle · Character

Jack Duane

A genial safe-breaker and jailhouse philosopher who befriends Jurgis in a Chicago cell and teaches him, without preaching, how the loaded game is played.

supporting

Also known as Duane

First appearance: xxi

As a supporting figure in The Jungle, Jack Duane is not background color—the story leans on what they do once the chapter opens.

Jurgis's cellmate, a college-educated safe-breaker who was robbed of an invention and turned to crime; he shares his cynical worldview and introduces Jurgis to the criminal…

In the storyChapter XVIIOpen this moment free

See Jack Duane in Chapter XVII Book page

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Duane is a man who once had a family and gave it up, and he tells Jurgis plainly that this is no world in which a man has any business with one. His openness — he shares names, places, triumphs, and griefs with the wondering newcomer — makes him the most human figure in the city's criminal drainage, and his creed that "one thing leads to another" quietly reframes Jurgis's ruin as something the system produced. He matters because he offers Jurgis a way of seeing his own fall, and a path out of innocence that the reader watches him consider.

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The fuller portrait of Jack Duane sits in Reading Lens — open the free preview to keep reading with notes on the page.

See Jack Duane in xxi

Character Web

7 connections

A slice of how Jack Duane sits in the book — open the reader for the full interactive map.

Relationship types

Friendship
Other

Character groups

Minor characters and antagonists
Rudkus family and friends
Protagonist

+2 more in the full Character Web

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Narrative arc

Story tension across the book — this chapter sits in Falling action.

Setup
Escalation
Breaking point
Aftermath
Closing

Jurgis’s desperate plea to Madame Haupt marks the story’s dramatic climax because it represents the absolute n…

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Relationships

Jurgis Rudkus
friendship · ambivalent
Jack Duane is a seasoned criminal who becomes Jurgis's ally in the underworld, teaching… How this plays out →

Relationship notes

How these ties play out is in the reading companion — open the free preview.

See Jack Duane in xxi

In the story

Jack Duane appears across 3 companion beats. Open any chapter in the free preview to see the notes beside the text.

Chapter XVII
Jurgis's cellmate, a college-educated safe-breaker who was robbed of an invention and turned to crime; he shares his cynical worldview and introduces Jurgis to the criminal underworld.
Chapter XXV
Duane introduces Jurgis to saloons and sporting-houses where criminals and political operatives gather, and later escapes capture after being caught burglarizing a store.
XXVII
Referenced as a former companion in crime during the assault on a 'country customer.'

Chapter companion notes

Spoil-light check-ins for Jack Duane unlock in the free preview.

See Jack Duane in xxi

See Jack Duane in Chapter XVII