# Ona Rudkus — The Jungle character guide > Ona Rudkus in The Jungle by Upton Sinclair. **Role:** major **Also known as:** Little Ona **First appearance:** 0002-i ## Snapshot Jurgis's wife, not yet sixteen at her wedding, small and wan, whose silence about where she has been one night cracks his world open. ## Who they are Ona is the reason Jurgis left Lithuania at all, and in Packingtown she becomes the family's most fragile wage-earner, a ham-wrapper whose earnings the household cannot do without. She is gentle, frightened, and increasingly secretive, and when she fails to come home one evening Jurgis's frantic search through the yards turns his trust into dread. Her deception — whatever it hides — is the hinge on which his faith in the world begins to turn. ## Relationships ### [Jurgis Rudkus](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_jungle_se/characters/jurgis_rudkus) _family_ Jurgis and Ona are husband and wife, bound by love and shared struggle, but their marriage is shattered by poverty and tragedy. ### [Marija Berczynskas](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_jungle_se/characters/marija_berczynskas) _family_ Marija and Ona are cousins and close confidantes, sharing the burdens of work and family in the harsh Chicago stockyards. ### [Elzbieta Rudkus](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_jungle_se/characters/elzbieta_rudkus) _family_ Elzbieta is Ona's stepmother, caring for her but also relying on her labor and marriage to Jurgis for the family's survival. ### [Jurgis Rudkus](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_jungle_se/characters/jurgis_rudkus) _family_ Jurgis and Ona are husband and wife, bound by love and shared struggle, but their marriage is shattered by poverty and tragedy. ### [Elzbieta Rudkus](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_jungle_se/characters/elzbieta_rudkus) _family_ Elzbieta is Ona's stepmother, caring for her but also relying on her labor and marriage to Jurgis for the family's survival. ### [Marija Berczynskas](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_jungle_se/characters/marija_berczynskas) _family_ Marija and Ona are cousins and close confidantes, sharing the burdens of work and family in the harsh Chicago stockyards. ### [Jurgis Rudkus](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_jungle_se/characters/jurgis_rudkus) _family_ Jurgis and Ona are husband and wife, bound by love and shared struggle, but their marriage is shattered by poverty and tragedy. ## In the story ### [The Jungle](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_jungle_se/chapters/the-jungle) The bride, young and innocent, married to Jurgis at the start of their new life. ### [The Wedding Feast](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_jungle_se/chapters/i) The bride, overwhelmed and emotional, sits at the head of the table, barely eating, and is moved to tears by the music. ### [II](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_jungle_se/chapters/ii) Jurgis's beloved; a young girl whose father's death and family's poverty prompt the emigration to America. ### [III](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_jungle_se/chapters/iii) Ona is present during the tour, though her reactions are not detailed. ### [IV](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_jungle_se/chapters/iv) Helps spell out the housing circular; goes with Elzbieta to inquire about the house. ### [VI](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_jungle_se/chapters/vi) Seeks work at Brown's to help pay the interest, negotiating with a forelady who demands a bribe. ### [Chapter VII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_jungle_se/chapters/vii) Suffers from a streetcar incident due to corporate policies, leading to illness; forced to work despite severe pain. ### [Chapter VIII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_jungle_se/chapters/viii) Mentioned as part of the family; all working members get union cards. ### [IX](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_jungle_se/chapters/ix) Ona helps Jurgis learn English by reading to him from a little book. ### [Chapter X](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_jungle_se/chapters/x) Returns to work at Brown's only a week after childbirth, suffering permanent health damage; endures 'womb-trouble' and uses patent medicines. ### [Chapter XI](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_jungle_se/chapters/xi) Works and tries to maintain a bank account; her health suffers as she walks in rain and cold to save money. ### [XII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_jungle_se/chapters/xii) Braves a snowstorm to get to work, fears losing her job, and is emotionally strained by the family's financial crisis. ### [Chapter XIII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_jungle_se/chapters/xiii) Ona works in the sausage room, enduring dampness, electric light, and the sickening odor of moist flesh. She suffers almost as much as Jurgis did in the fertilizer mill, but must continue to support the family. ### [Chapter XIV](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_jungle_se/chapters/xiv) Suffers from pregnancy complications, a worsening cough, nervousness, and hysterical episodes. ### [XV](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_jungle_se/chapters/xv) Confesses to Jurgis that she has been forced into a relationship with Connor and is pregnant. ### [Chapter XVI](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_jungle_se/chapters/xvi) Mentioned in Jurgis's memories of Christmas and his worry that she is ill and their home desolate. ### [Chapter XVII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_jungle_se/chapters/xvii) Reported to be very sick, refusing to eat or work, crying constantly, and having lost her job after attempting to return to the packing plant. ### [Chapter XVIII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_jungle_se/chapters/xviii) Thought of anxiously by Jurgis as he worries about her and the baby. ### [Chapter XIX](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_jungle_se/chapters/xix) Dies in childbirth shortly after Jurgis returns home. She is described as shrunken, pale, and barely conscious before passing away. ### [XXII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_jungle_se/chapters/xxii) Jurgis dreams of Ona at night and weeps for her. ## Links - HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_jungle_se/characters/ona_rudkus - Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_jungle_se - All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_jungle_se/characters