Analysis Of Out Of This Furnace By Thomas Bell

Out of This Furnace by Thomas Bell is the story of a Slovak family's immigration to America. The story talks about a family struggles as they make their way from Hungary to America. The story of three generations of the Kracha family shows the first immigrant in the family, George Kracha to the third generation who is Dobie Dobrejcak. It starts with George Kracha walking from his village in Hungary to board a ship. He spends his money for a party for a woman and arrives in New York with fifty cents in his pockets. He walks from New York to White Haven, Pennsylvania where his relatives work for the railroad. He begins his work career in America. He eventually follows his friends and relatives to work in the steel mills. The work is hard and the hours are long for subsistence wages.

He opens his own business, and eventually he loses everything. Then the story goes to the next generation. George's daughter marries Mike, who works in the steel mills. She also takes in boarders like her mother. When Mike is killed in a steel mill accident, she has to make ends meet since there is nothing but $75 in benefits from the company. Her children which is the next generation with Dobie. Each generation has it a easier than the last with technology , but the work in the mills is still not worth the pay. Also each generation is a little more Americanized than the previous. The Great Depression has Dobie doing illegal electric wiring for people whose power was cut off for non­payment. Dobie is active in organizing the steel workers. Dobie is working two or three days a week when newer workers are working full time, which causes problems. The story shows how workers