Out Of This Furnace Analysis

The book “Out of This Furnace” by Thomas Bell is about the lives of an immigrant family in the 1980s. The first part of the book is about the story of Kracha, ours first protagonist. Kracha left behind Slovakia to come to America for more opportunities. As Kracha settled in America, he got married to Elena and had three daughters. Life in the United States was rough for the Kracha’s family, it turns out it was just as difficult as in his homeland. Kracha tries different jobs and he found the commonalities between them, they are all low wage, and as the man ended up working in the Mills.

The next story is about Kracha’s son in law, Mike Dobrejcak who married to Mary. when Mike was killed in the terrible accident in the Mills, Mary has to do

Although all three men work in the steel industry and living under the same condition, their approaches about those issues were different. For example: Kracha barely confronted with the problems in the steel industry, unionization, and politics. While his grandson Dobie increasingly fought to change his living conditions. The reason is because the next generations are more “Americanized” than the previous one. For an immigrant such as Kracha, who barely speak English living in America was like a dream that comes true. This is why he decided to stay in the United States and never thought of going back to his homelands. Kracha knew the worst would happen if he ever stays in his country. Mike on the other hand, was fascinated by the politics and voting decision. In one occasion Mike would inform Kracha on which president candidate to vote for and who will benefit their lives, stated by the Narrator: “I’m going to be a citizen soon. I’m going to have the right to vote in a few years.”(Bell, p66) This statement clearly proven that Mike actually cares about his rights and political activities, He knew what is going wrong about the society and spoke up about it. Dobie on the other hand was an American citizen by birthright, he knew only actions would bring about the change to the society, in one occasion Dobie put up a speech about a a problem at the Mills, according to the Narrator: “Dobie himself... Had risen to make a point about the food boxes the mill had distributed during the worst of the depression, and found himself making a speech.” (Bell, p293) Dobie did not hesitate to speak up about things that gone wrong. Dobie probably got fed up with the long hours of works and little wages, which forced him to commit illegal acts. For sometimes, Dobie also realized with better