Out Of This Furnace Sparknotes

The first section of Out of This Furnace is about the story of Djuro Kracha coming to America from Hungary, and the struggles he, his family, and friends had to go through. The American Dream is defined as “the ideal that every US citizen should have an equal opportunity to achieve success and prosperity through hard work, determination, and initiative,” but many immigrants were unable to achieve the American Dream. Kracha and his family were just a few of the immigrants who did not achieve the American Dream as they had expected. Throughout the first section of Out of This Furnace the difficulties that the workers on the railroads and in the steel mills face become apparent. The mock title “Where is the American Dream?” fits the first section

Kracha experienced first hand the harshness that working as a laborer in the Gilded Age entailed. While Kratcha was working on the railroad in White Haven he had to line and surface railroad tracks, repair railroad tracks that were already built, and fight fires, all while only being paid ten, or even sometimes nine, cents (21). This difficult, dangerous, and low paid work made it tough for Kracha to earn enough money to be prosperous. When Kracha, Andrej, and Dubik tried to achieve the American Dream in the Steel Mills they were faced with the many dangerous conditions. Hoping to make more money Kracha worked in two of Carnegie’s steel mills. The conditions were dangerous, and accidents were common in the mills. Due to faulty equipment and lack of proper training, many workers were injured or even killed on the job. But immigrants, like Kratcha were always available to fill the space. The pay was bad

The Knights of Labor, founded by Terence Powderly and Uriah Stephens in 1869, helped create a union contract with Carnegie’s Braddock Mill. While the Knights of Labor were trying to have broad social reform around the country, they created a lockout in the Braddock Mill. Workers like Kratcha did not care as much about the union’s goals, instead they wanted the mills to be open so that they could earn money (25). Large business owners, like Carnegie, tried, and usually succeed, at breaking strikes and unions in their mills. In Homestead and Braddock, Kratcha experienced the effects of strikes, and they were not positive. In Braddock the work day went from eight hours to twelve hours, and in Homestead workers had to agree to the mills terms to return to work. Kratcha did not like the strikes, but Andrej approved of them saying, “While you’re losing a dollar, Carnegie will be losing thousands… Take a penny from [the millionaires] and they will bleed” (40). Although many workers, mostly those in support or in unions, approved of the strikes, they still made it difficult for many workers to support themselves when they were receiving no pay due to a shutdown mill. With the strain that strikes put on low income workers, Unions made it difficult for laborers, like Kratcha, to earn a steady income,