Out of This Furnace
Encyclopedia
Out of This Furnace is a historical novel
and the best-known work of the American
writer Thomas Bell
(1903–1961).
The novel is set in Braddock, Pennsylvania, a steel
town just east of Pittsburgh
, Pennsylvania
along the Monongahela River
. It was first published in 1941 by Little, Brown and Company
. Based upon Bell's own family of Rusyn
and Slovak
immigrants, the story follows three generations of a family, starting with their migration in 1881 from Austria-Hungary
to the United States, and finishing with World War II
. The novel focuses on the steelworkers' attempt to unionize from 1889, the first Homestead strike
(mentioned by Andrej on p. 38) through the big Homestead Steel Strike of 1892, the Great Steel Strike of 1919 right after World War I
, and the events of the 1930s (Labor Organizing). A common connection of struggle, poverty, and entire need of the characters of forces out of their control come together to tell a story of a tragic depiction of a truly troubled group of people. Shared with unbearable financial adversity, the Slovaks nicknamed "Hunkies" were also exposed to discrimination by other "Americans". The novel's title refers to the central role of the steel mill
in the family's life and in the history of the Pittsburgh region.
Long out of print, the novel was rediscovered in the 1970s by David P. Demarest
, a professor of English at Carnegie Mellon University
, who convinced director Frederick A. Hetzel
at the University of Pittsburgh Press
to reissue it in 1976. The book quickly became a regional bestseller. By the 1980s, however, it found an even larger readership on American college campuses. Out of This Furnace is regularly used as required reading in universities to introduce students to the history of immigration
, industrialization, and the rise of trade union
ism, as well as to the genre
of the American working class
novel.
, buy a railroad ticket, board the ship, and ask help from fellow Slovakian travelers. If lost he was to show papers to a police officer and never let anyone else handle his money.
During his trip to the United States, he meets a young woman named Zuska with whom he becomes infatuated. Zuska is married and her husband is on the boat with her, but this does not discourage Kracha from wanting her. When Kracha hears that Zuska is turning 19 during the trip over, he buys whiskey in order to throw her a party. Unfortunately for him, Zuska resists his advances.
Upon arriving, he begins his journey to White Haven. Having spent his train ticket money on Zuska's party, he is forced to make his way by foot. His journey, however, is fairly trouble-free and he arrives to White Haven in short order. There, he meets his sister Franka, brother Puskin and another Slovak immigrant Dubik. Dubik and Kracha become close friends, spending most of their time together. When Dubik marries his sweetheart, Kracha is his best man. Dubik later moves on to Braddock, Pennsylvania
to try his luck in Andrew Carnegie
's steel mill. He encourages Kracha to join him in the mill, but he can not finance the venture at the time.
After two years in America, Kracha sends for his wife, Elena, to join him in America. When she arrives, he is somewhat disappointed - she is less energetic than he remembers her and she is afflicted with a goiter which has disfigured her neck. She also fails to meet his needs and so Kracha is rather disappointed with her.
Nevertheless, Kracha and Elena bear three children, Mary, Alice, and Anna. Kracha continued to work for the railroads, and once stable enough, they moved to allow Kracha to try his hand at working in the Steel Mills. It was during this time in 1892 that the labor unions began negotiating to develop better wages and shorter days for the workers. Strikes
were common and often ended without success. Mills were being shut down due to strikes for months at a time, and the mills were always working hard to break the union. The constant shutting down of mills and the strikes were hard on workers and often left them blacklisted without a job or paycheck.
In May 1892 negotiations were being made for the Homestead Mill, Henry Clay Frick
had built a huge fence 'Fort Frick' surrounding the mill and later staged a lockout
. This was the beginning of the historical Homestead Strike
which ended in bloodshed and leaving the working men powerless.
Working in the steel mills was hard work. Men often worked 12 hour shifts, seven days a week, switching from a week of nights to the next week of day shifts. This left many men exhausted where tempers flared and carelessness could be fatal. Men worked there because they had to work somewhere. They knew there was always another man willing to take their spot. The accident record at the mills was high, which left thousands injured or dead. Kracha worked in the front of the steel mill at the F furnace while his friend Dubik worked on the H furnace. It was dangerous work but not as labor intensive as the men who worked in the back to load ore, coke, and crushed limestone into the skips to be hoisted up to the furnace. One frightful afternoon as the shift was beginning, Kracha felt the Earth shake under his feet. The H Furnace was leaping flames. He knew immediately that Dubik was badly injured. He saw Dubik being helped off the hoist and saw his burnt face and shredded clothes. There was nothing to be done and soon after he died from this steel mill accident in 1895. Kracha would never be the same.
After some thought, Kracha comes up with a plan to open his own butcher shop in hopes of becoming a profitable businessman. He has found a suitable place to rent in town, and has saved some capital in order to put it together. He shares his plans with his friends and relatives, who are on the whole supportive and excited about his venture. Just one year after opening the shop, Kracha is a well-off business owner with a thousand dollars to his name and living an affluent lifestyle. During this time politics surge through mill towns where people such as Kracha were not American citizens, and most immigrants had no desire to be. It was during this time that Kracha shows his support for Mike Dobrejack, a young man from Dubik's native village, who is applying for his citizenship papers and showing interest in controversial political candidates. Kracha hangs a sign in favor of a candidate supported by Mike, which he is later advised to take down.
While tending to his shop, he meets Zuska again. She has grown older and fatter but he still lusts after her. He begins seeing her at night after work and soon this becomes no secret to anyone. After some time Franka reveals this in front of his wife. His wife is not quite destroyed with grief and Kracha's behavior changes little, except that he no longer shares a bed with Elena. However, after some time, Elena asks him to join her in bed, showing her resignation to the whole affair. She shortly after dies.
After his affair is exposed, Kracha's customers begin to frequent other shops instead of his to signify their disapproval. His friends and family disapprove of this as well, but Kracha cannot end the affair. Zuska announces she is with child and her and Kracha shortly marry. The United States declared war on Spain in the Spanish American War. Krach continues to take solace in heavy drinking. Shortly after his marriage to Zuska, he is sent to prison for excessive debt and loses his business, his wealth and his lustful relationship with Zuska. Zuska leaves with her two boys, Kracha's remaining money, and is never heard from again.
Kracha is released from jail and takes up residence in Dorta's house, Dubik's wife. Nearly a month later he returns to the steel mills in Homestead and pays his sister Franka to board his two youngest daughters. His oldest daughter, Mary, first stays with Dorta and helps with the boarders, then moves in with an American family to take a job caring for their young son. Kracha was never very close to his children and this does not seem to bother him. He continues to feel sorry for himself, still thinks of Zuska, and toys with the idea of opening another butcher shop.
. Mike boarded at Dorta's and worked in the steel mill his entire adult life. He and his co-workers were subjected to hazardous working conditions and were degraded by the supervisors who called them Hunky
. The mill poured out slag
into the nearby river where many of the mill workers homes were located. Mike was an unusual immigrant in that he learned English and became a U.S. citizen. He always had an interest in politics and wanted to work for a better life.
While staying at Dorta's he met Kracha's daughter Mary whom he later married. Over time they had four children, two girls and two boys. Mike received great joy from his children and wife even though times were tough. As a result of Mike's higher education he was left wanting more for himself and for his family and he knew the only way to get it was through ones own will power.
"Nobody can help us but ourselves, and if anything is to be done we will have to do it ourselves. That's what I learned. God pity me, sometimes I wish I could have gone along without learning it, gone on talking and making plans but inside me feeling that maybe it wasn't really true and if it was I was somehow excepted. Inside me hoping that somehow things would change by themselves or that other people would do what was necessary and I'd never have to risk the little I have." (Bell, p. 194).
The work at the mills was up and down year after year and the threat of reduced work was always in Mike's mind. To make ends meet, Mary took on boarders, a strenuous and time consuming role. Mary often fed them pirohi and halushki which were native dishes from Slovakia and inexpensive to make. The rigorous schedule eventually caught up to Mary. When she was pregnant with their fourth child, Mary became ill. Unable to get the rest she needed to recover Mary and Mike decided to stop taking in boarders which made it even harder to make ends meet.
Kracha came to celebrate his oldest grandson's eleventh birthday. Mary suggested that Kracha spend the night at her house so he doesn't have to travel back that night. Mike left for work, as he did every evening. Before he went Mary sewed his button back on his coat. Later that night Kracha came in drunk. Just when he is about to go to sleep he heard a noise downstairs. It turned out to be a man with a message for Mary: Mike was dead.
Mike died working at the mill at the age of 39. He left Mary with no way to support herself or take care of their four young children.
To restore financial stability, Mary considers a variety of unappealing options, from taking in strangers as boarders to remarrying. Ultimately, she avoids those measures by deciding to take in her alcoholic father Kracha as a boarder. While her father helped alleviate some of Mary's financial woes, his very presence brought about another unique set of challenges, from bailing him out of jail after drunken debacles, to tolerating his unrelenting pessimism.
As Mary struggles to coexist within the same household as her father, Johnny begins to experience his own set of difficulties, particularly with school. Because of his ethnic background, Johnny finds himself a regular subject of discrimination. His desire to get a job to earn money provides yet another reason to resist attending school. After failing to persuade his mother to forge his birth certificate so that he could be legally classified as eligible to work, he attains a position as an apprentice armature
.
As though the Dobrejcak's hadn't experienced enough adversity, Mary was diagnosed with Spanish Influenza. Bedridden for two weeks, Mary began coughing blood. The next morning she asked Dr. Kralik if she had consumption
, to which the doctor replied, "Your lungs are touched. Yes" (Bell, p. 235). Dr. Kralik encouraged Mary to seek residency for long-term care in a sanitarium
. Bedridden and helpless, days began to fade into one as Mary awaited her restoration to health. Sadly, her health never returned. She died at the age of 37 with a smile on her lips as she thought fondly of her beloved Mike.
Since he was strong and healthy. therefore ineligible for admission to the sanitarium, Johnny moved in with Frank and Alice where he was quickly introduced to the concept of worker unions. Fleeing to Donora on his newly purchased bicycle when union workers went on strike, Johnny found work with a road gang. Upon reception of his first paycheck Johnny discovered that "two dollars had been deducted for 'purchases'" (Bell, p. 245). After complaining to another worker about the unjust deduction from his wage, Johnny vowed vengeance. "Nobody can do things like that to me and get away with it" (Bell, p. 246). His prophetic statement would resonate within his spirit for decades to come.
Dobie completed his apprenticeship as a winder at the mill. He continued to live with Frank and Anna and gave them money to help pay the bills because Frank could no longer find work. Dobie announced he was leaving to try Detroit where he worked at a Chrysler plant roughing pistons. He moved from one plant to another, as Detroit became known for manufacturing cars. Dobie lived lavishly, spending money on good suits, girls, and gambling. After being shorted on payday at the Budd Wheel, he organized his first strike. He was thrown out of the plant with the rest of the strikers. He headed back to his old job at the Electric Shop and ended up again in Braddock. With the National Industrial Recovery Act on the side of the people, Dobie’s fate seemed to lie in fighting the issues of labor. This was near the time of the Great Depression. Times continued to get tough across the country.
Two days after Dobie married Julie, the mills passed principles of the Employee Representation Plan, which was part of the National Industrial Recovery Act supported by congress. Labor unions were becoming stronger and the bosses of the mills were fighting to keep in control of the unions. Dobie's refusal to vote in the first election of representatives because he was aware of the company's push to keep their own representatives in power. This was the start of Dobie's leadership in the unions; soon afterwards he joins the American Federation of Labor.
As the unions became stronger and the fight for a union led by the workers or a union led by the mills went underway. The union looked to Dobie as a leader and as an ally to rally up the workers and fight for rights. During the New Deal Era, Dobie becomes an effective organizer, recruiting dozens of his fellow workers to join the labor movement. He eventually becomes assistant director of his union. This put him on the blacklist at the mill, but with backing from the union and his co-workers, Dobie was unable to be fired as he attended conferences and became a witness to a court case against the mill.
In previous sections of the novel, particularly during the turn of the 20th century, the steel mills were hostile social arenas in which immigrant laborers embodied an overwhelming "denial of social and racial equality" (Bell, 124). The status quo could be safely protected so long as racial divisions existing within the social framework of the steel mills. In other words, a disorganized workforce poses little threat to the power of the employer. What's particularly interesting is that as the novel progressed, worker exploitation at the mill wound up serving as the platform by which workers transcended racial divisions. There is strength in unity, and in order to fight their oppressed state, members of various racial backgrounds had to come together for a common purpose, which was ultimately to fight a common enemy.
In reflecting upon the nature of the human condition, this is a pattern that has reoccurred countless times throughout the annals of human history. How often have we seen groups of people that normally would not mix uniting together in an effort to battle a common adversary? It is what gave birth to this nation! The list could go on ad infinitum, from schoolyard quarrels to international warfare.
Many of the concept vocabulary words used in section 4, Dobie, from Out of This Furnace
by Thomas Bell highlight historical events in the early 1900s. The Great Depression included a series of events which began with the Wall Street Crash of October, 1929, devastating the economy, employment and American politics. Prohibition in the United States or the "Volsted Act" took place in section 4 during the 1920s through 1933. During this period, the production and distribution of alcoholic beverages was outlawed. The demand for alcohol remained high and Speakeasy clubs were established for consumers.
"The National Industrial Recovery Act (NIRA), officially known as the Act of June 16, 1933 (ch. 90, 48 stat. 195, formally codified at 15 u.s.c. sec. 703), was an American statute which authorized the President of the United States to regulate industry and permit cartels and monopolies in an attempt to stimulate economic recovery, and established a national public works program" (National Industrial Recovery Act, 2011). One of the monopolies or federations in section 4 was the American Federation of Labor. The labor union was effective in the establishment and coordination of strikes across the country.
, and Pittsburgh theatre
company Iron Clad Agreement mounted a well-received production of it in 1977. Unseam'd Shakespeare Company
mounted successful productions of the play in 2008 (as part of Pittsburgh's 250th anniversary) and 2011.
Historical novel
According to Encyclopædia Britannica, a historical novel is-Development:An early example of historical prose fiction is Luó Guànzhōng's 14th century Romance of the Three Kingdoms, which covers one of the most important periods of Chinese history and left a lasting impact on Chinese culture.The...
and the best-known work of the American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
writer Thomas Bell
Thomas Bell (novelist)
Thomas Bell was an American novelist.Bell was born Adalbert Thomas Belejcak on March 7, 1903 in Braddock, Pennsylvania, USA of immigrant Lemko Rusyn parents from the village of Nižný Tvarožec, Slovak republic. He worked in the steel mills there, beginning at the age of fifteen as an apprentice...
(1903–1961).
The novel is set in Braddock, Pennsylvania, a steel
Steel
Steel is an alloy that consists mostly of iron and has a carbon content between 0.2% and 2.1% by weight, depending on the grade. Carbon is the most common alloying material for iron, but various other alloying elements are used, such as manganese, chromium, vanadium, and tungsten...
town just east of Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Pittsburgh is the second-largest city in the US Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Allegheny County. Regionally, it anchors the largest urban area of Appalachia and the Ohio River Valley, and nationally, it is the 22nd-largest urban area in the United States...
, Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...
along the Monongahela River
Monongahela River
The Monongahela River is a river on the Allegheny Plateau in north-central West Virginia and southwestern Pennsylvania in the United States...
. It was first published in 1941 by Little, Brown and Company
Little, Brown and Company
Little, Brown and Company is a publishing house established by Charles Coffin Little and his partner, James Brown. Since 2006 it has been a constituent unit of Hachette Book Group USA.-19th century:...
. Based upon Bell's own family of Rusyn
Rusyns
Carpatho-Rusyns are a primarily diasporic ethnic group who speak an Eastern Slavic language, or Ukrainian dialect, known as Rusyn. Carpatho-Rusyns descend from a minority of Ruthenians who did not adopt the use of the ethnonym "Ukrainian" in the early twentieth century...
and Slovak
Slovaks
The Slovaks, Slovak people, or Slovakians are a West Slavic people that primarily inhabit Slovakia and speak the Slovak language, which is closely related to the Czech language.Most Slovaks today live within the borders of the independent Slovakia...
immigrants, the story follows three generations of a family, starting with their migration in 1881 from Austria-Hungary
Austria-Hungary
Austria-Hungary , more formally known as the Kingdoms and Lands Represented in the Imperial Council and the Lands of the Holy Hungarian Crown of Saint Stephen, was a constitutional monarchic union between the crowns of the Austrian Empire and the Kingdom of Hungary in...
to the United States, and finishing with World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. The novel focuses on the steelworkers' attempt to unionize from 1889, the first Homestead strike
Homestead Strike
The Homestead Strike was an industrial lockout and strike which began on June 30, 1892, culminating in a battle between strikers and private security agents on July 6, 1892. It was one of the most serious disputes in U.S. labor history...
(mentioned by Andrej on p. 38) through the big Homestead Steel Strike of 1892, the Great Steel Strike of 1919 right after World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
, and the events of the 1930s (Labor Organizing). A common connection of struggle, poverty, and entire need of the characters of forces out of their control come together to tell a story of a tragic depiction of a truly troubled group of people. Shared with unbearable financial adversity, the Slovaks nicknamed "Hunkies" were also exposed to discrimination by other "Americans". The novel's title refers to the central role of the steel mill
Steel mill
A steel mill or steelworks is an industrial plant for the manufacture of steel.Steel is an alloy of iron and carbon. It is produced in a two-stage process. First, iron ore is reduced or smelted with coke and limestone in a blast furnace, producing molten iron which is either cast into pig iron or...
in the family's life and in the history of the Pittsburgh region.
Long out of print, the novel was rediscovered in the 1970s by David P. Demarest
David P. Demarest
David P. Demarest was an American academic and writer best known for his work on organized labor, social geography, and US working-class literature....
, a professor of English at Carnegie Mellon University
Carnegie Mellon University
Carnegie Mellon University is a private research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States....
, who convinced director Frederick A. Hetzel
Frederick A. Hetzel
Frederick Armstrong Hetzel was an American publisher and academic.-Biography:Hetzel was born and raised in Connellsville, Pennsylvania. He received degrees from Washington and Jefferson College and the University of Virginia...
at the University of Pittsburgh Press
University of Pittsburgh Press
The University of Pittsburgh Press is a scholarly publishing house and a major American university press, part of the University of Pittsburgh. The university and the press are located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in the United States....
to reissue it in 1976. The book quickly became a regional bestseller. By the 1980s, however, it found an even larger readership on American college campuses. Out of This Furnace is regularly used as required reading in universities to introduce students to the history of immigration
Immigration
Immigration is the act of foreigners passing or coming into a country for the purpose of permanent residence...
, industrialization, and the rise of trade union
Trade union
A trade union, trades union or labor union is an organization of workers that have banded together to achieve common goals such as better working conditions. The trade union, through its leadership, bargains with the employer on behalf of union members and negotiates labour contracts with...
ism, as well as to the genre
Genre
Genre , Greek: genos, γένος) is the term for any category of literature or other forms of art or culture, e.g. music, and in general, any type of discourse, whether written or spoken, audial or visual, based on some set of stylistic criteria. Genres are formed by conventions that change over time...
of the American working class
Working class
Working class is a term used in the social sciences and in ordinary conversation to describe those employed in lower tier jobs , often extending to those in unemployment or otherwise possessing below-average incomes...
novel.
Part One
Kracha learned about opportunities in America through letters written from relatives who had previously immigrated to the United States. The letters contained precise instructions on how to arrive in New YorkNew York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
, buy a railroad ticket, board the ship, and ask help from fellow Slovakian travelers. If lost he was to show papers to a police officer and never let anyone else handle his money.
During his trip to the United States, he meets a young woman named Zuska with whom he becomes infatuated. Zuska is married and her husband is on the boat with her, but this does not discourage Kracha from wanting her. When Kracha hears that Zuska is turning 19 during the trip over, he buys whiskey in order to throw her a party. Unfortunately for him, Zuska resists his advances.
Upon arriving, he begins his journey to White Haven. Having spent his train ticket money on Zuska's party, he is forced to make his way by foot. His journey, however, is fairly trouble-free and he arrives to White Haven in short order. There, he meets his sister Franka, brother Puskin and another Slovak immigrant Dubik. Dubik and Kracha become close friends, spending most of their time together. When Dubik marries his sweetheart, Kracha is his best man. Dubik later moves on to Braddock, Pennsylvania
Braddock, Pennsylvania
Braddock is a borough located in the eastern suburbs of Pittsburgh in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, 10 miles upstream from the mouth of the Monongahela River. The population was 2,159 at the 2010 census...
to try his luck in Andrew Carnegie
Andrew Carnegie
Andrew Carnegie was a Scottish-American industrialist, businessman, and entrepreneur who led the enormous expansion of the American steel industry in the late 19th century...
's steel mill. He encourages Kracha to join him in the mill, but he can not finance the venture at the time.
After two years in America, Kracha sends for his wife, Elena, to join him in America. When she arrives, he is somewhat disappointed - she is less energetic than he remembers her and she is afflicted with a goiter which has disfigured her neck. She also fails to meet his needs and so Kracha is rather disappointed with her.
Nevertheless, Kracha and Elena bear three children, Mary, Alice, and Anna. Kracha continued to work for the railroads, and once stable enough, they moved to allow Kracha to try his hand at working in the Steel Mills. It was during this time in 1892 that the labor unions began negotiating to develop better wages and shorter days for the workers. Strikes
Strike action
Strike action, also called labour strike, on strike, greve , or simply strike, is a work stoppage caused by the mass refusal of employees to work. A strike usually takes place in response to employee grievances. Strikes became important during the industrial revolution, when mass labour became...
were common and often ended without success. Mills were being shut down due to strikes for months at a time, and the mills were always working hard to break the union. The constant shutting down of mills and the strikes were hard on workers and often left them blacklisted without a job or paycheck.
In May 1892 negotiations were being made for the Homestead Mill, Henry Clay Frick
Henry Clay Frick
Henry Clay Frick was an American industrialist, financier, and art patron. He founded the H. C. Frick & Company coke manufacturing company, was chairman of the Carnegie Steel Company, and played a major role in the formation of the giant U.S. Steel steel manufacturing concern...
had built a huge fence 'Fort Frick' surrounding the mill and later staged a lockout
Lockout
Lockout may refer to:* Lockout , a type of work stoppage* Lockout * Lockout chip, a computer chip in a video game system to prevent use of unauthorized software* Lock-out device, part of a signaling system used on game shows...
. This was the beginning of the historical Homestead Strike
Homestead Strike
The Homestead Strike was an industrial lockout and strike which began on June 30, 1892, culminating in a battle between strikers and private security agents on July 6, 1892. It was one of the most serious disputes in U.S. labor history...
which ended in bloodshed and leaving the working men powerless.
Working in the steel mills was hard work. Men often worked 12 hour shifts, seven days a week, switching from a week of nights to the next week of day shifts. This left many men exhausted where tempers flared and carelessness could be fatal. Men worked there because they had to work somewhere. They knew there was always another man willing to take their spot. The accident record at the mills was high, which left thousands injured or dead. Kracha worked in the front of the steel mill at the F furnace while his friend Dubik worked on the H furnace. It was dangerous work but not as labor intensive as the men who worked in the back to load ore, coke, and crushed limestone into the skips to be hoisted up to the furnace. One frightful afternoon as the shift was beginning, Kracha felt the Earth shake under his feet. The H Furnace was leaping flames. He knew immediately that Dubik was badly injured. He saw Dubik being helped off the hoist and saw his burnt face and shredded clothes. There was nothing to be done and soon after he died from this steel mill accident in 1895. Kracha would never be the same.
After some thought, Kracha comes up with a plan to open his own butcher shop in hopes of becoming a profitable businessman. He has found a suitable place to rent in town, and has saved some capital in order to put it together. He shares his plans with his friends and relatives, who are on the whole supportive and excited about his venture. Just one year after opening the shop, Kracha is a well-off business owner with a thousand dollars to his name and living an affluent lifestyle. During this time politics surge through mill towns where people such as Kracha were not American citizens, and most immigrants had no desire to be. It was during this time that Kracha shows his support for Mike Dobrejack, a young man from Dubik's native village, who is applying for his citizenship papers and showing interest in controversial political candidates. Kracha hangs a sign in favor of a candidate supported by Mike, which he is later advised to take down.
While tending to his shop, he meets Zuska again. She has grown older and fatter but he still lusts after her. He begins seeing her at night after work and soon this becomes no secret to anyone. After some time Franka reveals this in front of his wife. His wife is not quite destroyed with grief and Kracha's behavior changes little, except that he no longer shares a bed with Elena. However, after some time, Elena asks him to join her in bed, showing her resignation to the whole affair. She shortly after dies.
After his affair is exposed, Kracha's customers begin to frequent other shops instead of his to signify their disapproval. His friends and family disapprove of this as well, but Kracha cannot end the affair. Zuska announces she is with child and her and Kracha shortly marry. The United States declared war on Spain in the Spanish American War. Krach continues to take solace in heavy drinking. Shortly after his marriage to Zuska, he is sent to prison for excessive debt and loses his business, his wealth and his lustful relationship with Zuska. Zuska leaves with her two boys, Kracha's remaining money, and is never heard from again.
Kracha is released from jail and takes up residence in Dorta's house, Dubik's wife. Nearly a month later he returns to the steel mills in Homestead and pays his sister Franka to board his two youngest daughters. His oldest daughter, Mary, first stays with Dorta and helps with the boarders, then moves in with an American family to take a job caring for their young son. Kracha was never very close to his children and this does not seem to bother him. He continues to feel sorry for himself, still thinks of Zuska, and toys with the idea of opening another butcher shop.
Part Two
Part two focuses on Mike Dobrejcak who immigrated to the United States of America at the age of 14. He emigrated from SlovakiaSlovakia
The Slovak Republic is a landlocked state in Central Europe. It has a population of over five million and an area of about . Slovakia is bordered by the Czech Republic and Austria to the west, Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east and Hungary to the south...
. Mike boarded at Dorta's and worked in the steel mill his entire adult life. He and his co-workers were subjected to hazardous working conditions and were degraded by the supervisors who called them Hunky
Hunky Culture
The "Hunkies" are a composite Polish, Hungarian , Rusyn, Slovak ethnic group which primarily inhabits western Pennsylvania and Upstate New York and speaks English. The immigrants came en masse prior the turn of the century searching opportunity and religious freedom...
. The mill poured out slag
Slag
Slag is a partially vitreous by-product of smelting ore to separate the metal fraction from the unwanted fraction. It can usually be considered to be a mixture of metal oxides and silicon dioxide. However, slags can contain metal sulfides and metal atoms in the elemental form...
into the nearby river where many of the mill workers homes were located. Mike was an unusual immigrant in that he learned English and became a U.S. citizen. He always had an interest in politics and wanted to work for a better life.
While staying at Dorta's he met Kracha's daughter Mary whom he later married. Over time they had four children, two girls and two boys. Mike received great joy from his children and wife even though times were tough. As a result of Mike's higher education he was left wanting more for himself and for his family and he knew the only way to get it was through ones own will power.
"Nobody can help us but ourselves, and if anything is to be done we will have to do it ourselves. That's what I learned. God pity me, sometimes I wish I could have gone along without learning it, gone on talking and making plans but inside me feeling that maybe it wasn't really true and if it was I was somehow excepted. Inside me hoping that somehow things would change by themselves or that other people would do what was necessary and I'd never have to risk the little I have." (Bell, p. 194).
The work at the mills was up and down year after year and the threat of reduced work was always in Mike's mind. To make ends meet, Mary took on boarders, a strenuous and time consuming role. Mary often fed them pirohi and halushki which were native dishes from Slovakia and inexpensive to make. The rigorous schedule eventually caught up to Mary. When she was pregnant with their fourth child, Mary became ill. Unable to get the rest she needed to recover Mary and Mike decided to stop taking in boarders which made it even harder to make ends meet.
Kracha came to celebrate his oldest grandson's eleventh birthday. Mary suggested that Kracha spend the night at her house so he doesn't have to travel back that night. Mike left for work, as he did every evening. Before he went Mary sewed his button back on his coat. Later that night Kracha came in drunk. Just when he is about to go to sleep he heard a noise downstairs. It turned out to be a man with a message for Mary: Mike was dead.
Mike died working at the mill at the age of 39. He left Mary with no way to support herself or take care of their four young children.
Part Three
Dealing with the aftermath of Mike Dobrejcak's untimely and tragic death, Part III of Out of This Furnace picks up in 1914 with Mike's grieving widow Mary as she struggles to restore a sense of normalcy amid a family that has been torn apart. Upon receiving thirteen hundred dollars in accident compensation, she decides to relocate, hoping a change of scenery will assist in subsiding the pain associated with memories tied to Mike's death. While Mary struggles to financially take "up where Mike had left off" (Bell, p. 210), her son, Johnny, sells collections of bottles, rags, bones, and old iron until he turns 11 years old and joins the newspaper-selling business to help financially assist the family.To restore financial stability, Mary considers a variety of unappealing options, from taking in strangers as boarders to remarrying. Ultimately, she avoids those measures by deciding to take in her alcoholic father Kracha as a boarder. While her father helped alleviate some of Mary's financial woes, his very presence brought about another unique set of challenges, from bailing him out of jail after drunken debacles, to tolerating his unrelenting pessimism.
As Mary struggles to coexist within the same household as her father, Johnny begins to experience his own set of difficulties, particularly with school. Because of his ethnic background, Johnny finds himself a regular subject of discrimination. His desire to get a job to earn money provides yet another reason to resist attending school. After failing to persuade his mother to forge his birth certificate so that he could be legally classified as eligible to work, he attains a position as an apprentice armature
Armature
Armature may refer to:* Armature , the kinematic chains used in computer animation to simulate the motions of virtual characters...
.
As though the Dobrejcak's hadn't experienced enough adversity, Mary was diagnosed with Spanish Influenza. Bedridden for two weeks, Mary began coughing blood. The next morning she asked Dr. Kralik if she had consumption
Tuberculosis
Tuberculosis, MTB, or TB is a common, and in many cases lethal, infectious disease caused by various strains of mycobacteria, usually Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Tuberculosis usually attacks the lungs but can also affect other parts of the body...
, to which the doctor replied, "Your lungs are touched. Yes" (Bell, p. 235). Dr. Kralik encouraged Mary to seek residency for long-term care in a sanitarium
Sanatorium
A sanatorium is a medical facility for long-term illness, most typically associated with treatment of tuberculosis before antibiotics...
. Bedridden and helpless, days began to fade into one as Mary awaited her restoration to health. Sadly, her health never returned. She died at the age of 37 with a smile on her lips as she thought fondly of her beloved Mike.
Since he was strong and healthy. therefore ineligible for admission to the sanitarium, Johnny moved in with Frank and Alice where he was quickly introduced to the concept of worker unions. Fleeing to Donora on his newly purchased bicycle when union workers went on strike, Johnny found work with a road gang. Upon reception of his first paycheck Johnny discovered that "two dollars had been deducted for 'purchases'" (Bell, p. 245). After complaining to another worker about the unjust deduction from his wage, Johnny vowed vengeance. "Nobody can do things like that to me and get away with it" (Bell, p. 246). His prophetic statement would resonate within his spirit for decades to come.
Part Four
The Great Depression is in full swing during part four of Out of this Furnace, while the story continues through the eyes of Mary and Mike Dobrejack’s son, Johnny, aka Dobie. Dobie’s character develops in parts two and three of Out of this Furnace as a child who starts work at a young age to contribute to his family’s well being. During an era when child labor was steady, Dobie started working first delivering wallpaper and later in a glass factory. When his family is sent to a sanitarium, Dobie is forced to make it on his own with little help from others.Dobie completed his apprenticeship as a winder at the mill. He continued to live with Frank and Anna and gave them money to help pay the bills because Frank could no longer find work. Dobie announced he was leaving to try Detroit where he worked at a Chrysler plant roughing pistons. He moved from one plant to another, as Detroit became known for manufacturing cars. Dobie lived lavishly, spending money on good suits, girls, and gambling. After being shorted on payday at the Budd Wheel, he organized his first strike. He was thrown out of the plant with the rest of the strikers. He headed back to his old job at the Electric Shop and ended up again in Braddock. With the National Industrial Recovery Act on the side of the people, Dobie’s fate seemed to lie in fighting the issues of labor. This was near the time of the Great Depression. Times continued to get tough across the country.
Two days after Dobie married Julie, the mills passed principles of the Employee Representation Plan, which was part of the National Industrial Recovery Act supported by congress. Labor unions were becoming stronger and the bosses of the mills were fighting to keep in control of the unions. Dobie's refusal to vote in the first election of representatives because he was aware of the company's push to keep their own representatives in power. This was the start of Dobie's leadership in the unions; soon afterwards he joins the American Federation of Labor.
As the unions became stronger and the fight for a union led by the workers or a union led by the mills went underway. The union looked to Dobie as a leader and as an ally to rally up the workers and fight for rights. During the New Deal Era, Dobie becomes an effective organizer, recruiting dozens of his fellow workers to join the labor movement. He eventually becomes assistant director of his union. This put him on the blacklist at the mill, but with backing from the union and his co-workers, Dobie was unable to be fired as he attended conferences and became a witness to a court case against the mill.
In previous sections of the novel, particularly during the turn of the 20th century, the steel mills were hostile social arenas in which immigrant laborers embodied an overwhelming "denial of social and racial equality" (Bell, 124). The status quo could be safely protected so long as racial divisions existing within the social framework of the steel mills. In other words, a disorganized workforce poses little threat to the power of the employer. What's particularly interesting is that as the novel progressed, worker exploitation at the mill wound up serving as the platform by which workers transcended racial divisions. There is strength in unity, and in order to fight their oppressed state, members of various racial backgrounds had to come together for a common purpose, which was ultimately to fight a common enemy.
In reflecting upon the nature of the human condition, this is a pattern that has reoccurred countless times throughout the annals of human history. How often have we seen groups of people that normally would not mix uniting together in an effort to battle a common adversary? It is what gave birth to this nation! The list could go on ad infinitum, from schoolyard quarrels to international warfare.
Many of the concept vocabulary words used in section 4, Dobie, from Out of This Furnace
by Thomas Bell highlight historical events in the early 1900s. The Great Depression included a series of events which began with the Wall Street Crash of October, 1929, devastating the economy, employment and American politics. Prohibition in the United States or the "Volsted Act" took place in section 4 during the 1920s through 1933. During this period, the production and distribution of alcoholic beverages was outlawed. The demand for alcohol remained high and Speakeasy clubs were established for consumers.
"The National Industrial Recovery Act (NIRA), officially known as the Act of June 16, 1933 (ch. 90, 48 stat. 195, formally codified at 15 u.s.c. sec. 703), was an American statute which authorized the President of the United States to regulate industry and permit cartels and monopolies in an attempt to stimulate economic recovery, and established a national public works program" (National Industrial Recovery Act, 2011). One of the monopolies or federations in section 4 was the American Federation of Labor. The labor union was effective in the establishment and coordination of strikes across the country.
Adaptations
The novel was adapted into a play by Andy WolkAndy Wolk
Andy Wolk is an American television and theatre director.Some of his television credits include Tales of the Crypt, The Sopranos, Arli$$, The Practice, The Division, Medium, Ugly Betty, Criminal Minds as well as a number of television films.He also had a career in theatre, directing plays at the...
, and Pittsburgh theatre
Theatre in Pittsburgh
Theatre in Pittsburgh has existed professionally since the early 1800s and has continued to expand, having emerged as an important cultural force in the city over the past 30 years.-History:...
company Iron Clad Agreement mounted a well-received production of it in 1977. Unseam'd Shakespeare Company
Unseam'd Shakespeare Company
Unseam'd Shakespeare Company is a professional theatre company located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Founded in 1993, the theatre's mission is to "rediscover and reinvent classic and classically inspired plays for modern audiences and present these plays in artistically ambitious and innovative...
mounted successful productions of the play in 2008 (as part of Pittsburgh's 250th anniversary) and 2011.