Analysis Of The Book ' Out Of This Furnace ' By Thomas Bell

Furthermore, in most cases, it may seem the United States has a system in which immigrants are not given the chance to form a bright future. In the novel, “Antonio soon found himself settling for jobs that were clearly beneath him. He stood under the baking sun at the on-ramp to the Santa Monica Freeway, selling oranges for two dollars a bag: a dollar fifty for the guy from the produce market, fifty cents for him,” (Tobar, 53). Many of the immigrants that live in the U.S. have little power that allows them to succeed. Some races have benefitted from it more than others. The Cubans, for instance, have had it much easier than most immigrants who have migrated to the United States; whereas, Antonio, a Guatemalan, had trouble finding a stable job that allowed him to sustain himself. In contrast to many other races, many Americans described Cubans as being visitors who represent, “all phases of life and professions, having an excellent level of education… More than half of their families with them, including children brought from Cuba to escape communist indoctrination in the schools,”

To begin, the "Robber Barons" of the late 1800's treated their workers poorly. First of all, according to the political cartoon by Keppler and Schwarzmann, business owners paid their workers $6-11 a week (Doc A). This conveys that business owners were not giving enough money to pay their workers. Also, in the article of the Homestead Steel Mill by PBS.org it states,"… for the rest of the year, they worked like animals,"(Doc F). This reveals that in Carnegie's Homestead Mill, many worked

After the civil war, up until the early 1900s, the need for a larger workforce grew as industrialization expanded. Samuel Slater brought the industrial revolution from England, and even since then, there were people trying to get better working conditions. Due to the growth in population by immigrants and expansion of industrialization, the working conditions became worse and worse, causing workers to suffer. Many people fought to solve this problem and changed many American’s lives for the better.

The book “Out of This Furnace” by Thomas Bell tells stories of three generations of an immigrant family in the 19th century. The first part of the book is about the story of Kracha, our first protagonist. Kracha left Slovakia to come to America for more opportunities. As Kracha settled in America, he married Elena. Life in the United States was rough for the Kracha’s family, and it turned out just as difficult as in his homeland. Kracha worked different jobs and realized that they were all low wage. He ended up working at the Mills.

For many Americans, the late nineteenth century was a time of big business, marked by economic and social evolution. In the period between the 1880 and 1920, the American economy was growing at a rapid pace. Many European immigrants without industrial skills flooded into American factories and steel mills. These new comer's came in search of better economic opportunity, which paved the way for Heavy, low paying labor that became the job description of the era for many immigrants. One such story of immigrants of the time is Thomas Bell's Out of this Furnace. This not only a story of three generations of Slovaks and the challenges they faced but also about the Americanization and evolving of

“Out of this Furnace” is a fictional novel by Thomas Bell which is based on true events from the 18th century. It is a well-written tale of Slovak immigrants who came to the United States in search of better opportunities than they had in their old country. The story revolves around four main characters: Djuro Kracha, Kracha’s daughter Mary, Mary’s husband, Mike Dobrejcak, and, their son Dobie. As history tells us, many early immigrants who moved to America had either of these motives: financial prosperity, social status and societal freedom. Similarly, as the story unfolds, we see that all of these characters became subject to harsh conditions and that each of them went through their own version of struggle. This novel has succeeded in enlightening us about the great effort that these Slovak immigrants made against the issues that encountered them in America. They faced numerous hardships in the form of underpaid and unsafe jobs, poor residence and other types of inequalities.

The book Out of This Furnace is a work of historical fiction written by Thomas Bell, in which the lives of four different individuals are told and woven together, and consequentially describe the changes taking place in different generations of immigrant workers in America. Beginning with Kracha, then leading to Mike, then Mary, and finally Dobie, this book does an excellent job of showing how the American immigrant's life changed mid 1800s to the 1920s. As seen in each generation, immigrants became as a whole more and more liberal in their beliefs and lifestyles. Many of their beliefs change, however, one of the most interesting is the development of the labor unions, and how they are viewed by the workers in that time period.

“Gates of Fire” by Steven Pressfield is a historical fiction novel that describes the Spartans at The Battle of Thermopylae. The story is told from the perspective of the only survivor, Xeones, who is recovered and captured by the Persian Empire. Some argue that this novel is not a great source for 21st-century history students, and some also argue that this novel should not be read in a classroom setting due to its lack of historical content. Several even question the novel’s historical accuracy and find it to be no better than a traditional textbook. Although this novel is classified as fiction, a literary works of imagination, Pressfield’s description of the Spartans makes this novel a creditable source for students and makes it appropriate to read in a college environment.

However, when the men went on strike for fair pay, the mills fired them and found replacements. These replacements were those who were willing and desperate enough to work for low wages. Blount’s anger, caused by the lack of empathy and justice within the mill system, stems from his opposition to capitalism. Many believe that in society capitalism is used to exploit the poor for the benefit of the wealthy. When the poor demand more rights and fair pay, the wealthy move on and hire those willing to work for the standards set.

In the late nineteenth and twentieth century many immigrants were migrating to the United States for an economic advantage and some by contract labors from various agents, much different from their predecessors. Thomas Bell’s novel “Out of this Furnace” is a generational novel of the characters Kracha, Mike, Mary, and Dobie, coming to America expecting to receive the American Dream and have a better life to soon return back home with riches. However, immigrants and many working class individuals undergo long hours and strenuous work, with minimal amount of pay. Not to mention, the living conditions were horrendous for the average person and particularly worse for arriving immigrants. There was a division between the classes which ultimately

These “newcomers” did not deserve to come here and steal their jobs. Mike Trudic’s account from his childhood referred to his father’s hunt in America to desperately find work, “At the end of a week he was taken ill and died. It said he died of a broken heart”(Mike, 188). There were just too many workers and not enough jobs to be filled. Another first hand source provided by Rose Cohen, called Out of the Shadow, depicts the story of a jewish girl in New York and the experiences her family goes through in order to reach a sustainable lifestyle. The struggles included descriptions of harsh working conditions and anti-semitism, which created difficulty for immigrants who were trying to assimilate into the American culture.

In the late 1800s and the early 1900s, labor was anything but easy. Factory workers faced long hours, low pay, high unemployment fears, and poor working conditions during this time. Life today is much easier in comparison to the late 1800s. Americans have shorter days, bigger pay and easier working conditions. Not comparable to how life is today, many riots sparked, and citizens began to fight for equal treatment. Along with other important events, the Haymarket Riot, the Pullman Strike, and the Homestead strike all play a vital role in illustrating labor’s struggle to gain fair and equitable treatment during the late 1800s and early 1900s.

In spite of the fact that industrialization in the United States raised ways of life for some, it had a dull side. Corporate managers, in some cases alluded to as "burglar aristocrats," sought after exploitative and out of line business rehearses gone for taking out rivalry and expanding benefits. Assembly line laborers, large portions of them late migrants, were much of the time subjected to severe and hazardous working and living conditions. Political debasement enhanced legislators to the detriment of the lower and regular workers, who attempted to make a decent living. The crevice between "those who are well off" and "the poor" was augmenting.

Chavez describes how migrant workers today are seen as a threat to American employment and how they face discrimination. This quote form Chavez’s story similar to the discrimination the “Okies” face in The Grapes of Wrath. “The town men, little bankers, hated the Okies because there was nothing to gain from them. They had nothing (Steinbeck 233). This shows how Steinbeck’s portrayal of migrant workers is consistent with migrant workers today, by illustrating how in The Grapes of Wrath, the “Okies” are discriminated against because they are seen to have nothing by the townspeople. This is consistent with migrant workers today because they are seen as people who

The Destiny of the Republic has taught me many things. Alexander Graham Bell struggled with people claiming themselves as the inventor of the telephone. “When [a] company began to attack Bell personally, suggesting that… [he] had stolen the idea, he set aside his hatred of lawsuits and fought back” (Millard 79). When a company tried to steal his invention and besmirch his name, Bell fought back and won. Bell taught me to always fight for what I believe in. I will do this by becoming informed about topics that are important to me, so that I can fight for my stance. I will gather more information about abortion, gun control, immigration, and many other topics so that I can defend my stance. Bell’s backbone and resistance has also taught me not to let anyone bully me or push me around. Bell stood up for himself and did not let his