Out of This Furnace Essay

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The collection “Coming to America” is comprised of journal entries, biographies, and autobiographies that discuss the social and political transformations that arose from immigration. “Of Plymouth Plantation”, “Balboa”, and “‘Blaxicans’ and Other Reinvented Americans” illustrate how immigrants shape America’s direction. The changes that occurred when settlers migrated seriously impacted the nation they were travelling to. The first of these changes pertains to culture. Immigrants brought their religions and languages to their host country, and that caused a great deal of acculturation, usually to the new religion or language. Government is another principle that was implemented into the “inner workings” of the new country. Lastly, the newcomers

In Out of This Furnace, author Thomas Bell portrays the historic stories of Slovakian immigrants who migrate to the United States with the dream of becoming a millionaire or trying to escape the oppression in their old country (Bell, 1). The novel illustrates the struggles of three generation of Slovakian immigrants in America enduring poverty, discrimination, exploitation by employers, as well as the development of labor unions. As the story progresses, the novel provides a glimpse of diverse sets of perspectives from Kracha, Mike, and finally Dobie. In examining the character Dobie, his participation in civic labor unions, and in search of his own true identity reveals the more liberal and outspoken new generation of immigrants.

Life in the early 1900’s wasn’t easy. Competition for jobs was at an all time high, especially in New York City. Immigrants were flooding in and needed to find work fast, even if that meant in the hot, overcrowded conditions of garment factories. Conditions were horrid and disaster was inevitable, and disaster did strike in March, 1911. The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory in New York set on fire, killing 146 workers. This is an important event in US history because it helped accomplish the tasks unions and strikes had tried to accomplish years earlier, It improved working conditions in factories nationwide and set new safety laws and regulations so that nothing as catastrophic would happen again. The workplace struggles became public after

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.

For some they returned having never reached this goal, for others they ended up staying in America, but for many of these immigrants they did reach their goal and after doing so, returned home. These immigrants were temporary migrants that had caught “America fever”. (p. 16) Temporary migration had been going on before this time, but it wasn’t until the invention of the steam engine that migrant workers began to voyage across the seas. Many of these poor European’s that migrated to the United States did so to make money to go back home and buy land. Not all of them had this goal, some saved money to start-up or buy a business. Whether they were going back to buy land or expand land they already had, or they were going to use the money to start a business these remigrants all had one thing in common. Wyman writes of the Hungarian emigrant’s experiences; “they would soon return with the money made overseas to make a better life for themselves in the environment they were attached to, the place where they wanted to live.”(p. 49). Because many of these European immigrants only stayed in America a short time many native-born Americans began to have hostilities toward these new immigrants in terms of the American Labor Movement, assimilation politics and nativist’s movements.

In his excerpt entitled The Land of Opportunity author James Loewen highlights the invisible struggles of the middle class. Loewen’s chief complaint is that the segregation and exploitation of the working class has been marginalized by the American social elite and all but erased from high school history books. Mr. Loewen posits that the authors of our children’s textbooks “construe labor history as something that happened long ago, like slavery, and that like slavery, was corrected long ago” (Loewen). While it may be seen as insensitive to compare the labor movement to slavery, Mr. Loewen is joined by other authors and activists who argue against rewriting or marginalizing our history in order to preserve our “national identity”. In order for our nation to continue to excel, we must learn from our mistakes not hide them. American history has been tumultuous and rife with conflict; which has led to a shift in ideals, and thus aided in the elevation of the people as a whole – this struggle is necessary and must continue.

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

In 1917 America entered World War one. By doing this America played a grave role in conquering Germany and ushering peace to Europe. However, the Great War also meant that the US would change dramatically through historical issues and changes which resulted in American society. Industries had started to realise that it was not as simple as it was before to abstract the immigrants. As the country developed and became more successful it attracted outsiders who were searching for chances. During the 1920¡¯s the United States began to confine immigrants due to cultural and economical purposes. The immigrants faced several afflictions such as: racism and religious oppression. The examination of immigration expressed an important

“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.

Immigration makes up of the United States. The life of an immigrant faces many struggles. Coming to the United States is a very difficult time for immigrant, especially when English is not their first language. In Oscar Handlin’s essay, Uprooted and Trapped: The One-Way Route to Modernity and Mark Wyman’s Coming and Going: Round Trip to America, both these essays describes the life of immigrants living in America and how they are able to make a decent amount of money to support their families. Handlin’s essay Uprooted and Trapped: The One - Way Route to Modernity explains how unskilled immigrants came to adapt to the American life working in factories to make a living. In the essay, Coming and Going: Round Trip to America, this essay describes the reality of many immigrants migrating to the United States in the midst of the Industrial Revolution. Many were living and adjusting to being transnational families. Both these essays show how the influx of immigration and industrialization contributed to the making of the United States. With the support from documents 3 and 7, Thomas O’ Donnell, Immigrant Thomas O’Donnell Laments the Worker’s Plight, 1883 and A Slovenian Boy Remembers Tales of the Golden Country, 1909, these documents will explain the life of an immigrant worker in the United States. Although, the United States was portrayed as the country for a better life and a new beginning, in reality, the United

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

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

By 1900, the United States had become the number one industrial power in the world. One factor that allowed the country to climb to its prime position was its abundant labor supply, largely composed of immigrants who had arrived between 1865 and 1900. However, the spot came at a cost; laborers were working long hours for low wages under poor conditions for the dominating monopolies of the time. Hoping to better these undesirable situations, multiple labor unions would form in the last half of the nineteenth century. Despite the continual efforts of these organizations little change was experienced from 1875 to 1900 due to disharmony among those competing to represent the laborer, the long-standing negative

Out of This Furnace is a story about a family’s immigration to the United States. The book tells a story about the trials and tribulations the family from Slovak have as they migrate to America. Within the book there are 3 generations from the first immigrant family. The novel starts out with a man named George Kracha boarding a ship after leaving his village in Hungary. George almost all of his money on a prostitute and arrives in America with about 50 cents to his name. He then travels by foot from New York all the way to Pennsylvania. George has relatives that lived in Pennsylvania which worked on the Railroad. He starts working in steel mills and the work is long hours with very low wages. His wife starts to take in people, which