Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Out of This Furnace, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Immigration and American Identity
Industrialization and Destruction
The American Dream vs. Reality
Women’s Work
Capital vs. Labor
Summary
Analysis
After Greek Easter, Kracha is filling out an order in his butcher shop when a woman enters and requests some soup meat. Kracha is startled to see Zuska Mihula standing before him. She explains that her husband died last year and she has moved to Braddock with her two young children to live with her sister. Seeing Zuska again rekindles Kracha’s flame for her, and he does not charge for her order.
Zuska’s reentrance into Kracha’s life reawakens his lecherous nature andsets the stage for his eventual downfall.
Themes
