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
Zuska’s appearance makes Kracha reexamine his opinions about adultery. Technically, he has always been faithful to Elena, but this has largely been due to external circumstances rather than his own self-restraint. Living in an environment where everyone knows each other and where men far outnumber women, running his own business, and working over 80 hours a week in the blast furnaces made extramarital affairs risky and impractical. Dorta demonstrates the scarcity of women when she marries a widower named Steve Radilla a mere three months after Dubik’s death.
That Kracha’s faithfulness to Elena has been largely due to external, rather than internal, restraints further highlights the weakness for short-term gratification that caused him so much trouble the first time he met Zuska. While Bell’s novel often places his Slovak characters in positions of unjust powerlessness, they are nonetheless flawed (exceptionally so in Kracha’s case) individuals.
Themes
Now, however, with Zuska a penniless widow and himself a successful businessman, Kracha waits for the right opportunity to take advantage of his good fortune. Over the course of the summer, Zuska continues to frequent Kracha’s butcher shop and they discuss family and life circumstances. Kracha tells her about losing his travel money in New York but claims he lost it sleeping in a haystack. One night, Kracha learns that Borka and other women in the area are aware of Zuska’s presence and have given her the derogatory nickname “Black Susan.” He worries that she will tell others about the party he threw for her on the boat, but his interest in her does not abate.
Kracha’s belief that he can now take advantage of Zuska’s unfortunate circumstances illustrates his overall dismissiveness towards women and further exemplifies his need for instant gratification. In fact, just as he uses Elena as little more than a household worker, Kracha intends to exploit Zuska for his own sexual benefit. He is unaware, however, that Zuska can be just as manipulative as he is, perhaps even more so.
Themes
