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
Kracha wishes to see his friend Dubik, but the Braddock mills run constantly. After receiving his first paycheck, he and Andrej travel to Braddock to visit Dubik. They arrive at Dubik’s small frame house in Hand’s Court, where Dorta meets them with her new baby. Kracha awakens a sleeping Dubik and the men exchange pleasantries. Over whiskey, the men discuss work in the mill, which pays better than the railroad but demands longer, more grueling hours. “I work, eat, sleep, work, eat, sleep, until there are times when I couldn't tell you my own name,” Dubik explains, telling the other men how millwork is wearing down his body and soul.
The destructive nature of industrial work is among the novel’s most important themes. As Dubik explains, working the blast furnace becomes the totality of life itself. This represents a cruel irony: immigrants cannot make a better life for themselves in America if working in America allows them no life at all. This is one of many instances where Bell emphasizes the way industrial labor tragically melds human bodies with the machines on which they work.
Themes
The men also discuss the pros and cons of keeping boarders and the difficulty of finding a house. Dubik entertains the idea of settling on a small farm, but Kracha says he got his fill of farming in the old country. “You will get your fill of the mills, too,” Dubik warns. Kracha and Andrej depart for Homestead that evening. As they cross the river via barge, the blast furnaces in Homestead “vomited yellow flames” and “cast a sheen on the river.” For the first time, Kracha feels like a stranger in America.
Despite the hardship that working in the steel mill entails, Kracha sees them as a step up from the rural poverty of the Old Country. Dubik, however, believes that the American Dream is a trap that lures immigrant workers to American industry with false promises of a better life. Being unsure of what to believe about his new life as a steelworker leaves Kracha feeling alienated.
Themes
