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
December of 1902 sees the firing of the first new blast furnace, “K” furnace. The occasion is marked by visits from steel bigwigs from Pittsburgh and New York, the presence of whom irritates Keogh, Mike’s furnace-gang boss. “I'll bet half of them never saw the inside of a steel mill,” he gripes, “and them's the kind that tell you and me what to do.” The second furnace, “I” fires up in February 1903, and in March of that year, Mary gives birth to her first child, John Joseph Dobrejcak.
The visit to the new furnace from steel company bosses highlights the sheer power they have over the steelworkers. Keogh’s observation that, despite their power, the bosses have likely never been inside an actual mill demonstrates that bosses do not even need to be physically present—or experience any danger—to exercise their authority over workers.
Themes
The end of March ends tragically when an explosion wracks I furnace, baking nine workers alive and badly burning five others. Mike worries that his brother, Joe, is among those killed but is relieved to learn otherwise. One of the dead workers had only been in America for two weeks. Mary worries about Mike’s safety in the wake of the tragedy.
The deadly reality of working the blast furnaces contrasts with the company’s celebratory spirit when they open the new furnaces.
Themes
