Hunky Term Analysis

The term “Hunky” is a derogatory epithet that Anglo steelworkers use to refer to Slovaks and other eastern European Slavic immigrant groups. The term derives from the second part of the name of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, from which most Slovaks immigrated at the turn of the century. Beyond merely referencing the geographical origin of workers from central Europe, non-Slovaks in Out of This Furnace associate the term “Hunky” with negative traits such as dirtiness, ignorance, poverty, uncouthness, and drunkenness, which supposedly characterize Slovaks as a group. In the novel, being labeled a Hunky is a major impediment for Slovaks and other Slavic groups who want to be recognized as Americans. While the novel’s first generation of Slovak immigrants, represented by Kracha, largely brushes off the epithet, later generations of Slovak-Americans, such as the American-born Dobie, deeply resent the term and its implication of un-Americanness. In the decades since the novel’s publication, the term has largely fallen into disuse as Slovak-Americans, like other groups before them, gradually assimilated into the broader American culture.