Immigration and American Identity Theme Analysis

In Out of This Furnace, Thomas Bell explores how immigration continually redefined the meaning of American identity at the turn of the twentieth century. When Slovakian immigrant George Kracha and his family settle in the steel town of Braddock, Pennsylvania, they face constant discrimination from the native-born workers who hail from Irish, English, and German “old immigrant” stock. Bell follows three generations of Kracha’s family to show just how long it takes for them to go from ostracized “hunkies” to American labor-union members (like Kracha’s grandson, Dobie). Through these experiences, the novel argues that American identity is constructed like a seniority system: the groups that have lived in America the longest claim to be more American than those who immigrated more recently. Moreover, those at the top of Braddock’s socioeconomic hierarchy designate people with Anglo immigrant backgrounds as the “most” American. By contrast, the Slovaks in the novel are first-generation peasants who have no long-standing connections in America. Slovaks become “Americans” only by spending a very long time in America and by distancing themselves from their ethnic traditions. As such, the novel suggests that American identity is a vague and prejudiced concept, defined not by an innate sense of what “Americanness” actually is but rather by what it is not.

In Braddock, a hierarchical system of privileged Americanness has developed based on a largely “first come, first serve” basis—that is, those most removed from their origins are considered the most American, and enjoy the benefits of that status. The first millworkers were mostly American and English. “When the Irish came,” Bell writes, “sheer precedence as much as anything else now gave a near monopoly of the skilled jobs and best wages” to American and English workers, who also go the best housing. Then the Slovaks came and took over the First Ward as the Irish fled to the suburbs. With each cycle of immigration, the “old” immigrants perceive themselves as more American than the new ones.

As the most recent immigrants to Braddock, Slovaks are relegated to the bottom of the social barrel and spend decades enduring charges that they are not “real” Americans. They endure contempt from English-speaking workers, for instance, who call Slovaks “hunkies,” a derogatory epitaph. When Kracha arrives in Braddock, he learns that even fellow Slovaks divide themselves based on how long they have been in America: a drunk taunts him and his family in Slovak by calling them “Greenhorns” and yelling out, "Goom-by old country! Hooray America!" This points to the intense pressure immigrants face to assimilate by separating themselves from their origins.

Because they are not yet considered American, the Krachas also endure the worst of the American experience. Kracha’s family live in the First Ward, the poorest section of Braddock that is closest to the steel mills, with their smoke, soot, and cinder dumps. As unskilled Slovak laborers, Kracha and his best friend, Joe Dubik, also work the worst jobs in the mills. “Of the two thousand or so men working in the mill,” Bell writes, “a good half were Slovaks or other non-English-speaking foreigners, and of that half not one had a skilled job.” New immigrants like Kracha toil at the bottom of the labor hierarchy specifically due to their status as new Slovak immigrants. The unskilled positions were especially dangerous. “In Braddock it was an exceptional month which didn't see a man crippled or killed outright,” Bell notes. Kracha witnesses this firsthand when an explosion kills Dubik. This is a morbid reminder of the mortal price many men pay for not being “real” Americans.

Frustrated with his unfair lot as a “hunky,” Mike Dobrejcak tries to Americanize himself more than Kracha, ever does. He works hard in the mills, endears himself to his Irish boss, learns to read and write English, and studies U.S. history. None of Mike’s efforts, however, earn him a better job. “I've seen them hire Irish, Johnny Bulls, Scotties, just off the boat […] and in a year they're giving me orders,” he complains to Mary, “I'm a Hunky and they don't give good jobs to Hunkies.” Mike finds out the hard way that no amount of studying about American culture can compare to the old immigrants’ combination of accumulated time in America and their Anglo ethnic heritage. Bell therefore suggests that “American identity” is a vague concept, prone to the shifting whims of those get to define it. Thus, Mike cannot be an American because he is a “hunky” who has not lived in American long enough to shed his Slovak ethnic identity, but Anglo immigrants “just off the boat” can get fast-tracked to “Americanness” simply because they come from Anglo backgrounds.

In the final section of the novel, Bell shows how John “Dobie” Dobrejcak’s status as a third-generation Slovak has earned him a level of Americanness denied to his father and grandfather. Mike and Kracha could not work skilled jobs or join a union because they were foreign-born Slovaks. Dobie’s American birth, however, lets him train as a skilled armature winder and become a union leader. Whereas the steel companies once called striking workers foreign “Bolsheviks,” Dobie’s Aunt Anna tells him that the children of immigrants can now fight the companies. As Slovaks, they have had to work harder and longer to achieve an “Americanness” that Anglo people earn quickly due to their ethnic heritage—but Slovaks have achieved it nonetheless.

When he testifies against the company in Washington, Dobie see workers from all backgrounds. These men are not docile greenhorns; they believe they are “as good as any man alive.” The novel begins with Kracha, the powerless new immigrant, but it ends with his grandson, who represents nearly 80 years of accumulated Americanness and works with different ethnic groups to achieve positive change for workers. In contrast to his elder relatives, who disparage black residents of the First Ward as “niggers,” Dobie understands that people can gain the fruits of American identity by overcoming differences to achieve shared goals. For decades, the steel bosses divided workers along ethnic lines to discourage union activity, but Dobie’s generation shows that compromise, not conflict, can achieve Americanness and successfully stand up to the steel company’s power.