Generational assimilation and labor unions in Out of This Furnace

¶ … Furnace by Thomas Bell

Explain the differences among the three generations of Dobrejcals?

With every succeeding generation, this Slovakian family became more assimilated into American society. The prejudices expressed against the earliest immigrants by mill bosses and the religious community of the local area diminished as the family proved itself to be hardworking and industrious.

3.The purpose of this novel?

The purpose of the novel is to show how different generations of immigrants became better integrated into America and the American dream. However, rather than simply working hard, according to the cliched way that individuals 'make it' in America, these immigrants did so through becoming part of a specific community, that of a labor union. The unions provided individuals with cohesion, socially, as well as an economic voice against the mill bosses.

4.Compare and contrast the novel and its description of the Mon Valley then and now?

The prejudiced and narrow minded divided city of agrarian and urban Mon Valley was transformed into a mechanized; yet more culturally diverse, world

5.How does the author describe life in the Mon Valley during that time?

The life of Mon Valley was a 'known quantity,' where individuals had largely similar cultures and lives, while the growing dominance of the steel mills began to create class divisions, just as the immigrants that flocked for jobs to the Mon Valley created a cultural divide between older and newer inhabitants.

6.How did the immigrants and the steel mills create the Pittsburgh of the late 1800's and early 1900's? Give details.

Pittsburgh became a gritty urban landscape of industrial development, divided from its more agrarian early roots. The immigrants also created a city divided into different ethnic neighborhoods, creating more division of classes and cultures, but also a greater diversity. These immigrants were also influential in unionizing the factories, which completely changed the economic relationship between bosses and laborers.

Work Cited

Bell, Thomas. Out of this Furnace. Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 1999.