The purpose of this paper is to discuss Thomas Bell's 1941 novel Out of This Furnace. This semi-autobiographical work was written by its author without the benefit of formal education, and it derives from other novels with the style of "social realism" such as Upton Sinclair's The Jungle (1906) and Theodore Dreiser's An American Tragedy (1925).
In summarizing Out of This Furnace it is important to note the generational structure of the book. Bell wants to demonstrate the progress of Djuro Kracha, as he arrives in New York from Hungry. By moving beyond Kracha's marriage to the next generation--his daughter, Mary, who marries Mike Dobrejcak-- Bell is able to show how the immigrants assimilated into the mill towns of Pennsylvania, and they dealt with the inhumane treatment of the mill bosses in an era before the effects of organized labor were felt.
It is with the third generation, symbolized by Dobie Dobrejcak (who can be seen as a stand-in for the author himself), that Bell details out the progress that has finally been made. It is fitting that Bell sees the continuity between Kracha and Dobie: both men understand the importance of the family bond as a way of dealing with the harsh realities of the outside world.
The development of the characters as Out of This Furnace progresses is paralleled with the improvement in conditions with the American labor system. For example, Kracha is seen from the very beginning of the book as a man who is willing to sacrifice in the short-term in order to realize his dream of becoming an American.
"Krachat who had left home with . . . exactly fifty-five cents in American money, (travelled) from New York to Pennsylvania by the tedious process of putting one foot before the other " (5).
It is not surprising that Kracha idolizes his daughter Mary, and so he is somewhat skeptical when she first falls in love with Mike Dobrejcak. It is ironic that, because Kracha and Mike are a grea...