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George Kracha is an immigrant who leaves Hungarian-ruled Slovakia in 1881 to seek work in western Pennsylvania, where his relatives reside. Kracha is the father of Mary, Alice, and Anna, as well as Mike’s father-in-law, and Dobie’s grandfather. The first of the novel’s four major characters and the patriarch of the extended family at the center of the novel, Kracha is a deeply flawed person who drinks too much and is cruel and indifferent to his wife, Elena, and children. At the very beginning of the novel, he reveals his impetuous and lecherous nature when he squanders his money to woo Zuska during his journey to America. Unable to afford transportation, he walks to Pennsylvania, where he meets up with his sister, Francka and her husband, Andrei, and works on the railroad. Kracha eventually moves with his family first to Homestead and then to Braddock, where he gets a job in a steel mill. As a first-generation immigrant from a peasant background, Kracha speaks no English and functions as a symbol of Old Country ethnic Slovak culture. His “greenhorn” status also relegates him to the most dangerous, unskilled work in the mill. Kracha comes from a minority group in Slovakia and is therefore distrustful of all authority; he wants only to earn a living and makes little effort to “Americanize” or vote, while the reigning culture encourages immigrants to shed their ethnic identities and assimilate into American society. He also serves as a repository of information that helps Dobie learn about his own Slovak heritage, reinforcing Kracha’s status as a symbol that connects the Old Country to America and preserves old traditions for new generations. After a series of financial mishaps and failed businesses, he goes back to work in the mill until he retires. He spends his remaining years living with Mary and Mike, then Julie and Dobie, until his death from a stroke. His experience epitomizes both the internal and external cultural barriers that prevented eastern European immigrants from fully integrating into American society.
Djuro “George” Kracha Quotes in Out of This Furnace
The Out of This Furnace quotes below are all either spoken by Djuro “George” Kracha or refer to Djuro “George” Kracha. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
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Part 1, Chapter 2
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It was America, of course, but he would not feel himself really in America until he was in White Haven, secure in a job and a place to live.
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Part 1, Chapter 5
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She had to work hard, cooking, washing, scrubbing; and what pleasure did she ever get? Women had a hard time of it, Dubik said. Put yourself in her place. How would you like to live her life, eh?
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Part 1, Chapter 7
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I work, eat, sleep, work, eat, sleep, until there are times when I couldn't tell you my own name. And every other Sunday the long turn, twenty-four hours straight in the mill. Jezis!, what a life!
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Part 1, Chapter 9
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These were the same people who snorted disrespectfully when they were reminded that in books and speeches Carnegie had uttered some impressive sounds about democracy and workers' rights.
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Part 1, Chapter 10
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Hope sustained him, as it sustained them all; hope and the human tendency to feel that, dreadful though one's circumstances might be at the moment, there were depths of misfortune still unplumbed.
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Part 4, Chapter 9
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The very things the Irish used to say about the Hunkies the Hunkies now say about the niggers. And for no better reason.
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Djuro “George” Kracha Quotes in Out of This Furnace
The Out of This Furnace quotes below are all either spoken by Djuro “George” Kracha or refer to Djuro “George” Kracha. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Part 1, Chapter 2
Quotes
It was America, of course, but he would not feel himself really in America until he was in White Haven, secure in a job and a place to live.
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Part 1, Chapter 5
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She had to work hard, cooking, washing, scrubbing; and what pleasure did she ever get? Women had a hard time of it, Dubik said. Put yourself in her place. How would you like to live her life, eh?
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Part 1, Chapter 7
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I work, eat, sleep, work, eat, sleep, until there are times when I couldn't tell you my own name. And every other Sunday the long turn, twenty-four hours straight in the mill. Jezis!, what a life!
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Part 1, Chapter 9
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These were the same people who snorted disrespectfully when they were reminded that in books and speeches Carnegie had uttered some impressive sounds about democracy and workers' rights.
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Part 1, Chapter 10
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Hope sustained him, as it sustained them all; hope and the human tendency to feel that, dreadful though one's circumstances might be at the moment, there were depths of misfortune still unplumbed.
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Part 4, Chapter 9
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The very things the Irish used to say about the Hunkies the Hunkies now say about the niggers. And for no better reason.
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