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Part 1, Chapter 13
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Out of This Furnace, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Immigration and American Identity
Industrialization and Destruction
The American Dream vs. Reality
Women’s Work
Capital vs. Labor
Summary
Analysis
Of more concern to Kracha is Mike’s growing attraction to politics during the 1896 presidential election, especially the leftist politics of Democratic nominee William Jennings Bryan. Kracha lectures Mike that it is best not to make trouble in a town where the steel company dominates and demands adherence to the Republican Party. Kracha distrusts all rich and powerful men, and believes that voting is useless. There are men in the mill whose families go back generations, Kracha tells Mike, “and what good is their vote doing them?” These men, he notes, are as poor as any greenhorn. On Perovsky’s advice Kracha also invests most of his savings in property rumored to be near a future railroad line. Borka arrives and immediately takes charge of the Kracha household from Elena.
Kracha’s refusal to get involved in American politics illustrates the extent to which he clings to his identity as a Slovak immigrant who lives amidst American culture but does not participate in it, beyond working to earn a living. Yet, despite his refusal to participate in politics, Kracha understands the stranglehold the steel companies have on the political process in Braddock far better than Mike does. Kracha instead prefers to follow his entrepreneurial route by soliciting investment advice from Perovsky, an ethnic Slovak who has largely turned his back on his heritage in an effort to ingratiate himself to Braddock’s ruling Republican Party.
Themes
