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Part 2, Chapter 7
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
The slowdown causes a ripple effect throughout several heavy industries, including the railroads and coalmines. Mike’s hours drop, and though he is glad to have the time off, he worries that he will lose his position under Keogh and be sent back to the labor gangs. It is also an election year, and the company makes no secret of its desire for the steelworkers to vote the straight Republican ticket. Mike and Joe vote accordingly. On Decoration Day, Mary gives birth to a third child, Mikie Dobrejcak, and Johnny begins school in the fall. Anna begins dating a saloon worker named John Barry. Eventually, the slowdown ends, and the company once again raises unskilled wages.
The company’s ability to speed up and slow down the work cycle seemingly at whim, when combined with the power it holds over the steelworkers’ suffrage rights, symbolizes the awesome power that capital holds over every facet of workers’ lives in the steel towns. While the American Dream touts America as the land of freedom, the fact that the most powerful people in America can dictate the lives of less powerful people reveals the hollowness at the center of the American Dream.
Themes
