Blood on the Forge by William Attaway: Review
Bryan Casallo
Dr. Bailey
April 17, y
Blood on the Forge
Book Review
“Steel is born in the flames and sent out to live and grow old. It comes back to the flames and has a new birth. But no one man could calculate its beginning or end. It would end when the earth ended. It seemed deathless.” (302) Blood on the Forge, by William Attaway, illustrates one of the most important historical event in United States history, The Great Migration. Attaway sets Blood on the Forge in the midst of the Steel Valley in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania during the 1919’s. We accompany the Moss brothers in the Blood on the Forge as they face a world filled with emptiness, hunger, inequality and the obstacles they encounter in an unforgiving world. The Moss brothers consist of Big Mat, Melody, and Chinatown. Each born and raised in the deep south of the United States. Born to work and toil in a Sharecropper’s world, the Moss brothers struggle to make do. Big Mat is the oldest of the three Moss brothers. He’s recognized for his physical strengths, as a provider of the Moss family and his short temper. Melody is the middle half-brother of Big Mat and Chinatown. Melody is known for his musical talent, and his developing love for Anna. Chinatown is the youngest of the Moss brothers. Chinatown is the greediest of the brothers, fixed on his needs before his family. Ultimately the attributes of the Moss brothers will largely affect the outcome of the story, which entails a story of love, greed and death. Although each of the Moss brothers have different attributes and personality, at the end of the day they are still a family that are bounded together by the experiences they faced together. One of the underlying themes that are present in the Blood on the Forge are mechanization. The Moss brothers are merely tools, Big Mat is used to start a fight in a union meeting, he was used for physical attributes, and was ultimately killed in the fight. Melody smashed is hands that crippled him
Dr. Bailey
April 17, y
Blood on the Forge
Book Review
“Steel is born in the flames and sent out to live and grow old. It comes back to the flames and has a new birth. But no one man could calculate its beginning or end. It would end when the earth ended. It seemed deathless.” (302) Blood on the Forge, by William Attaway, illustrates one of the most important historical event in United States history, The Great Migration. Attaway sets Blood on the Forge in the midst of the Steel Valley in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania during the 1919’s. We accompany the Moss brothers in the Blood on the Forge as they face a world filled with emptiness, hunger, inequality and the obstacles they encounter in an unforgiving world. The Moss brothers consist of Big Mat, Melody, and Chinatown. Each born and raised in the deep south of the United States. Born to work and toil in a Sharecropper’s world, the Moss brothers struggle to make do. Big Mat is the oldest of the three Moss brothers. He’s recognized for his physical strengths, as a provider of the Moss family and his short temper. Melody is the middle half-brother of Big Mat and Chinatown. Melody is known for his musical talent, and his developing love for Anna. Chinatown is the youngest of the Moss brothers. Chinatown is the greediest of the brothers, fixed on his needs before his family. Ultimately the attributes of the Moss brothers will largely affect the outcome of the story, which entails a story of love, greed and death. Although each of the Moss brothers have different attributes and personality, at the end of the day they are still a family that are bounded together by the experiences they faced together. One of the underlying themes that are present in the Blood on the Forge are mechanization. The Moss brothers are merely tools, Big Mat is used to start a fight in a union meeting, he was used for physical attributes, and was ultimately killed in the fight. Melody smashed is hands that crippled him