'Out Of This Furnace' By Thomas Bell

“Out of This Furnace” by Thomas Bell is about immigrants that came to America from Slovakia to make a living. It starts in 1881, were Kracha comes to America to work and provide for his family. It talks about Kracha’s journey from New York to White Haven and how he had goals wanting to be successful in America. Mike, Kracha’s son in law, came from the same background as him. Although, Kracha and Mike have a lot in common, I think they are different in many ways.
In the beginning of the story it talked about Kracha’s journey to America. He was on his way to America and he met this woman named Zuska. It was her birthday and she had just turned nineteen. Kracha ended up spending all his money on her, buying her drinks, hoping that he would
Although both of them worked in the same place, they came out in different ways. Kracha started working in the steel mill at the age of twenty-one. He stayed there for a while until he lost his friend in an explosions in the mill. Some weeks after Dubik funeral, Kracha, Mike, and Dorta was talking and Kracha tells everyone that he want to buy the meat shop and was serious about it. (Page 54) He ended up owning the shop and had nearly one thousand dollars in cash. Although he was doing well in the beginning, he ran into Zuska again and everything ended up going left. He kept meeting up with her in the middle of the night and giving her money. They tried to hide it but people found out about it. After that, he started losing a lot of business and ended up losing he store. Mike, story is a little different. Unlike Kracha mike stayed in the mil. He moved up in his position as a helper. Although mike pay didn’t change, he did less work. He still wasn’t able to meet ends meet, and went into debt. Mike and Mary, his wife, decided to take in boarders. That allowed them to pay their debt off and save up money. They was able to buy nice clothes, stuff for the house and go out every once in a while. Mary got pregnant and had a miscarriage. She wasn’t able to take care of the house like she needed to. They ended up getting rid of the boarders and had to use their saving to
He took his time to marry the right woman. Not saying that Elena wasn’t the right woman for Kracha, but Mike wanted to make sure that he found the perfect wife, so he can have someone he actually cared for. When Mike met Dorta, she made sure he got enough sleep, saved money, went to church and married the right girl. (Page 125) His younger brother even got married before he did, but that still didn’t make him want to rush into it. He married Kracha daughter, Mary, at the age of twenty-seven and was very happy. Unlike Mike, Kracha came to America at the age of twenty-one and was already married with a pregnant wife. He did not appreciate nothing his wife did for him and was very rude.
Overall, they were different is so many ways. Kracha was successful and ended up losing his business because he wanted to cheat and was very disrespectful to his wife. Mike was successful too but he ended up going into debt because he was faithful to his wife and cared for her. Two different personalities but the same