Challenges In Thomas Bell's Out Of This Furnace

Following the Gilded Age, women and African Americans faced challenges economically and politically to gain equal benefits as most white men. They gradually started earning different rights of equality because of reformers and major impactful events like the World Wars. The characters of Thomas Bell’s “Out of This Furnace” faced similar transformations as each generation overcame some segregation challenges. To begin, women during this time faced challenges concerning equality. Amid the Progressive Era, America is prosperous. There are big gains to the upper class and the lower and middle classes remain the same. As seen in the Triangle Shirtwaist Company fire of 1911, women are still being overworked and they are also working in illegal conditions. During this case, immigrant Jewish women were locked in a building without any exits to ensure that they will stay at work. 146 workers ended up dying after a fire broke out on the same floor. In 1910, women become 20 percent of the labor force, and are seen as being temporary. This means that they did not get …show more content…
The first generation was during the Gilded Age and was focused on Kracha. He is a first generation immigrant and feels alienation in his new home in America. He expresses his struggles within his workplace and the everyday challenges of inequality that he felt during his early life in America. The next generation was born in America and they are considered citizens. They do not face the same identity issues as their parents and grandparents have and are accustomed to life in America. Dobie’s generation demands and gets more benefits through the Union, and by the end of the book, Dobie is organizing the labor movement. Dobey sees the past as a great thing that shaped his present, and he is also thankful of what his grandfather, Kracha, went through so that he could have the opportunity to live in an equal world in the present