Melvin Aloysius
Alisha Loftin
History 1302
February 25, 2015
1) How did involvement in union activity empower workers of Slovak descent economically and politically? To what extent did the union movement change the lives of unskilled workers?
Thomas Bell’s novel Out of This Furnace portrays the struggles of three generations of Slovak immigrants in Pittsburg. The immigrants settled in the steel mill town and worked hard to make money while fighting with the workers’ unions for better pay. In the process, the Slovaks suffered the retaliation of the management due to their involvement in union activities. Additionally, they were discriminated against by fellow workers. This essay examines the Slovak immigrants’ involvement in union activities …show more content…
How do you explain their role among Slovak Americans? What type of work did each of them have to do? What adverse conditions did they have to contend with?
The author of the book out of this furnace was aimed highlighting the plight of immigrants in the United States. The new country offered various challenges to the immigrants. The immigrants had to survive by all means while in the United States of America. The book was written at a period when many immigrants were moving from Europe into United States of America. This mass movement was based on the hope for a better life and good fortune. However, this does not come easy. Most of them had to endure a lot of suffering in the initial stages with events such as death or loss of their lives being experienced. This can be attributed to them working under difficult conditions that exposed them to numerous risks and even loss of …show more content…
They relocated to America in search of a better life. However, the immigrants faced a lot of challenges that affected their families. The structure of the families had to be rearranged. This is because of the need to make the ends meet with men having to work in the steel industries for many hours. Through his book, the role of women is portrayed as that of homemakers. Most of the women took most of their time to raise children in the family and also to make the home. This is because most of the men were out in the steel industries trying to make ends meet. Women play this role well as home makers even though they are faced with numerous challenges. Training the children and holding the family together was marred by frustrations since these were hard times for them. However, these women stood strong and were able to raise children even with the adverse conditions they were living
Alisha Loftin
History 1302
February 25, 2015
1) How did involvement in union activity empower workers of Slovak descent economically and politically? To what extent did the union movement change the lives of unskilled workers?
Thomas Bell’s novel Out of This Furnace portrays the struggles of three generations of Slovak immigrants in Pittsburg. The immigrants settled in the steel mill town and worked hard to make money while fighting with the workers’ unions for better pay. In the process, the Slovaks suffered the retaliation of the management due to their involvement in union activities. Additionally, they were discriminated against by fellow workers. This essay examines the Slovak immigrants’ involvement in union activities …show more content…
How do you explain their role among Slovak Americans? What type of work did each of them have to do? What adverse conditions did they have to contend with?
The author of the book out of this furnace was aimed highlighting the plight of immigrants in the United States. The new country offered various challenges to the immigrants. The immigrants had to survive by all means while in the United States of America. The book was written at a period when many immigrants were moving from Europe into United States of America. This mass movement was based on the hope for a better life and good fortune. However, this does not come easy. Most of them had to endure a lot of suffering in the initial stages with events such as death or loss of their lives being experienced. This can be attributed to them working under difficult conditions that exposed them to numerous risks and even loss of …show more content…
They relocated to America in search of a better life. However, the immigrants faced a lot of challenges that affected their families. The structure of the families had to be rearranged. This is because of the need to make the ends meet with men having to work in the steel industries for many hours. Through his book, the role of women is portrayed as that of homemakers. Most of the women took most of their time to raise children in the family and also to make the home. This is because most of the men were out in the steel industries trying to make ends meet. Women play this role well as home makers even though they are faced with numerous challenges. Training the children and holding the family together was marred by frustrations since these were hard times for them. However, these women stood strong and were able to raise children even with the adverse conditions they were living