Furnaces: Visions of the American Dream and Nightmare in Braddock
Furnaces: Visions of the American Dream and Nightmare in Braddock
Author(s): John C. SpurlockSubject(s): Novel, Film / Cinema / Cinematography, American Literature
Published by: Filološki fakultet, Nikšić
Keywords: steel mill; steelworkers; working class; violence; American dream; deindustrialization; economic mobility; Braddock; Slovak; immigration; assimilation
Summary/Abstract: Two works of fiction, one a novel, the other a movie, provide a harrowing journey from the American Dream to the American nightmare. Appearing about 70 years apart, Out of this Furnace (by Thomas Bell) and Out of the Furnace (directed by Scott Cooper) closely examine the lives of steelworking families in Braddock, Pennsylvania. The novel shows the hopes and aspirations of Slovak immigrants slowly improving their material lot over three generations. The movie fast forwards through two more generations to show Braddock in terminal decline, a victim of deindustrialization and all the social ills of America’s economic inequality. Taken together these works reveal the arc of American economic development in the 20th century as experienced in the lives of those who experienced it most directly.
Journal: Folia Linguistica et Litteraria
- Issue Year: 2020
- Issue No: 31
- Page Range: 69-75
- Page Count: 7
- Language: English