Social, Economic and Political Conditions of a Slovak Immigrant Group Change from the 1880s to the 1930s

At the turn of the 19th century, several Slovak and other East European immigrant groups fled their native homelands in Europe to begin a new life in America. â€Å"Out of this Furnace† by Thomas Bell, set against the backdrop of the thriving steel mills of Pennsylvania, documents the great social upheavals experienced by one such Slovak family – the Dobrejcaks, across three generations.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Social, Economic and Political Conditions of a Slovak Immigrant Group Change from the 1880’s to the 1930’s specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Throughout the book’s narrative, the protagonists undergo extreme hardships in eking out a minimal existence in the newly-evolving industrial society shaping up in Pennsylvania and other North-Eastern states. It was not until the 1930’s and the third generation of Dobrejcaks, that they acquired enough grit and determina tion to fight for justice, and their civil rights. In this thesis, it will be argued that only by organizing successful trade unions against greedy capitalist steel mill owners, did these immigrant groups truly succeed in their efforts to assimilate into the American way of life. The trials and tribulations experienced by the countless workers at those labor unions, and their families has set the stage for successive immigrant assimilation stories over the decades. The plot begins with the narrative of Djuro Kracha, a newly-arrived immigrant from Austria Hungary (corresponding to present day Slovakia) who walks all the way from New York to White Haven (after splurging all his train fare money on buying whiskey for a married woman called Zuska whom he fancies). Like other immigrants, Kracha is looking for good fortune and wealth in his adopted homeland. His dreams are clearly evident as: â€Å"Kracha’s story of his walk from New York was a nine days’ wonder. The first time he told it he had Francka watching him, listening to every  word, and he was shrewd enough to keep it simple. When he came out of Castle Garden his money was in his pocket; when he reached the ferry house and wanted to pay for his  ticket  it was gone. Kracha spread his hands. There it was. He had given the problem a lot of thinking without getting anywhere, his manner implied, and now he was prepared to hear their speculations,† (Part 1, Chapter 3, 11). Kracha soon befriends another Slovak immigrant, Dubik who helps him get over his initial troubles to settle down, and find a job in the burgeoning steel mills of Braddock, Pennyslvania. Dubik finds employment with Andrew Carnegie steel mills. This is where the first generation story about immigrant anguishes commences. â€Å"There are men in that mill who were born here, whose fathers and grandfathers were born here. They know more English than you’ll ever learn. And what good is their vote doing them? They have to work in the mill and eat dirt like any greenhorn. Let me tell you, I’ve been in America enough to know that it’s run just like any other country.Advertising Looking for essay on international relations? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More In Europe your emperors and grand dukes own everything and over here it’s your millionaires and your trusts. They run the country to suit themselves, and don’t think they’re going to let you interfere every few years with your miserable vote. Get that into your head. Your vote means nothing. The company man always wins. If he isn’t a company man to start with, he becomes one afterward; the millionaires see to that.† (Part 1, Chapter 4, 3) In contrast to Dubik’s constant struggles, Kracha sees some initial success in his adopted homeland and goes on to operate his own butcher shop which helps him earn over a thousand dollars per year. However, as success goes over his head, he again befriends Zuska and continues to lust after her. The immense success and material wealth makes him ignore his responsibilities towards his only wife, Elena who he brought back from Slovakia, but no longer cared for. â€Å"Her poor health, or America, had changed her; Kracha never could decide. He had left her a lively, healthy girl, cheerful as the day was long; now she seldom smiled and went about her.† (Part 1, Chapter 6, 12). The fact that Elena had developed a goiter-like condition upon arrival in America contributed to the growing alienation between the couple. Rumors of Kracha’s purported affair with Zuska saw several of his customers withdraw their patronage from his shop. Over a period of time, he becomes terribly depressed with the turn-out of events and drinks himself to death. Zuska, who rose into prominence in Kracha’s life, soon disappears from the scene and it is evident that for the first generation of this fictionalized Slovak immigrant group, their life story is steeped in a constant predicament of failure and frustration. For the second generation of this immigrant family, the story focuses on Mike Dobrejcak, who marries Mary, the daughter of Krasa and Elena. Unlike his father-in-law, Mike remains faithful to his wife and is shown much more assimilated into American society. He speaks English fluently, registers as a Republican and fights for political freedom and voting rights on behalf of worker unions who produced the steel that created the Brooklyn bridge, but were usually discouraged from exercising their franchise. In this context, the reader is introduced to the growing discontent experienced by the immigrant class of workers against their employers.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Social, Economic and Political Conditions of a Slovak Immigrant Group Change from the 1880’s to the 1930’s specifically for you for only $16. 05 $11/page Learn More The increasing economic disparity and lack of social progress for immigrants was already boiling into a major issue. When the Spanish Influenza struck in 1918, many people in the immigrant slums including Mary Dobrejcak started succumbing to this illness, got removed to a sanatorium and saw their entire lives being ruined, without the greedy steel mill employers caring one bit for their health and livelihoods. In the last part of the story, George Dobrejcak, the son of Mary, joins an immigrant labor union to agitate for the common rights of all immigrant workers of East European background. Being a third-generation American, George has enough voice to harshly denounce the ill treatment experienced by his fellow workers at the hands of greedy capitalists. He soon recruits several other labor unionists from his background and eventually, becomes the assistant director of his labor union. George’s feelings on the rising labor union sentiment are expressed as under: â€Å"It was the way you thought and felt about certain things. About freedom of speech and the equality of men and the importance of having one law — the same law — for rich and poor, for the people you liked and the people you didn’t like. About the right of every man to live his life as he thought best, his right to defend it if anyone tried to change it and his right to change it himself if he decided he liked some other way of living better. About the uses to which wealth and power could honorably be put, and about honor itself, honor, integrity, self-respect, the whatever-you-wanted-to-call-it that determined for a man which things he couldn’t say or do under any circumstances, not for all the money there was, not even to help his side win.† (Part 4, Chapter 3, 20). In conclusion, it may well be argued that over a period of three generations, the Dobrejcaks managed to successfully assimilate into American society only after they had acquired enough resolve to fight for their social justice, voting and civil rights. The fictionalized account of their success matters a lot because it can serve as an inspirational tale for hundreds of thousands of newly-arrived immigrants, who currently find themselves at the bottom of the barrel in a â€Å"land of opportunity†, while carrying on with aspirations for social progress and upward mobility. Successful assimilation is all about learning to fight for one’s rights.Advertising Looking for essay on international relations? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Works Cited Bell, Thomas. Out of This Furnace: A Novel of Immigrant Labor in America. University of Pittsburgh Press: Pittsburg, PA, 1976. This essay on Social, Economic and Political Conditions of a Slovak Immigrant Group Change from the 1880’s to the 1930’s was written and submitted by user Maddox Chen to help you with your own studies. You are free to use it for research and reference purposes in order to write your own paper; however, you must cite it accordingly. You can donate your paper here.

This essay shows the importance of education in our society and past societites.

This essay shows the importance of education in our society and past societites. To many people, obtaining an education has always been a very important goal.High school to college or even a G.E.D. most employers will not hire workers that havenot yet obtained one of these. So many Americans strive to get their education for onereason or another. Many people wonder what good does knowing dates and the names ofall the presidents of the United States of America does in our lives outside of school. Wewonder how this information applies to the real world and what the reason are that wewere asked to attend this institution.It has been learned that education is thought of as some kind of reform for the human mind. Some people would say what is the sense in an education when I have already learned everything I need to know on the street. Part of our education is convincing us to think, through the process of grade school (this includes k-12 grades), like "good" citizens should.American Education is in the DumpsterA good citizen being someone that wakes goes to work mayb e has a family, goes home and does it all over again the next day. It is said that within the lesson plans used in school there lies a hidden curriculum. On which students are graded on how well they conform to the learning structure of the school district. John Gatto said in his books that when he taught his classes sometimes useless and unconnected facts he was really teaching seven important lessons that are taught nationally. Gatto described these lessons, as confusion, class position, indifference, emotional dependency, provisional self-esteem, and that one cannot escape conforming to these lessons. Gatto also stated that this was the plan, since the Roman Empire. "Plato reluctantly transmitted in The Republic when Glaucon and Adeimantus extort from Socrates the plan...

Connection Between Human and Nature Research Paper

Connection Between Human and Nature - Research Paper Example However, over the years, this connection between man and nature is seen to have been steadily dwindling as a result of scientific and technological innovation. Humans in some degree are trying to segregate and themselves from nature either through alternative ways of satisfying his or her basic needs. Personally, I ascribe to the school of thought that advances the theory that humans are part of nature and that a connection between the two exists. However, other schools of thought advance the theory that humans are only God’s creation and do not have any connection with other animals or nature at large. For this reason, I am motivated to attempt and create artistic impressions that communicate, support and will be able to remind the whole universe how important our connection with nature is, especially in these times of persistent natural disasters. Almost each and everyone living human being depend on nature by consuming the products of nature for survival. For instance, in m y culture, an essential or staple food for humans is rice which is a product of nature which keeps people of my culture connected to nature. I will utilize rice and its various characteristics in an artistic way to try and illustrate the connection humans have with nature. In addition, I will also investigate works by other prominent contemporary and historical artists that have illustrated in one way or the other, the connection between humans and nature. Discussion One day as I sat in my room looking at my roommate who spends almost all his days and nights seated on a chair playing computer games and consuming un-natural junk food, and barely steps out of the room, an inkling struck me. Is there a connection between humans and nature? How does this relationship between human and nature work? I decided that I would use art to visualize my thoughts regarding the connection between human and nature. To do this, I chose to use rice since coming from South Korea where rice is the stapl e food consumed by almost every Korean on a daily basis, it indicates the existence of the connection between human and nature even if one is living in a city. In my artwork, I use rice to represent people. According to my understanding of nature, there are three different kinds of people. There are those people like my roommate who cannot live without technology whose only true connection with nature is food. However, this group of person depend on a lot of junk food which are in some way unnatural and thus their connection to nature is very weak. In my artwork, I use whole white rice to represent this group of persons. The other group of people are those who live in towns or cities and depend on technology too, but still want to reconnect with nature through the type foods they consume or their environment. This group I represent using half white and half brown rice. The third group of people are those native people living in jungles or in natural environments and wholesomely depe nding on nature for their survival. I represent this group of people with whole brown rice. Why white and brown? Rice is naturally brown when it is first harvested. As it is being refined, it becomes whiter. This in relation to humans and nature, before the advent of civilization, humans wholly depended on nature for everything. With time, and through science and technology, this dependence and connection have gradually diminished. Therefore, using brown to represent people who are still connected to nature, and white for those who

Analyzing and contrasting data mining based network intrusion Thesis

Analyzing and contrasting data mining based network intrusion detection - Thesis Example In this age of the Information Revolution, there are obvious advantages that can be reaped from the vast and ever growing Internet Community of the web: 24/7 connectivity; robust e-commerce that simplified business transactions and operations; erasure of geographical separation and distance; and access to a multitude of modern means of communications. Yet, as the benefits derived from being part of the Internet community are numerous to mention, one resounding concern that pervades this virtual world is security. Most, if not all, entities that are part of the Internet world are on their toes, keeping an eye on their own virtual space on the Internet. Security is an important word in the Internet today. There are many people actively involved in developing attack software and are ready to attack anyone and any site that has a vulnerability in its network security setup. As defenses are developed, the attack software is modified to adapt to those defenses and launch even more deadly attacks. These attacks not only stop people from using their computer systems but some are also designed to damage the target computers or the data that they store. Since many e-commerce companies and enterprises depend on the Internet for their survival, it is not a surprise that there is an interest in finding different way to protect one’s network.... s age of the Information Revolution, there are obvious advantages that can be reaped from the vast and ever growing Internet Community of the web: 24/7 connectivity; robust e-commerce that simplified business transactions and operations; erasure of geographical separation and distance; and access to a multitude of modern means of communications. Yet, as the benefits derived from being part of the Internet community are numerous to mention, one resounding concern that pervades this virtual world is security. Most, if not all, entities that are part of the Internet world are on their toes, keeping an eye on their own virtual space on the Internet. Security is an important word in the Internet today. There are many people actively involved in developing attack software and are ready to attack anyone and any site that has a vulnerability in its network security setup. As defenses are developed, the attack software is modified to adapt to those defenses and launch even more deadly attacks . These attacks not only stop people from using their computer systems but some are also designed to damage the target computers or the data that they store. Since many e-commerce companies and enterprises depend on the Internet for their survival, it is not a surprise that there is an interest in finding different way to protect one’s network. Over the past couple of decades, techniques to secure network through latest technology have gained an importance and have proven to be a necessity to any entity maintaining a network. The need for security has spawned in the design of firewalls, cryptography, authentication and many different intrusion detection systems. Among these security tools, network intrusion detection systems hold the potential to become a tool against computer crime. An

Presidential Voting Essay Example for Free

Presidential Voting Essay The coming presidential election may be seen as a great political turning point for the country as the freshest ideologies are being imposed by the candidates. However, even though that there are two major choices for the presidency, my personal alignment to Hillary Clinton’s disposition is truly evident. I really do think that she has more potential being a woman president that will serve as the ultimate caring and nurturing model for the whole nation instead of having a stiff and rigid type of governance. One very basic attribute of Clinton which I very much like is the fact that she is a woman. In my observation, women leaders tend to be more compassionate towards the members of their jurisdiction. They are more open to suggestions of the general public therefore making them more transparent in understanding the true sentiment of the population. Just like a nurturing and caring mother, her stand about education is very evident that she is for the crucial benefit of the children which are seen as the basic foundation of the society’s future. With her plan to recruit more competitive teachers and increasing their salaries, she will build a connection towards how the right plan of governance should be implemented to affect even the youngest population of her generation. Although Obama, her crucial competitor, also have a good sentiment about public education, her approach towards targeting a surplus for teachers would be more effective instead of making public education more available without any promise for quality as what Obama plans to initiate if elected. Another candidate platform that I like about Clinton is her stand towards the issues related to national security and peace and order. She is very much supportive of capital punishment which is seen to greatly affect the development of a stringent form of law order. On the other hand, her stand towards ending the war on Iraq is very firm. Although she supports the withdrawal of U. S. troops in Iraq, she has devised a three step plan to help the latter become stable with the aid of a high level U. N. peace broker. She has a very good 60 day time frame of plans in executing this crucial foreign policy development which is in direct contrast with Obama’s very vague term of â€Å"responsible ending the war in Iraq†. On the aspect of finance, tax and budget issues, Clinton fully supports the idea of giving out a fair and balanced tax impositions to the different levels of social structures. She believes that in order to make the tax collection more efficient without sacrificing the population’s ability to have a decent lifestyle, there should be a maximized proportion of how much taxes are to be collected. For example, those who earn higher incomes can be subjected to adjusted taxes in order to fund health reforms. On the other hand, the middles class earners as well as the poor will be provided with tax credits and incentives. Moreover, she plans to provide tax deductions for tertiary education. For Clinton’s platform about healthcare, she is supporting the coverage of all Americans to get affordable and credible health care plans. If elected, she will make sure that each and every individual will be required to have a health plan. This will dramatically change the big picture of insurance policies that will generate more opportunities for people to avail lower costs of health services. Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama both have a very solid standpoint towards the issues pertaining to social development. Actually, they seem to have very common priorities in running a country. However, the main advantage of Clinton is her appealing projection towards the public as being a woman. Caring, nurturing, non-biased and open minded. These attributes are true significant conditions for her to be voted.

Leukemia Essay -- Cancer Health Medical Leukemia Essays

Leukemia Leukemia is a cancer that has had a significant effect on our society and with the developments of new drugs it may become treatable. Leukemia originates in the blood-forming organs which may include the lymph tissue and bone cells. In a person with leukemia the rate and the number of cells produced is altered. This altering can become fatal, or with proper treatment it can be subdued. There are two main types of leukemia which include "total" and "differential." These are mainly characterized by the appearance of white blood cells. When leukemia attacks the blood cells, the bone marrow (where blood cells are made), the spleen, and the lymph nodes are extremely weakened (Reagan 90). The classification of leukemia is based on what organ it is attacking. Leukemia can be in acute or chronic form, which means it can happen rapidly, or be prolonged and severe (Bourne 996). To diagnose leukemia doctors have to insert a needle into the bone marrow to extract it and then then view it under a microscope to see if it has any abnormalities that relate to that of leukemia. Some of the symptoms that are involved with leukemia include: lack of energy, fever, susceptibility to infection (because of lack of white blood cells), excessive or repetitive bleeding, easy bruising, and also enlargement of the liver, spleen and lymph nodes (997). This disease has been known to cause about "10% of all cancer deaths, about 50% of all cancer deaths in children and adult...

Marketing during Economic Depression

Marketing Under the Situation of Economic Depression The financial crisis originated in Wall Street of United States has spread all over the world rapidly. Because of the firmer and closer economic connections between countries, almost every country is beginning to experience somewhat economic depression. Considering the issue of marketing under the situation of economic depression is becoming necessary for many companies in any area of the world. Marketing is defined as a social and managerial process by which individuals and groups obtain what they need and want through creating and exchanging products and value with others. A company wanting to have a successful marketing strategy should first understand the marketing environment around it. A company's marketing environment consists of the actors and forces outside marketing that affect marketing management's ability to develop and maintain successful transactions with its target customers. And the economic depression situation should be considered as part of the marketing environment study area. The ever changing microenvironment and macroenvironment offer both opportunities and threats to companies. If a company wants to be successful in any condition, it should know the vital importance of watching and adapting to the changing environment, so it can avoid the unfavorable conditions and grasp any opportunities. Economic environment is one of macro factors that influence a company’s marketing concerns. Theoretically, it consists of factors that affect consumer purchasing power and spending patterns. Under the situation of economic depression, both consumer purchasing power and spending patterns have, to some extent, changed. Therefore, a company must have a clear picture of what those changes are. As for the consumer buying power, depressed economic situation is always related with reduced consumer buying power. For example, during the 1997’s Asian economic crisis, country after country saw their currency depreciate as the crisis unfolded. The consumers of those Asian ‘tiger' economies became more financially cautious and they spent much less at that time. Considering the spending patterns, as Engle suggested, when family income rises, the percentage spent on food declines, the percentage spent on housing remains constant and both the percentage spent on other categories and that devoted to savings increase. The reduced income in the economic depression has a large impact on what a certain person buys, for instance, he may spend less on entertainment or clothes, and the percentage of income spending on food may increase. Therefore, we can see that the depressed economy is going to influence consumer buying behavior. For all the four cultural, social, personal, and psychological factors, they affect the consumer purchase strongly. Under depression, there are a few phenomena that are notable for companies. First, consumers prefer more relatively cheap goods and fewer luxuries. There is a statistic number for the 1997 Asian economic crisis, in Thailand, 58% people didn’t buy any designed clothes any more and 45% people didn’t drink whisky. While recent economic crisis in Vietnam made the sales of automobile plummet. According to a report of VAMA, 16 members of this automobile manufacturing association only sold 11500 cars in May 2008, 2000 fewer those sales of April. Also, consumers may turn to the brands whose brand image are associated with mass market and people buy less imported goods. Second, towards companies’ promotion and advertisement, consumers may react differently than before. Since the economic depression brings a lot of psychological pressure to people, they are not as interested as in the sales ads any more. They may buy goods that are in promotion, but most of them will buy less or buy smaller size packages. Third, as for the shopping place, people prefer the discounted stores that the expensive department store. During the 1973 oil crisis in America, the frequency of 79. % consumers shopping in the discounted stores or buying directly from wholesales increased a lot. Apart from the changes above, there is another point; that is, the consumption of necessities varies a little, since they have relatively inelastic demands. So what should a company do in face of the changing marketing environment? There are several responses as for the environment change. Companies react differently because some view the change is uncontrollable thus passively adap t, while others may try to influence the change and take a proactive approach. The depressed economy is generally viewed as an uncontrollable element, so companies should try to find methods to adapt in the existing situation. To begin with, companies must focus on their core competitive advantage and reduce the extended brands marketing that are not so competitive. In the depressed economy, it is not only the consumers that are influenced; companies also have fewer resources to use. Companies should withdraw from those less competitive markets and use its own limited resources (human resources, capital and marketing channels, etc. used to consolidate and strengthen the markets of products of core competitiveness. Then is the promotion and advertising strategy for the company. As noted before, consumers are not that easily to be influenced by those things. So companies should target the audience of ads accurately, and avoid the way to waste money on the advertising to those who rarely buy the goods. It is suggested that companies use less mass adverting methods , such as ads on newspaper and leaflets. Instead, companies should try to ensure that people who read the ads have a high probability to buy the goods. For example, a Targeting Mobilephone Magazine sends the sales information messages to 200,000 high-end subscribers. That method is of low cost, but it is far more effective than traditional ways. Furthermore is the price issue. People are more sensitive to the price and they want cheaper goods than before since their purchasing power is often reduced during the depression. People decrease their consumption on luxuries and other high quality high price goods. The more for less, the same for less and less for much less value proposition strategy are more likely to succeed in this situation. In addition, since customers are likely to turn to the local discounted stores, companies may change their distribution channels a bit. They can put more goods in the discounted stores and warehouse-style supermarkets. If the economic recession is just in the range of home country, companies can also increase the export. However, not all companies have to take a conservative approach in the economic downturn. For some of them, especially the big and strong companies, it is a good chance for them to expand their market share. Since depressed economy just makes some small competitors bankrupt, the strong companies can get the consumers of those companies, thus having a larger market share. If a company can establish an image that is reliable and indestructible at the time when customers have some psychological pressure, it is more likely to win the favor of customers even after the depression is over. There is a saying, the more serious the depression, the more opportunities in the market. And the CEO of Alibaba. om, Ma Yun, also said â€Å"the economic crisis will create new business civilization. † There are many reasons to believe that the depressed economy brings us both opportunities and challenges. In conclusion, if a company can understand the environment around it well, study the consumer buying behavior carefully, and develop a appropriate marketing strategy for itself, it can certainly have chance to avoid the unfavorable factors and maintain its competitiveness, thus winning under the sit uation of economic depression and any other conditions of the economy.