Braddock, PA
...chievements worthy of pride, and that racism will exist but must be fought at every turn. His anger leaves him and in its place he feels "pride of achievement, a growing self-assurance, a certain degree of understanding that 'Hunky' was only one word in a whole disgraceful dictionary of epithets whose use would continue to spread humiliation and discord until society made that use as unprofitable as it was dangerous." Throughout the problems of the book's main character we can only see the pattern of struggle emerge for him and his family that was the same pattern of struggle for many immigrants in the late 1800s and 1900s. Throughout the problems, different waves of immigrants replaced those who had risen themselves in society through hard work, sacrifice and tireless effort. To Johnnie, being American wasn't really about where you were born, or how you spelled your name, 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 the rich and poor, for the people you liked and the people you didn't like. It is not so much enduring this struggle which makes Johnnie feel less bitterness and more acceptance towards what it means to be an American. It is how he and his fellow Slovak's have dealt with the struggle. Many of those in the First Ward had no choice but t...