1930's: Of Mice And Men

Writing Assessment for Mice and Men

Due to poor choices in the 1920’s, the dirty 30’s were truly a disaster. In the 1930’s there a big depression which was called the Great Depression. It was a very hard time for Americans because, they were losing everything and had nowhere to go. No one had anywhere to turn and this caused so much commotion and issues in America. Day by day things just got worse instead of better. Everyone hit rock bottom. Americans lost their houses and would go to bed hungry at night. Americans were impacted by the 1930’s because they had to change their lifestyle due to crime rates, economic struggles, and illnesses.
In the 1930’s crime rates skyrocketed. This was one of the things people would do during the hard times.
All they wanted was money and to survive. They enjoyed robbing, drugs, alcohol, prostitution etc. Since many people turned to drugs and alcohol they ended up with less money. The habits would just end up worsening everything. Many people that didn't have jobs “resorted to petty theft to get food on the table” (Text 2). The people committed crimes such as theft to obtain food. They would steal from farms and the farms stopped making profits and would have to foreclose. Americans also committed suicide, “suicide rates grew” (Text 2) They felt they had no other options and this would resolve everything. People that were unemployed “face the problem of existence”(Text 3). They have nowhere to go and feel sucicide is the best option. Franklin Roosevelt said in his inaugural address “the only thing we have to fear is fear itself” (Text 4). This means that if your scared its only making things worse. If you aren't scared then you can focus on creating a solution for the current issues instead of committing crimes. Crime affected the Great Depression Crime in many negative ways.
The Great Depression caused many critical financial issues.
People lost so much money. Thousands and thousands of businesses closed and this meant that “unemployment rose from 429,000 to 15 million in 1933” (Text 3). Which was almost all of the population. If people don't have jobs they can't support their families or provide anything for them. People also wanted a change in their life and an opportunity more than “600,000 people were caught hitching rides on trains during the Great Depression” (Text 3). They were looking for jobs to get money. Children would drop out of school going from train to train trying to find an opportunity. The schools didn't have enough money “causing many schools to open understaffed or the school would close due to lack of funds” (Text 2). In the long run no education meant that they could not perform many jobs and have the knowledge that they needed. Americans were losing everything and their number one enemy was the clock because they needed more time to get money to pay the bills. In many cases the worst part was “the savings of many years in thousands of families are gone” (Text 4). They worked hard and earned that money then it was gone like a blink of an eye. Americans were out in a financial crisis in the
1930’s.
Illnesses made the Great Depression even worse.
Americans would live in shanty towns. They were basically little shacks that were very unsanitary and spread diseases to civilians “lack of supervision, disease, and malnutrition were the leading factors of illness.” (Text 3) Since many people were getting sick, families split, got divorced, and neglected each other. Many people wouldn't afford “health care it was not a priority for many Americans, as visiting the doctor was reserved for only the direst of circumstances” (Text 2). You could only go to the doctor if you had money and many people didn't have jobs, so they couldn't afford to go to the doctor. Many people lost so much weight because they didn't have money for food and they would become sick because of this. Illnesses caused more unneeded problems during the Great
Depression.
Crime, economic struggles and illnesses caused many issues for people making their lives even harder then they should be during the Great Depression. The worst part was not having any money. We should use this event for the future. We can use this knowledge to prevent money issues and if America ever starts to show signs that the depression will recur again we know how to deal with it effectively.