The Great Depression was the longest, toughest, and most extensive economic crash in the history of the industrialized United States, and Josephine Anderson experienced the fatal event firsthand. Josephine was just a young girl at the time of the collapse, but despite her juvenile stature, she remembers the outbreak of unemployment and catastrophe as clear as day. “We were the lucky ones,” Josephine stated.“Living on a farm helped us tremendously, but it was still a very tough time.”…
Since the Great Depression was such a large aspect of life in the 1930’s, most photographer captured photos depicting social injustice and economic hardship. Photos from this period meant to create awareness for social issues usually depicted scenes that the photographer did not interfere with, but rather showed the raw devastation of a subject. Dorothea Lange and other FSA photographers would achieve this by traveling areas that were economically burdened and captured disheartening scenes that they encountered.…
She shared that her experience was sad and gloomy. Food was sacre, family members lost their jobs, and they didn’t have much in the way of clothing or shoes. She told me that the essentials that we take for granted, she didn’t have during the Great Depression. I have heard about this important period in movies and books, as it is often portrayed as being one of the worst dilemmas in American History.…
This is an image of one of the Canadian family during the Great Depression era. As shown above, we can perceive the living condition in Canada, how harsh it was to live during dirties thirties. This was technical condition throughout Canada as national economy was declining drastically. The entire family member in the photo looks filthy; looks like they were never had washed their cloths since they had no money to afford clothing. Also, they are skinny and thin because they had lack of food to consume, this especially occurred in the prairies where majority crop were damaged.…
The great depression was unprecedented in its length, the wholesale poverty, and tragedy it inflicted on society. During the great depression there were any migrant farm workers. During this time the work of three hundred men could now be done by five. There was less work and more machinery that could handle the wheat harvesting that taking place. Migrants farm workers earned little money along with food and basic accommodation. At the same time as the great depression, there was six years without rain which caused the ‘dust bowl’. Because of the dust bowl, the farmers in Oklahoma, New Mexico and Kansas had no choices but to sell or forfeit their farms to banks and migrate to fertile lands. Migrant farm workers lived from job to job just like the main characters in the novella, Of Mice And Men. The president Franklin Delano Roosevelt helped alleviate the effects of the great depression when he took over president Hoover. He created domestic reform programs, economic policies, agriculture policies and relief policies that helped end the great…
During the Great Depression, things were quite different than they are now. The book “Of Mice and Men” takes place in this time. Most people then didn’t have someone to travel around from ranch to ranch with. George Milton and Lennie Small, however, had each other. Most times During the Great Depression, people used their salary towards having a “good time”. On the other hand, George and Lennie saved their pay so they could buy a property to have a small farm and house. Almost no one back then, or now for that matter, would give away their lives so they could protect and comfort a mentally challenged person. George was different for he took Lennie in, helped him make money, and most importantly gave him hope. George and Lennie were unconventional for their time in the means that they traveled from ranch to ranch together, saved up their salaries to buy some property together, and George stuck with Lennie despite his constant trouble making.…
The Okies were agricultural workers trapped in an inescapable cycle of oppression. One pressing factor was the unpredictable summer droughts, the sun flared down on the growing corn day after day until a line of brown spread along the edge of each (Steinbeck, 3). Depleted soil also weighed heavy on their minds, the land was getting poorer. Cotton kills the land; robs it, sucks all the blood out of it (Steinbeck, 43). Though the weather and soil were pertinent issues in the famers life during the Depression, such issues were only the beginning of their journey.…
Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck is a novel set during the Great Depression. Lennie Small and George Milton, the story’s main characters, start to work on a farm in California. They have a bond similar to brothers where Lennie looks to George for guidance. On a farm where most people keep to themselves, George and Lennie’s rare relationship gets questioned many times. We see characters like Candy and Curley’s wife trying to escape from the bitter cycle of loneliness and how Crooks is overcome in bitterness because of it. As George puts it, "Guys like us, that work on ranches, are the loneliest guys in the world. They got no family. They don't belong no place"(15). Throughout this novel we see how isolation affects everyone. Through…
By looking at the Joad family, it can be seen how the hard times off the Great Depression can still help bring a family together. At the beginning of the story the family is in pieces, all members want different things, some want to leave, while others want to stay. However, through the hardships of travel, their loss of friends and the obstacles they overcome, they learn to live together. The beginning of the journey is hard for the Joads, many do not want to leave the land; which they lived and worked on for years. Grandpa Joad even says, “This here’s my country. I b’long here. An’ I don't give a goddamn if they’s oranges an' grapes crowdin’ a fella outa bed even. I ain’t a-goin’. This country ain’t no good, but it’s my country. No, you all go ahead. I’ll jus’ stay right here where I b’long.”(Steinbeck 111). When this is said, one can see that Grandpa Joad has lived on this farm his whole life, and by leaving now he is leaving his whole life and past behind. This is a heartbreaking moment for members of the Joad family, but they realise they must move on; and Ma Joad says, “All we got is the family unbroken.” (Steinbeck 169). Ma Joad…
The novel Of Mice and Men, by John Steinbeck, takes place during the Great Depression era in the 1930s. Life changed dramatically from the thriving 1920s. Work was hard to find because of the bad economy, and everybody lived tough lives. It was even tougher for African Americans, women, and the elderly because they were all considered useless at the time. Everyone had no respect for them, and they were very low on the social pyramid. Due to their low status and respect, these people were very lonely and wanted companionship of others. Steinbeck depicts these problems through the lives of Crooks, Curley’s wife, and Candy, who are social pariahs on the ranch because of their physical conditions, and therefore, they live a very sad and lonely life.…
In my research I have learned that the photographer, Margaret Bourke-White was one of the first female photojournalists. “She completed college at Cornell and opened her own photographic studio in Cleveland” (Cox Ph.D , 2003). It is clear that White had an eye for the progress and downfall throughout America. Also, she was hired as “became one of the first group of photographers hired by Life”(Cox Ph.D , 2003). White’s importance grew rapidly in the photo-journalistic and visual world. Her images had audiences captivated, curious and concerned with the issues she covered. According to Life Magazine “that picture has, for generations, been the Great Depression photo, somehow distilling in one frame the anguish that defined the economic cataclysm of the Twenties and Thirties.”(“Behind the picture:.” 1937). I believe this to be true because of the emotion, irony and setting of the image being so strong.…
Mother Nature also seemed to be feeling the depression. The Manifest Destiny mantra that had taken over the hearts of many Americans and driven them to move west to make their livelihoods through farming, backfired as the Dust Bowl settled over the nation’s middle. Thousands of farms were decimated and their owners fled west to California in hope s of finding a new job. These “oakies” flooded the western state with their furniture and worldly possessions only to be homeless and jobless. One such person was captured famously with three of her children. Migrant Mother the photograph taken by Dorthea Lange is perhaps the most recognized symbol of the 30s. Although the woman is only 32 years of age, her face is lined with stress and worry. The look in her eyes is forever sorrowful and desperate. Woody Guthrie sang of the tragedies and hardships of the time. His lyrics include the loss of all his possessions and family members. Although The Great Depression only lasted a decade, the American People were forever affected by it. A generation developed a strong fear of banks, a very strong work value and the tendency to squirrel their…
The novel `Of Mice and Men` by John Steinback is set against the background of the American Great Depression in the 1930`s. In it, we meet the characters of George and Lennie who are migrant workers who find work in various ranches. George and Lennie are different to the rest as they have each other to look out for, were as the rest of the characters are all, in some way, lonely. Crooks is discriminated and is alone because of his colour and Curleys wife feels separate to everyone else as she is the only woman and seeks out other men’s attention.…
Mintz, Steven. “eXplorations: Children & the Great Depression.” Digital History. 2011. University of Houston. Web. 11 May 2011.…
During the Great Depression, life was especially harsh for the working class. The downfall of the economy caused unemployment, layoffs, and wage reduction to plague the United States. Consequently, the poor white and black workers who found it already difficult to make a living, suffered even worse. In the poems “Share-Croppers” and “Open Letter to the South”, both written by renown poet, Langston Hughes, gives us a glimpse into the life of a blue collar worker in the mid-1930s. “Open Letter to the South” and “Share-Croppers” share a lot of similarities in regards to the depiction of how the working class were treated. Despite the similarities, the two poems had a slight difference in their message(s) and how those messages were conveyed.…