Social Darwinism In Spoon River

With the coming of the new century America under goes a change led by many different events. The collection of poems written in Lee Masters book Spoon River Anthology portrays the typical small town at the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century. Show the different social, economical, and political trend and influences throughout the United States. The city of Spoon River went through many of the same social trends that the United States experienced like social Darwinism and the change in woman roles in society. The idea of social Darwinism had its part in the country as well as in Spoon River. In Spoon River Anthology the character Felix Schmidt found out the hard way of the concept of social Darwinism where only the
strong person wins or in this case the one with more money wins. Schroeder the fisherman also shows the example of the new concept spreading through the country. Schroeder tells of the conflict between many different types of animals in relation to the Felix Schmidt case how Schmidt was the weaker of the two and loses all his property including his little doll type house. Schmidt had to become a tenant farmer, since he became a tenant farmer he had to give a portion of his profits and income to Christian Dallman who was Felix's landlord. As Spoon River grew the social conflict grew between men and women in contrast to the role women had during the time period.
The typical roles of men and women had a very strong line of distinction between them. However with time comes change these roles slowly began to intermix, mostly the role of women began to change. Women become more active in the community and the work place. With women becoming more involved in the jobs such as teachers it led to a very new and different life style. Teachers during this time were mostly men, however with the involvement of women and the racial movement which lead the 19th amendment giving women the right to vote and to end woman suffrage. During the many different wars that the United States got into the wounded was cared for by nurses, which were most of the time women. Women's roles in the beginning of the 20th century had
changed. As the economical ups and down took its tolls on the United States it also hit Spoon River hard. With the country going in and out of depressions, the money and where to put it became a huge influence in how people trusted the United States banking system. When the depression hit Henry Tripp was a man in Spoon River that put all of his money and savings in the bank. Henry Tripp lost all of his money because if a bank was robbed or there was a huge depression like the one that hit the United States in 1893, which was later know as the Panic of 1893, there was no insurance to protect the customer and his money. Many people stopped putting their money in the banks and started to keep it around the house, which made it harder for the banks to create revenue to help the economy rise. One way that was thought to help bring the United States up from its economic slump was an idea given by Andrew Carnegie. Carnegie believed that a man who accumulates a great deal of wealth has a duty to use his surplus of wealth to the improvement of mankind, Carnegie's idea never made it pass Congress. Congress was more in favor of the laissez faire capitalism, which just helped the big companies, which were funding the congressmen's campaign when they were up for reelection. The United States was moving from a farming country to a strong industrial country. With the Invention of the railroad many new businesses formed. Giving the ability to ship supplies from coast to coast on the transcontinental railroad. It gave companies like Sears Roebuck and Standard Oil the ability to sell their supplies and stuff all across the United States. The railroad played a huge part in the United States by connecting the east coast to the west coast. Although the railroad brought many good things to the United States it came at a price. The railroad created many problems like monopolies in some locations, fixed rates and discriminated against different races. However in Spoon River Anthology Mr. Tripp would have left his family if it were not for the midnight train. In Mr. Tripp's case if the midnight train would not have had Cully Green and Martin Vice and Mr. Tripp would have left his family after losing all his money after the bank fell leaving his family to take care of his debt. Many new influences came from the change in politics, which led to a different view of the government.
Hannah Armstrong was a small town woman from Spoon River. She traveled to the White House to see President Lincoln. The guards stopped her but Abe saw her and while he did some of his business they talked about the old times. With the ability to reach sit down and talk with the most powerful man in the United States government shows that United States wanted to be more into the government policy. With many new presidents moving into office each had a different idea on how to help the United States. McKinley thought that if he would make a tariff that would raise the price on manufactured goods by 48% that it would scare off the people from buying products that were not American made, which would help raise the economy. What it did was just make things worse because other countries were putting high tariffs on American products so it hurt the United States businesses both large and small companies.
. The people of Spoon River had encountered many different trends that had shaped the community into a typical town in the Unites States. From social Darwinism to the depression of 1893 to many different ways the railroad influenced the people and society of Spoon River. As Spoon River grows and ages with the country there will be many more and different trends and influences on the thriving little town. With many things to come from all of the different social, economical and political fields in the Unites States.