Cinderella Man Essay Example

The life of people during the Great Depression was poverty stricken, jobless, and too many it was hopeless. Life during this time was portrayed very well in the movie “Cinderella Man.” James Braddock is a perfect example of life during this time. He was as poor as the movie displayed him to be and he did have to go receive relief money from the government to heat his house and keep his children. “His Irish-Catholic back round played a major role in the values he held onto, specifically the one of family.” He repaid the relief money as soon as he was able to afford to, in both the movie and real life. James Braddock also fought and worked with a broken hand, just like the movie displayed. “Jim gets an out-of-the-blue, last ditch shot to fight in Madison Square Garden- and more importantly, a chance to put food on the table for those he loves. (The Movie 1)” The two days notice about the fight Braddock received in the movie was accurate to reality. James went back into fighting to feed and keep his family together. Life during the Great Depression was almost exactly how it was portrayed to be in “Cinderella Man.” Jobs were incredibly hard to come by, only five or six men would be chosen to work on the docks each day. Most people of the time were living below poverty and James Braddock was no different. The movie showed most people had been stressed out and worried as they walked along the streets, just as in real life. The movie captured the glum, grim faces of people of that time; none of the adults were ever smiling. The only time people smiled was at boxing matches, or other sporting events. The timeline of the boxing matches was as accurate as it could get. Fifteen million Americans were out of work at this time, which was shown on a newspaper headline that James Braddock walked past. “Cinderella Man” was a very good depiction of life back then, to show people of later times how life was during the Great Depression.

Work Cited
"Cinderella Man." U.S