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An essay on the USA great depression
An essay on the USA great depression
Interview with John Steinbeck
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John Steinbeck’s 1936 novel In Dubious Battle depicts life in the Great Depression through the themes of power, struggle, and historical change, specifically as related to labor movements. Through these themes, the novel effectively portrays the struggles of workers during this era. The book realistically portrays what life was like during the Great Depression through the lens of the main character, Jim Nolan. Jim’s life had not been easy; he grew up in a violent household, lost both of his parents, and later lost his job and went to jail for vagrancy before he decided to join the Party. His father had unsuccessfully fought against unfair labor practices and died in a labor riot. Many of Jim’s problems were related to his father’s violent approach to labor reform, and he had seen how little progress had been made to help workers gain more labor rights. Jim joins the Party to feel that he has a purpose in life, recognizing that the structure of society and labor at the time made it difficult for members of the working class to advance, either in wealth or status. …show more content…
Their purpose is to help the workers organize, as Mac tells him “we don’t want only temporary pay raises […] we want the men to find out how strong they are when they work together” (Steinbeck 26). The Party’s goal to help men cause labor reform provides much insight to the roots of historical labor movements. Although businessowners, local law enforcement, or in some cases, federal troops often ended strikes, men were still willing to risk their wellbeing to fight for better working
No Promises In the Wind, authored by Irene Hunt, gives an excellent description of growing up in the center of the Great Depression. Chapter One begins with the alerting sound of an alarm clock going off at 4am. Josh, a fifteen year old boy, leaves his bed, and departs from his family’s home to deliver newspapers. Notwithstanding, the paper route brought very little money, but the money earned was needed. Directly after finishing his route, Josh returns home to prepare for school, where he anticipated the day’s end, knowing that Miss Crowne’s music room belonged to them after school hours.
Steinbeck uses these symbols and themes to create a masterpiece depicting a struggle of a family in the beginning of the Great Depression. Using Biblical allusions as one of his literary devices, John Steinbeck tells the story of a migrant worker family, the Joads.
During the 1920’s, America was a prosperous nation going through the “Big Boom” and loving every second of it. However, this fortune didn’t last long, because with the 1930’s came a period of serious economic recession, a period called the Great Depression. By 1933, a quarter of the nation’s workers (about 40 million) were without jobs. The weekly income rate dropped from $24.76 per week in 1929 to $16.65 per week in 1933 (McElvaine, 8). After President Hoover failed to rectify the recession situation, Franklin D. Roosevelt began his term with the hopeful New Deal. In two installments, Roosevelt hoped to relieve short term suffering with the first, and redistribution of money amongst the poor with the second. Throughout these years of the depression, many Americans spoke their minds through pen and paper. Many criticized Hoover’s policies of the early Depression and praised the Roosevelts’ efforts. Each opinion about the causes and solutions of the Great Depression are based upon economic, racial and social standing in America.
The novel uses immigrant labor to form its foundation for the story and then recounts personal memories from Jim’s life about the immigrants to show the hardships they face coming into a new world for the first time.
Palladino creates a historical background of the thirties in order to show how history related to and effected the personal experiences early teenagers were having. When Palladino wanted to talk about the challenges and repercussions faced by teens of the 1930s, how they were beginning to go to high school and develop a social group of their own, she first had to explain the historical context teens of the thirties were living in which was the Great Depression. Describing the historical context without directly bringing in teenagedom shows Palladino uses sociological imagination by implying a relationship between the Great Depression and the personal experiences of early teenagers. Palladino explains, “But the realities of economic depression, severe and unrelenting by the mid 1930s, altered their plans. Between 1929 and 1933, professional incomes dropped 40 percent, and the supply of white-collar workers dangerously exceeded demand...During the great depression there were 4 million young Americans sixteen to twenty-four who were looking for work, and about 40 percent of them--1 million boys and 750,000 girls--were high school age” (Palladino, 35-36). Later she elaborates to explain that much of teenage life was affected by this historical occurrence, showing that she understands history connects to the personal lives of the early teenage societal group. Palladino does this again when analyzing teens of the forties, “Although the nation had been gearing up for war ever since the fall of France in 1940…” (Palladino, 63), Palladino creates a fuller awareness of the historical context teenagers were living in, in order to examine the group by showing their relation to societal forces as a whole and the history being made around
In Daily Life in the United States, 1920-1939: Decades of Promise and Pain, author David E. Kyvig, creates historical account of the Great Depression, and the events leading up to it. Kyvig’s goal in writing this book was to show how Americans had to change their daily life in order to cope with the changing times. Kyvig utilizes historical evidence and inferences from these events and developments to strengthen his point. The book is organized chronologically, recounting events and their effects on American culture. Each chapter of the book tackles a various point in American history between 1920 and1939 and events are used to comment on American life at the time. While Kyvig does not exactly have a “thesis” per se, his main point is to examine American life under a microscope, seeing how people either reacted, or were forced to react due to a wide range of specific events or developments in history, be it Prohibition, the KKK, or women’s suffrage.
In conclusion, The Baker family went through a lot through the great depression, and it affected there lives in many ways that they thought it wouldn’t. This autobiography on the troubles him and his family faced during the Great Depression. During the Depression, the major problems that Baker faced through the novel were about the financial difficulties that his family endured, ending in result of his father passing away, the struggles of moving from rural life to urban life, and the lack of Medical attention around the area. During the depression, in Morrisonville there was a common occurrence as many towns people died from common illnesses like phenomena, or whooping cough. This book has much to offer to teenage readers who are interested in the story of one individual’s growth, development, and struggles of his life in the Great Depression.
The years berween 1929 and 1933 were trying years for people throughout the world. Inflation was often so high money became nearly worthless. America had lost the prosperity it had known during the 1920's. America was caught in a trap of a complete meltdown of economy, workers had no jobs simply because it cost too much to ship the abundance of goods being produced. This cycle was unbreakable, and produced what is nearly universally recognized as the greatest economic collapse of all times. These would be trying years for all, but not every American faced the same challenges and hardships. (Sliding 3)
The Great Depression and John Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath Though most Americans are aware of the Great Depression of 1929, which may well be "the most serious problem facing our free enterprise economic system", few know of the many Americans who lost their homes, life savings and jobs. This paper briefly states the causes of the depression and summarizes the vast problems Americans faced during the eleven years of its span. This paper primarily focuses on what life was like for farmers during the time of the Depression, as portrayed in John Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath, and tells what the government did to end the Depression. In the 1920's, after World War 1, danger signals were apparent that a great Depression was coming.
The 1930’s were a decade of great change politically, economically, and socially. The Great Depression and the Dust Bowl wore raw the nerves of the people, and our true strength was shown. From it arose John Steinbeck, a storyteller of the Okies and their hardships. His books, especially The Grapes of Wrath, are reflections of what really went on in the 1930’s. John Steinbeck did not write about what he had previously read, he instead wrote what he experienced through his travels with the migrant workers. “His method was not to present himself notebook in hand and interview people. Instead he worked and traveled with the migrants as one of them, living as they did and arousing no suspicion from employers militantly alert against “agitators” of any kind.” (Lisca 14) John Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath was derived from his personal experiences and his journeys with the migrant workers.
Steinbeck’s novel demonstrates the value of members in a society to work in unison to achieve a common goal. Without each other, the Joads will have no way of coping with the loss of their land in Oklahoma and reach their destination in California. Unity as a family is the only option they have to endure this hopeless calamity. In addition, the collapse of the family results in their initial purpose and intention to fall apart. The Great Depression was an era that was detrimental to many individuals. It affected farmers drastically as it forced them to look for work elsewhere in the country. Regardless of how severe conditions were, many remained sanguine in anticipation of a brighter tomorrow.
However, for the worst affected, the most difficult effect on morale must have been the lifelong memory of seeing their children and family suffer, and having no power to change this. For the lack of power to change the future is the exact opposite of the ‘American Dream’. References: Prosperity, Depression and The New Deal, Peter Clements, 2001, Hodder and Stoughton, London Letters To The Roosevelts, various authors, date and publisher unknown An Editor Loses His Job In The Great Depression, Hard Times: An Oral History of the Great Depression, Studs Terkel, 1978, Pantheon Books. Brother, Can You Spare A Dime? , Jay Gorney, 1932, Warner Bros. Music The Great Depression, Mc Elvaine R., 1984, Times Books, New York
The View of American Society in the Depression Years in Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men
The novel focuses on the negative aspects of capitalism and sheds a positive light on communism. Steinbeck proves that there are many problems in capitalism with the way the migrants suffered during the era of the Great Depression. The economic slump, which many people assume affected the urban populations, was even harsher on the migrants. Steinbeck, throughout his novel, reveals the plight of the migrant workers during the Depression and how capitalism has crushed them. He reaches out to his readers and plants the idea that the glorified capitalism in America is not what it seems, and that any path, even communism, is preferable.
Steinbeck portrays to strengthen the logic and persuasiveness of his argument; how the Great Depression affected individuals and their own American Dreams. Steinbeck uses allusion to show the reader that “ the best-laid plans of mice and men often go awry”, Archetype to show the prejudice attitudes towards each group of people during the great depression, and lastly foreshadowing to hint to the readers what will happen throughout the novella. Through the use of these devices Steinbeck is able to capture the image of the “American Dream” and portray how certain characters were truly