Experiences of Working-Class Women in the 1930’s as Depicted Within The Tin Flute and Breadwinning Daughters: A Comparative Essay

This essay will explore the experiences of working-class women in Canada during the 1930’s, particularly, how “the 1930’s shaped [young women’s] economic and social positions within their families and altered their life choices, yet also created the possibility of independence and adventure, and opened up access to the city’s commercial amusements.” This essay will draw upon examples from two literary works – The Tin Flute by Gabriel Roy and Breadwinning Daughters by Katrina Srigley – in order to compare the similarities and differences of the experiences of young working women during the Great Depression. I will conclude this essay by assessing the merits as well as detriments of telling the stories of struggle and sacrifice through fictional writing versus oral histories. Specifically, I will disclose why I believe Breadwinning Daughters allowed for a more accurate and thorough understanding of the individual experience of these young working-class women.

The 1930’s, often referred to as the “Great Depression” or the “interwar years”, was a period marked by high unemployment, extreme poverty, and harsh economic instability and social inequality. Though many young women did work prior to the Great Depression, the 1930’s saw a large influx of women workers as “jobs in the primary industry, in which were largely held by men, disappeared.” Unemployed, many families had to seek new means to remain financially stable. One means was through government relief. However, both literary worked indicated that going on relief was undesirable and was typically of last resort. As stated by Breadwinning Daughters: “Relying on government relief was seen as an indication of moral and individual failure.” Luckily, “respectable working daughter...

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...and gender, race and class inequalities framed the young women’s individual experiences and lifestyles. These young women had no choice but to take on the role of the “breadwinner” and were left with no other choice but to make sacrifices in order to sustain their families. As a result, the individual dreams and courses of these young women were greatly altered in the thirties. Thus, it is, without a doubt, important to understand and recognize how these young women not only played an essential role in maintain the social and economic status of their families, but they ultimately enabled for the survival of their family during the worst economic downturn.

Works Cited

Roy, Gabrielle. The Tin Flute. Toronto: New Canadian Library, 1989.

Srigley, Katrina. Breadwinning Daughters: Young Working Women in a Depression-Era City. Toronto: Toronto University Press, 2010.