Movie Version of Grapes Of Wrath - The People and the Depression

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Recommended: FDR programs and responses to the great depression

Movie: The Grapes Of Wrath - The people and the Depression

In the movie The grapes of Wrath, the Joads undergo the hit of the

depression, they have to leave their farm. They go to California for jobs, but

find there are few jobs, and it pays little, or at least less then what they

were told. The government tried to start programs to house and employ people

like the Joads. Since the people who already lived in the cities in which these

developments were put didn't want them there anyway, they tried to start a riot

and have the police Arrest them. Although in the movie the plan was foiled, it

could have worked in many other places, or the towns folk could have just

created a lynch mob, and eventually the people living in the development would

leave.

I believe that the economic situation of the country has a great effect

on the fall, or succession of people like the Joads, but I don't believe

government programs will effect them at all. For example, the great depression

was a major economical event, and it greatly effected more then just people like

the Joads, but programs like the public works administration which employed

people for government construction projects. Another program, the Works

Progress Administration, later called the Works Projects Administration was

created to develop relief programs, and to keep a person's skills. From 1935-

1943, it employed 8 million people, and spent 11 billion dollars. But in 1939,

there were still 9.5 million still unemployed. Another program was the Civilian

Conservation Corps. Unemployed, unmarried young men were enlisted to work on

conservation and resource-development projects such as soil conservation, flood

control, and protection of forests and wildlife. These men were provided with

food, lodging, and other necessities, and were given a small monthly salary.

Another program was the CWA, the civil works administration. It employed more

then 4 million workers to build and repair roads, and teach in schools, were

just a couple of the jobs.

Some of these programs would work temporarily, but eventually there

would be no more work to do, or the government would run out of funds. All

these programs were hated by some, and loved by others, and some just didn't

care. The business men that were lucky enough not to lose everything, and the

other employees working in the cities who still had jobs during the depression

didn't like these new programs. In the movie, The Grapes Of Wrath, The towns

people didn't like the government funded version of a "Hooverville".

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