The Great Depression
by Hunter Meredith
The 1930s saw the most drastic worldwide economic depression that the world had ever seen or has seen since. There are many theories as to how it began and why it took so long for things to improve, but all that those who were directly impacted by it cared about was how they were going to survive it.
No branch of society was left unaffected. Rich or poor, industrial or rural, American or European, everyone suffered. Personal income plummeted, prices for goods dropped well beyond profitability, and unemployment skyrocketed to twenty-five percent in the U.S. alone. Meanwhile, improper farming practices had resulted in destructive dust storms called the Dust Bowl, which made farming in many areas not only futile, but life-threatening.
Most families struggled to get by. People weren’t making enough to afford basic necessities like bread or medication. Many lost their jobs and their homes, and suicide wasn’t an uncommon sight.
In the meantime, world leaders like President Hoover were reluctant to do anything, thinking that the depression would simply end naturally, like every economic recession beforehand, and that things would return to normal on their own. Their words proved untrue, as even while they spoke of hope and opportunity, the homeless congregated into massive, roughly-made shantytowns just for a hope of surviving. They were scathingly named “Hoovervilles” in honor of the president. It was only Roosevelt’s radical changes and the dawning of World War II that would finally turn things around.
The literature of the time is appropriately bleak, speaking of the hopelessness of the time while struggling with finding a light at the end of the tunnel that is the Depression. The two most noteworthy works of the time were written by John Steinbeck: The Grapes of Wrath, and Of Mice and Men. Both are centered on displaced workers with strong bonds, and show how their close ties are tested as the hard times of the Depression batter and bruise them.
by Hunter Meredith
The 1930s saw the most drastic worldwide economic depression that the world had ever seen or has seen since. There are many theories as to how it began and why it took so long for things to improve, but all that those who were directly impacted by it cared about was how they were going to survive it.
No branch of society was left unaffected. Rich or poor, industrial or rural, American or European, everyone suffered. Personal income plummeted, prices for goods dropped well beyond profitability, and unemployment skyrocketed to twenty-five percent in the U.S. alone. Meanwhile, improper farming practices had resulted in destructive dust storms called the Dust Bowl, which made farming in many areas not only futile, but life-threatening.
Most families struggled to get by. People weren’t making enough to afford basic necessities like bread or medication. Many lost their jobs and their homes, and suicide wasn’t an uncommon sight.
In the meantime, world leaders like President Hoover were reluctant to do anything, thinking that the depression would simply end naturally, like every economic recession beforehand, and that things would return to normal on their own. Their words proved untrue, as even while they spoke of hope and opportunity, the homeless congregated into massive, roughly-made shantytowns just for a hope of surviving. They were scathingly named “Hoovervilles” in honor of the president. It was only Roosevelt’s radical changes and the dawning of World War II that would finally turn things around.
The literature of the time is appropriately bleak, speaking of the hopelessness of the time while struggling with finding a light at the end of the tunnel that is the Depression. The two most noteworthy works of the time were written by John Steinbeck: The Grapes of Wrath, and Of Mice and Men. Both are centered on displaced workers with strong bonds, and show how their close ties are tested as the hard times of the Depression batter and bruise them.