A Whiskey Train And A Doughnut Day

Egan also describes the physical effects of the Dust Bowl, in which many children and weak adults suffered, from diseases such as dust pneumonia, livestock’s insides were packed with soil, thus blocking their stomachs and so they died of starvation. People couldn’t hug or even hand shake because the static electricity was enough to knock someone down. He also described the way of life they had, in which in order for dust to not leak into houses, they had to seal cracks around the windows and the door with wet sheets, and however the next day they still had to throw away the soil with a shovel. In order to discharge the static electricity in cars, they had to trail chains. Many were affected economically when they started losing their savings; banks, schools, and businesses closed. Black Sunday, on April 14, 1935, became the worst dust storm ever witnessed. Egan describes the story of a man who was lost in this storm; he became blind for the rest of his life. Temperature raised up to 141 degrees, such weather increased the population of rabbits, grasshoppers, tarantulas, and black widows. These insects were killed with boiled water and, “on Sundays, a mob of people with clubs herded rabbits into a corral and smashed their skulls.” Egan shows a similarity between the homesteaders’ thirst for extreme harvest and the grasshoppers devouring the rest of what was left in the plains,

Detailed Description of Setting: This story takes place in Flint and Grand Rapids, Michigan, during the middle of the Great Depression. The Great Depression was a really bad worldwide economic recession throughout the 1930’s, which caused high unemployment for adults and homelessness for many children. Bud “not Buddy” Caldwell is the main character and is a ten-year-old African-American boy who lives in Flint, Michigan. Bud has been staying in orphanages and several foster homes since his mother died four years earlier when he was six. Bud never knew his father. The few items Bud has left to remember his mother are a bag of rocks, a photograph of his mother as a child and fliers that show Herman E. Calloway and his jazz band, the Dusky Devastators of the Depression. He keeps them in an old suitcase. Bud thinks that Herman Callaway is his father and goes “on the lam” to try to find him. He meets many people and gets into many adventures along the way. Eventually, his journey leads him to Grand Rapids, Michigan, and the jazz clubs where Herman and his band play.

In his story “The Lamp at Noon”, Sinclair Ross writes about the great depression and how it effects a couple and their baby as they live through it. The purpose of the story is to display the importance of decisions and how choosing the right one can effect us heavily. Ross does a great job to convey his message by showing us the severe consequences of some decisions. Everyday each of us are faced with decisions that in time produce an outcome that will affect our futures.

Imagine living as a motherless farmgirl during a time when horrendous dust storms would occur. Not only do you not have a mother and are living in a terrible environment, but at the same time, you are living during The Great Depression. Billie Jo Kelby in, “Out of the Dust” by, Karen Hesse, had to deal with these painful events as a teenager. She has been in a terrible accident that took her mother’s life and scarred Billie Jo forever. To make matters worse, Daddy is so heartbroken by his wife’s death, that he can’t talk about it with Billie Jo and the two almost separate from each other until Billie Jo runs away but then comes back and reunites with Daddy. Billie Jo is friendly with the people she loves, sorrowful

According to Egan, “Never let the kids see you sweat” (2006, p.1). The Worst Hard Time by Timothy Egan was announced as “a classical disaster tale” by the New York Times. This book was written to inform everyone about the untold story of those who survived the American Dust Bowl. The story documents how the darkest years of the Great Depression affected the economy and the people’s living environment as well. Egan’s book explains the importance of the Great Depression. Within this theme, Egan explores the struggle of survival and the broken promises made by the government.

Americans went from having business to unemployment and suffering from poverty, where some had no choice but, to live on the streets. This demonstrates to the readers how difficult it was for Lily and Jim from not going bankrupt and losing their house. Not only, did they worry about losing their jobs, but they also had to worry about feeding their kids seeing that they were too young to attend school or work. Lily did not obtain enough money to spend on things for them such as toys or affording brand new clothing. This demonstrates to the readers how significant this passage is because it affected the decisions Lily made in managing her family in this case, the only way to make extra money was if Lily sold bootleg liquor. Knowing that she desperately needed the money, she was willing to take the risk to prevent her husband to leave the family to find work. In conclusion, Lily and her family were able to make it through The Great Depression, and Jim was even offered a job in managing a ranch to a group of investors in

One might say that the Great Depression was a time of despair and feeling vulnerable from those who lived through it. However, writings have shown that some Americans during this era did not give up and had an optimistic view as opposed to a pessimistic view. In “Anacostia Flats” by John Dos Passos, it shows that the ex- service men during the Great Depression had a sense of determination for getting their bonus. The film 42nd Street demonstrated the tenacious spirit of Americans who worked on a play during The Great Depression. Meridel Le Seur’s “Women in the Breadlines” depicted the reality of struggling without employment but having the will to keep trying. During these times, society had not surrendered as several of them stood up for

One has not experienced the life of living in dirt until he has been in the dust bowl. It was a decade-long dust storm that impacted hundreds of farmers and their farmlands. Hardship was among one of the influences of the storm, which affected both farm workers and city folks. The storm also brought the elements of destruction and darkness, which reigned chaos across the Plains. Together, these issues gave the storm its popular name, “black blizzard” (Documentary, 2014). Such a name was given due to the storm’s visibility as a large black cloud, which made it look evil and scary. Although the black blizzard is what some people call the dust storm, most will refer it as the dust bowl.

The dust would drift as if it was snow (Modern American Poetry). When the occasional “rain came, it meant life itself. It meant a future.” says Floyd Coen of Kansas (“Surviving the Dust

A quote from the diary of Ann Marie Low describing the powerful dust storms that she experienced firsthand on her parents’ farm in the Great Plains.

McElvaine book reveals a collection of letters of the forgotten men, women, and children who suffered through the Great Depression. McElvaine puts the reader in direct contact with Depression victims, showing a feeling of what it was like to live through this dilemma. The writers of the letters came from different kinds of people:middle-class people, blacks, rural residents, the elderly, and children. By looking at the Great Depression from the perspectives of its victims of diverse backgrounds and McElvaine gives the reader a better understanding of their struggles on a more personal level.

Since an audience can relate to their fellow man, they read the uncomfortable and irritable feelings that come with these reactions. Didion names those around her—the reclusive neighbor, the sulking maid, the desperate Indians, even herself— and all respond negatively to the Santa Ana winds. “I...lie down, given over to whatever is in the air,” Didion gives in. All in the path of the winds, no matter their age, sex, or time of being alive, are affected by their hot gusts. Perhaps one reason these winds are such a bane is that they put man, who suffers from fatigue, stress, and irritability at times, back in his

In the essay, The Worst Hard Time, author Timothy Egan conveys the experience of the community in the town of Dalhart, Texas as it falls from being a town that enjoyed fortune from high demands of product in the market to a town of unrest and helplessness just a while after the market crash of 1929. Egan describes the economic and social conditions in the Texas Panhandle as a whole and in other areas, as well as what it meant for the people of this community in the midst of the Great Depression.

Have you ever felt isolated? In the short story “The Lamp at Noon” by Sinclair Ross, Ellen and Paul is a marriage couple with unnamed baby lives on a small house on a farm far away from civilization. Paul ones a small farm where he plants his crops. They struggle to survive from the storm. The storm ruined Paul’s farm and causes depression for both of them. The storm is so strong that a lamp must be lit at noon. The characters are torn apart because of the storm and their inability to deal with the harsh environment. This story portrays the wind reflecting the characters actions, emotions and isolation.

In many of Steinbeck’s novels he incorporates vivid imagery, descriptive language, and the use of improper grammar in order to create a pure representation of the situation and time his characters lived in. Not only will reading Cannery Row enhance my own perspective of the significant effects of the Great Depression, but it will also contribute to my analysis of the various techniques Steinbeck adopts in many of his novels. Through his writing, Steinbeck was able to encourage me to chose another one of his novels by keeping his techniques consistent and his stories