California Working Class

The Depression changed social structure in America forever. “The real story of the 1930’s is how individual families endured and survived, whether battling the despair of hunger and unemployment in the city of the fear of unending drought and forced migration in the dust bowl of the Great plains.” (Press, Petra pg 6)

The setting of this novella takes place in Salinas Valley in California during the 1930s, the time of the Great Depression. The Great Depression began when the stock market in the United States dropped rapidly.

The documentary America the Story of Us: Bust summarizes the transition from the prosperous and roaring 20s to the struggling Depression. Focusing on events and causes leading to the Depression as well as its effect on the American population during the time, the film gives an overlook of one of the most unfortunate times in American history. Beginning with the public’s distress during the stock market crash the depression began to spiral as people lost jobs from layoffs, lost homes due to foreclosure, and lost many of life’s basic necessities. The prosperous 1920’s was behind them and the publics high consumerism and production rates of the time reached an all-time low. After summarizing the causes of the Depression the documentary continues bringing attention to the building of the Hoover Dam and how its completion boosted American moral and started the slow and hard fight out of the Depression.

The Great Depression broke down security and belief in American society during the early 20th century and brought out hidden prejudices. The once optimistic mood during the Roaring 20’s turned to pain. The dire economic situation caused Americans to return to past social stigmas where certain groups of people were seen as inferior; as a result, the American Dream, where everyone could seek their ideal of success, was reduced to merely a dream. John Steinbeck observed these changes in social behavior and witnessed the plight of many Americans during the Great Depression. Like in his later work, The Grapes of Wrath, he was inspired by his environment to expose the lives of people during the Great Depression using Of Mice and Men. Steinbeck observed these changes in social behavior and witnessed the plight of many Americans during the Great Depression. Steinbeck demonstrates in Of Mice and Men through the characters that the American Dream was naturally discriminatory towards certain groups of people because of common perceptions held during that period.

In the book “The Grapes of Wrath” Steinbeck shows the readers how truly miserable the Great Depression was for the people who have lived through it . The way he does this is by showing the true colors of the Depression and how it affected the lives of an everyday family. The “fambly” is forced to leave their home due to foreclosure, they travel to California slowly loosing members of their family to death and their own decisions to move on alone.

- ‘Of mice and men’ a powerful depiction of life in rural California during the great depression.

The Great Depression sparked an economical and social malfunction in United States throughout the 1930s and 1940s. John Steinbeck was a prominent author who’s writing best illustrates California during the Great Depression. John Steinbeck uses his writing to illustrate the social and economic injustice that the common man faced during the The Great Depression. John Steinbeck’s best known novel The Grapes of Wrath, does an excellent job showing generation after generation, what California was like during The Great Depression.

In Europe, the labor movement began during the industrial revolution, when agricultural jobs declined and employment moved to more industrial areas. The idea met with great resistance. In the 20th century and early 19th century, many groups were punished and transported for forming unions, which was against the laws of the time.

Labor Unions began in the United States in the mid-late 1800’s. The first founding labor union was the National Labor Union, started in 1866. This labor union was not set on a particular type of worker and even though it did not succeed in making a difference in workers’ rights, it set an important precedent in our country. Being a part of a labor union has lots of pros and cons, as well as, because of them, the right to work movement was created.

The beginnings of the American Labor Movement started with the Industrial Revolution. Once factory systems began to grow, a demand for workers increased. They hired large amounts of young women and children who were expected to do the same work as men for less wages. New immigrants were also employed and called

The Great Depression was an era in America of economic and social ruin. At the depression’s peak, 25% of the population was unemployed and millions of Americans were in poverty (DeClair 9/5/17). However, the economic and social change that occurred in America due to the Great Depression were the main muses for American artists of the time (DeClair 9/26/2017). The visual arts, music, dance, and film contributed to the American identity by displaying and distributing the new American values that emerged in the Great Depression, and pride and hope for the primarily impoverished American population.

John Fante's description of Los Angeles during the depression--of gaunt faces and lost humanity--is haunting and riveting, as told through the eyes of a young man who is not altogether stable. The smog, traffic, dust, grime and shallow lifestyles of southern California were already present in 1939, making this story relevant still today. The earthquake scene in the story is just as realistic as it might be today, complete with military intervention and the emergence of human kindness in the face of disaster.

This written task will focus on Part 2: Language and Mass Communication of the course, in which I will interpret the effectiveness of documenting America during the Great Depression. With an editorial I can express ideas on how the FSA project was able to capture the migrant crisis through the images to emphasize the lost generation’s oppression and how we can use it to prevent it today. An editorial will not limit me to just state facts, but allow me to give my own interpretation of these images subtly so it will not diminish my credibility. By doing so I will be able to use the editorial’s magic in which I can put these individuals in a position where they can consider thinking more on this issue as an editorial’s purpose is mainly to bring awareness to the public of its importance. Editorials often discuss on issues in a society that are considered of high concerns, in this case, the events during the Great Depression are of high importance in which a nation underwent many hardships. Editorials use different perspectives of the issue to disguise their bias and in doing so can offer solutions, in which enables my editorial to imply the audience to take action to realize that the images of that time period were a form of propaganda. By using all of these elements of an editorial to give greater importance to something in the past, present, and the possibility of it returning allows me to use the past, in this case images from the 1930s as a way to prevent and stop a larger

With the stock market crash of 1929, many factory workers lost their jobs, the economy suffered severe inflation of prices, and the usual commodities, such as food and shelter, became harder to obtain. Hunger, poverty, and unemployment ravaged the broken economy and forced many out of their homes and into the slums and on the streets. People struggled just to survive even to the next day. In addition to the already difficult proletarian life of the working class, the ever-expanding realm of factories and machines forced skilled workers to become obsolete. Fordism and the Industrial Age caused the average working man to be highly replaceable. Unemployment rates gradually accumulated to a whopping 24.9% and inflation fell to a -10.3%. These conditions created a cycle of poverty, which was nearly impossible to escape. Another side effect of the growing technological advances was the dehumanizing effects of the machine on man. As the Great Depression drew on, millions of Americans were sent into poverty and left unemployed and hungry. Many actors and filmmakers took it upon themselves to address these conditions. Charlie Chaplin was one such icon whose silent film, Modern Times set during the Great Depression Era, provided a greater critique of the end of the Industrial Revolution and the beginning of the Great Depression. “Modern Times” criticizes the effect of machine on man and individualism during the Industrial Revolution and the rampant poverty in the Great Depression.

Throughout this course so far we have learned of the struggles of man, from slavery and reconstruction, war, to industrialization and the Great Depression. These were hard times in America and frankly I’m glad I do not have to live through it. From the film Modern Times by Charlie Chaplin we get an inside look at how one felt and experienced during the 1930’s. I clearly feel this movie captured the essence of what today people think about today of the 1930’s, Industrialization and the Great Depression. It is at this time that the hard-working class citizen is highlighted.