Journal: Business Cycle and Character

The Great Depression was a dark and hopeless time for all Americans. In An article titled “Sinking Deeper and Deeper”

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.

1970. Choose a character from a novel or play of recognized literary merit and write an essay in which you (a) briefly describe the standards of the fictional society in which the character exists and (b) show how the character is affected by and responds to those standards. In your essay do not merely summarize the plot.

The Depression had many effects on the movie. All of the men down at the docks are very eager and most likely desperate the way they try to show there face to the man picking only a handful of them. The actions of these men are because they are unemployed and if they have family they are most likely struggling keeping enough food on the table for them to eat. Jobs were very hard to find and even if they did get them, it wasn’t like winning the lottery, it was hardly enough to pay ends meat. One day when James comes home he finds out his son has stolen a slab of salami for the local meat store. This is a very sad scene because after Jim finds out the true reasoning behind his son’s the audience finds out that he is really just scared of being sent away because he knows the times are tough and isn’t sure his father can provide for him and his two other siblings. His son stealing the meat is also symbolic for how and why the crime rate rose during the great depression. Another scene that represents the Depression’s affect on the Braddock’s family and there peers is all there kids together have one birthday party, all of there friends kids all share a birthday with one cake and little to no presents. The depression has hit all of the families so hard they don’t have enough money for individual birthday

The book I will be discussing is To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee. This book mainly explores concepts of prejudice and civil rights during the Great Depression in the United States.

“The great war proved how confused the world is, the depression is proving it again.” When reading John Updike’s short story “Son” (2) pg.1070 I can see the affects the great depression had on his family. When reading through it I found out the affects it had on his parent’s confidence. An example of how his father were affected is “His father’s old sorrow bore him down into depression, into a hatred of life.” (2) pg. 1072 As a result of his father not enjoying life his health began to decline as if on que. John held a job as a paper boy at a very young age in order to help provide for his family during the hard times. In Johns past, he was surrounded by the gloom of his father and it has shaped his style of writing into

Thesis Statement: During Franklin D. Roosevelt’s presidency, his administration helped and tried to solve the problems of the Great Depression. He caused the government to play a very important role in society and from their help many people responded with their opinion of what they felt about it.

The impact that the Great Depression had on the people you studied. For example: What actions did the people take to survive, cope with poverty, pay bills, remain in their homes or on their farms, etc.?

In 1929 the effect of The Great Depression echoed throughout The United States. Forcing many farmers to sell their farms and give up on their pursuit of the widely sought after American Dream. Although in third person Steinbeck centers the novella around the two main characters George, and Lennie. Using strong rhetorical strategies such as diction, imagery, novel structure, and literary devices. Steinbeck crafts a story that expresses the hardships of achieving the American Dream.

Over five thousand banks closed and huge numbers of businesses, unable to get money, closed too. Those that continued laid off employees and cut the wages of those who remained, again and again. Industrial production fell by 50 percent, and by 1933 perhaps 15 million...were out of work” (Zinn). This description by Howard Zinn really paints a picture of the turmoil that was occurring in the US during the depression. The depression caused people to be afraid of the future because of all the uncertainty that came with it. This was especially true for Joe Rantz. Joe came from an extremely poor family and had been hit hard by the depression. He knew that if he wanted to rise above the depression and the sad life he lived, he would have to make the cut for the University of Washington crew team. Joe knew all too well that “failing at this rowing business would mean, at best, returning to a small, bleak town on the Olympic Peninsula with nothing ahead of him but the prospect of living alone in a cold, empty, half‐built house” (Brown 13). It was this that motivated Joe and it was this that pushed him to succeed. The Great Depression sparked the fear of an uncertain future into Joe, which is demonstrated by Brown in the quote,”Whether you were a banker or a baker, a homemaker or homeless, it was with you night and day‐‐‐a terrible, unrelenting uncertainty about the future, a feeling that the ground could drop out from under you for good at

One specific example of true representation is the scenes at the docks where men line up at the fences begging to be chosen to work for one day’s salary. Another scene that accurately shows the Depression Era is the scene of the families in the huge lines for relief money. The lines stretched out the door and down the street and the charities and relief centers would often run out of money before everyone was helped. The viewer feels Braddock’s embarrassment as he waits in line to borrow money from the relief center, and then has to visit

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.

Great Depression. People were at their lowest and gave a lot up. He uses imagery and illusion

The world has depended on its resources for millions of years and John Steinbeck has put the resources to work in a dependent way through the labor of his writing. Steinbeck gives the reader something that everyone can relate to. He allows the public to connect to an emotional level by presenting the reader with a blend of social consciousness and sentimental value to bring out the true inner self. Work in literature can appear to be so simple, but yet have such a complex and deep meaning. Due to the stock market crash in October 1929, majority of the public was wiped off their feet and thrown face first in the dirt. This unparalleled time period was known as The Great Depression. The Depression changed many lives drastically in a melancholy way and brought out the real values in people that were never seen before. Nearly every family went from living a mediocre lifestyle to being struck in a disposition with poverty. Even those who have inherited abundant amounts of money were no longer able to flaunt all they had received. Steinbeck’s writing does not demonstrate the shallow outside picture; his writing gets into the deep gritty detail that brings out the real values of the desired time period. John Steinbeck contributed to the American voice by drawing the reader out of their own reality and into his own fantasy by giving the character’s relatable traits through their actions and not their words. With this in mind it is

“personal assertion of existential meaning in a universe of potential cosmic meaninglessness” (Mast, 246). In the adventure films and Westerns, heroes are willing to challenge authority for their personal beliefs and feelings. They take actions based on individual beliefs, definitions of right and wrong, and the urge to complete their personal goals and dreams. The helpless antiheroes in screwball comedies present the situation during the Great Depression from another aspect. They cannot make choices themselves because of others’ intervention, and unfortunate things just happen to them. The denial of humanness is one feature of antiheroes. Powerlessness of antiheroes in the ridiculous world definitely reflects the desperate situation faced by the Americans during the Great Depression.