The Great Depression: A Man Without Work

Many consider the Great Depression a tragedy but few actually know the ways in which it actually affected the people who lived through it. One way it affected the people of the time is the hopelessness it brought. During the early 1920's many men returned from the "Great War" jaded and angry. The same effect was seen in most people during the depression. It was this hopelessness that spawned modernist literature and thought. Another way the depression affected the everyday man was the loss of homes. Many homes were foreclosed during the depression and this left many homeless. In fact the "Okies" were people left homeless after farm foreclosures. The last way the depression affected people was the broken homes it caused. The number of father's leaving their families rose dramatically during

The Great Depression was a very influential era in American history, affecting many future generations. One of the most prevalent impacts it had on society was the extreme poverty that swept across the nation, affecting both people in cities and in the country. The main cause for this poverty was the mass loss of jobs among the middle class. Millions lost their jobs and consequently their homes. Families lived out of tents and cars in shanty towns or Hoovervilles. In these camps, many people didn’t have their basic human needs met, children and adults alike starved. They lived in clothes that were caked in dirt and tattered, too small for growing children and too cold for the frail elderly. Government relief programs attempted to help but offered little support to the now impoverished families of the millions that lost everything.

After the Hoover years, however, a man portrayed as a father figure became some of the nation’s citizens’ only hope, Franklin D. Roosevelt. The middle-class, sometimes seen as hit the hardest by the Depression, pleaded with the Roosevelt administration for any help, but remained very proud in doing so. Many begged to remain anonymous. Also, like many other classes, the members of the middle-class didn’t want charity or handouts; they just wanted employment, or possibly a loan (pp. 53-4). No one took pride in having to write these letters. Many had to swallow their pride just to get pen to paper. “It is very humiliating for me to have to write to you” one Depression victim wrote (pp. 62). Middle-class citizens, like the rural citizens, wanted nothing less than the blacks to take their employment (pp. 94). The rural citizens also turned to the Roosevelt administration as a beacon of hope. The cherished the values of independence and hard work, so they asked only for employment or a loan (pp. 69). Their ideal solution to this economic terror was employment, as a result. They weren’t satisfied with the outcome of the relief though. They believed the relief was just creating ‘loafers’ out of the unemployed who choose not to work (pp. 125). They felt that Roosevelt should “give work to the needy ones, and not to the ones that have everything” (pp. 138). The rural citizens felt slightly forgotten, but not as forgotten as some

The Great Depression affected Americans no matter their educational stance or social class. For example, a college educated woman named Vera had extreme problems with acquiring a job. Due to her inexperience, no one would hire her. The didn’t care if she had a college

The Great Depression transformed American society and the way people thought about themselves and their relationship to the country. During this horrendous time period, many people lost many important pieces in their lives like money and jobs. Millions of families lost their savings as many banks collapsed in the early 1930s. They were unable to make rent payments or mortgage and many were removed from their apartments. The Great Depression challenged American families in vital ways, placing great economic demands upon families and their members.

In the 1929 and 1940 The Great Depression in history millions of people were out of work or they will soon to be out of one. It didn’t matter if you were Black , White HIspanic or Asian you will still would be unemployment even if you were really rich. Everything was crashing down there wasn’t jobs for people. Many banks failed then markets did as well.

Any one who reads John Steinbeck would know, every day was a struggle for those who lived during the Great Depression.

The Great depression began in 1929 with a dramatic event called that Wall Street Crash. This led to the failure of banks and businesses all over the United States. Millions of people lost all their savings and their jobs, and thousands became homeless because they could not afford to pay their rent. Some homeless families lived in shacks made of cardboard. Others took the road to look for work. (Bingham J.) As it could be imagined it was very disheartening to many as losing everything that was worked hard for. Many events took place during this time, like the Stock Market Crash, The Dust Bowl, The New Deal and also Prohibition that changed the outcome of what people could and couldn’t do.

In American history, the Great Depression ranks second as the longest and most severe crisis ever experienced only dislodged from the first position by the Civil War. The Great Depression marked a period of economic downturn that resulted in severe declines in output, acute deflation, financial insecurity and severe unemployment rates. This was a sharp contrast from the early 1920’s when the country was experiencing a period of tremendous economic growth and prosperity. The Great Depression was brought about by a number of factors that included the declining consumer demand, a natural slowdown in the cycle of business, misguided government policies, panics within the financial markets and environmental disasters among others. Everyone felt the effects of the Great Depression on every part of the country, rural or urban. From the rich to the poor, the young to the old, white Americans to African Americans, no one was spared from the devastating effects of the depression. The experience of millions Americans suffering as a result of the Great Depression paint a clear picture on how serious the crisis was. Many Americans believed that it was the government’s role to alleviate them from the suffering and also offer relief aid to curb hunger and starvation. Letters sent to President Franklin D. Roosevelt and Mrs. Roosevelt with photographs taken by photographers of the Farm Security Administration (FSA) show and tell the social experiences of many Americans during that period.

The Great Depression was one of the worst economic recessions experienced in the industrialized Western world. On October of 1929, the stock market crashed, causing employment rates to reach all-time low and left millions of Americans in poverty. This tragic event demonstrates a poorly-run government and economy, which we attempt to avoid today. Yet, Richard Wormser’s book, Growing Up in the Great Depression, shows us the conditions that led to the Great Depression present in our society today.

Americans felt desperation during the time of great economic shortage. If they were to survive this era, they needed to condition themselves mentally and psychologically for the tougher times that might stretch on for years on end. Millions of families lost their savings as numerous banks collapsed in the early 1930’s. Incapable of making mortgage or rent payments, many were deprived of their homes or were evicted from their apartments. Working and middle class families were immensely affected by the Depression. The cultural change that happened in America during the Great Depression can be divided into two types: one was type of culture that accepting and embracing the extreme poverty and by finding logical ways to stay alive. The other

    The great depression was a time where unemployment was at an all time high and to add on to it people in the great plains faced another problem the dust bowl. In the great depression many kids from all over the country were told or felt like leaving their home because of hard time that have faced their homes because the money was scarce. So they road the rail looking for work and trying to make money for the family. These were kids that were faced with hardship and having to worrying about where their next meal was coming from, they didn't know were they were going or what they would spend the night.

The Great Depression brought hunger, homelessness, and hardship to millions of Americans. One quarter of the country was unemployed, and over one million families lost their farms. People struggled to make enough money just to buy food to stay alive. Even bakers could not buy their own bread. The government did little to stop the suffering.

The Great Depression affected all Americans in certain ways. In Alan Brinkley’s Voices of Protest he contends that although the wealthy lost some of their fortunes during this time, they were the leaders of corporations, business, and industrial manufacturing plants that produced products still need and utilized by the rest of the country. They employed fewer employees at lower wages, and produced less product, but they were able to maintain a profit to sustain their wealth. The poor were already poor, so their lot in life remained the same, finding jobs at low wages or continuing to receive assistance from the community, charity organizations, or the state. Brinkley asserts that the hardest hit group was the middle-class, these were the independent merchants and owners of small businesses, office and industrial managers, and clerks. They previously possessed a job, earning enough income to own an automobile, a home, have money saved in a bank, and respected members of the community. Because of the G.D. most lost their jobs, taking part time work at lower wages. The independent merchants could not compete with the national chain stores, resulting in most having to close their stores. The banks were short on revenue and called in their debt, the middle-class unable to make payments on their mortgages or autos lost them. This was a time most banks declared bankruptcy and those depositors who had money in the bank lost their savings. The G.D. eliminated most of

The 1920s seemed to promise a future of a new and wonderful way of life for America and its citizens . Modern science, evolving cultural norms, industrialization, and even jazz music heralded exciting opportunities and a future that only pointed up toward a better life. However, cracks in the facade started to show, and beginning with the stock market crash of 1929 the wealth of the country, and with it the hopes and expectations of its people, began to slip away. The Great Depression left a quarter of the population unemployed and much of the rest destitute and uncertain of what the future held. Wealth vanished, people took their money out of banks, and plans were put on hold. The most significant way in which the Great Depression affected Americans’ everyday lives was through poverty because it tore relationships apart and damaged the spirit of society while unexpectedly bringing families together in unity.