The Great Depression: A Short Story

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 terrible time for many families in the United States. After the economic boost of the 1920’s, many people spent their many on stocks and credit. Everything went wrong after the stock market crash on October 29. 1929. People lost the money they had in banks when they panicked and tried to get all their money out at the same time. The banks didn’t have enough money to give back.The Braddock family suffered economic hardship, emotional distress and family unity during the great depression. The Braddock family had trouble with finding money, paying bills, keeping it together- both their emotions and family.

“Growing up in a time when all you worry about is if your family will be able to make it through to the next day is definitely a very scary and difficult time to live in” (Vonder Haar). My great-grandpa had this to say to my grandpa about growing up during the great depression. For many people in America from the 1930s to 1940s, life was a constant struggle. The people living in the Midwest, especially St. Louis, knew much too well how difficult it was to live through the great depression. When great-great grandpa first came to St. Louis from Germany he purchased a farm. From that point on, my family struggled to maintain the farm that would still exist today. Many people were affected by the great depression. Throughout the time period before

Hayes stated “The memories of the Depression left deep emotional, psychological, and physical scars on a generation of Americans.” (Hayes) Realizing what our ancestors went through, can really make people think about all of the things that they have. They went without so much. Today, society is greedy and selfish.

During the 1920’s America was experiencing great economic growth. As WWI was ending Americans were out of energy. For almost 100 years they had been facing the problems of sectionalism, civil war, reconstruction, imperialism, and WWI. By the end they were ready to just sit back and party. Demand sky-rocketed and brought great economic growth. Americans failed to see the great problem looming overhead though. The Great Depression was caused by a combination of factors- a natural slowdown of the business cycle, weaknesses of the 1290’s economy magnified the slowdown, the republican response failed to help, a great environmental disaster, and the collapse of the world economy all contributed to the cause of the Great

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

Cecchetti, Stephen G. "Understanding the Great Depression: Lessons for Current Policy ." Monetary Economics (1997): 1-26.

Before the Great Depression started, life was very fun and exciting for my family. My parents had good jobs, and we were doing very well financially. With all the new entertainment we were able to see a movie every once in a while and my family was doing good even with my little sister's asthma. We listened to the radio a lot and got to see some silent movies. We had enough money to get what we needed. My dad had a good job as a factory worker and my mom is a nurse. My parents and my 6 siblings live in New York. Now, my aunt is coming to live with us. But, a lot has changed now. My siblings are too young to understand what is happening and I know a bit about it. But, my community is panicked and many people have lost their jobs including my dad. My parents are saying we might

Living through a significantly rough time period can be difficult for many families. Those that lived through these tragedies bring back many impacted and emotional stories of their loved ones. My grandfather, Roger O. Schafer lived through The Great Depression. The memories that they bring back make us think about the scenes they must have witnessed. There were many responsibilities my grandfather had to learn quickly to help out his family during this destructive time. Since my grandpa had to encounter many different tragic times within his lifetime, I believe he’s a better knowledgeable, successful individual. Especially with the excruciating events he had to face, only to better himself and his life. Additionally, along with many other

Imagine that you are working hard all day, but can’t get a job. You have sweat dripping from your face from turning over fields, because it hasn't rained. You are trying to support other family members to do their best, but it does no good. This is how most people were during the Great Depression. The Great Depression hurt the men, women, and children of the time.

When the Great Depression struck America, many people lost everything they had. People died, had to leave their families forever, and miss a home-cooked meal every once and awhile. Although the Great Depression was one of the worst events that America has ever had to overcome, learning from the mistakes made during that time have been extremely beneficial. Ever since the ending of the Great Depression, America has become a part of one of the most successful economic systems in the world today. However, not all societies choose to learn from their mistakes, and the outcome was not as beneficial.

The world had faced two main economic problems. The first one was the Great Depression in the early of 20th Century. The second was the recent international financial crisis in 2008. The United States and Europe suffered severely for a long time from the great depression. The great depression was a great step and changed completely the economic policy making and the economic thoughts. It was not only an economic situation bit it was also miserable making, made people more attention and aggressive until they might lose their lives. All the society was frightened from losing money, work and stable. In America the housing market was the main factor of the great depression. A crisis of liquidity appeared in the banks forming a credit crunch. This period was influenced by over extended stock market shortage of water in the south and over trusting. The American government put down some regulations to control the productions which were essential for the war.

The Great Depression was a time of great struggle. The stock market crashed in 1929, which accounted for 40 percent of America’s capital. People lost their life savings as the banks scrambled to refill their coffers. Farm income fell 50 percent. Corporations collapsed. Businesses closed. Roughly one-fourth of the nation lost their jobs. Those who were able to keep their jobs experienced an over 30 percent drop in salary. This catastrophe did not affect everyone though. The Upper Class was largely unaffected by the state of the nation. They went on having lush parties and living fancily. In retrospect, they probably saved a lot of livelihoods. Those in the service and entertainment industry were able to maintain a steady

“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.

There were many primary causes for The Great Depression, Unequal distribution of money to the economy,