What Is The Primary Source Of The Dust Bowl

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,

The Dust Bowl was "the darkest moment in the twentieth-century life of the southern plains," (pg. 4) as described by Donald Worster in his book "The Dust Bowl." It was a time of drought, famine, and poverty that existed in the 1930's. It's cause, as Worster presents in a very thorough manner, was a chain of events that was perpetuated by the basic capitalistic society's "need" for expansion and consumption. Considered by some as one of the worst ecological catastrophes in the history of man, Worster argues that the Dust Bowl was created not by nature's work, but by an American culture that was working exactly the way it was planned. In essence, the Dust Bowl was the effect of a society, which deliberately set out to

The Dust Bowl was a dark and difficult part of life for people of the 1930’s. The Dust Bowl spread many diseases resulting in many people losing their lives. English professor, Cary Nelson, explained “The simplest acts of life, breathing, eating a meal, taking a walk, were

One major cause of that Dust Bowl was severe droughts during the 1930’s. The other cause was capitalism. Over-farming and grazing in order to achieve high profits killed of much of the plain’s grassland and when winds approached, nothing was there to hold the devastated soil on the ground.

In document B it states “Grass is what counts. It’s what saves us all- far as we get saved…. Grass is what holds the earth together.” Since the farmers kept ripping the grass out there was nothing left to keep the soil and dirt on the ground. And it’s exposed to the wind and air so it can move easily creating small dust storms, but since there was 105 million acres of exposed land the dust storms created into one big dust bowl! It also says in document B that there is very short grass that produces a tough grassy mat which was like the protective covering of the dirt and soil but it was destroyed because of harvest leaving it without any covering

One of America’s most beloved books is John Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath. The book portrays a family, the Joads, who leave Oklahoma and move to California in search of a more prosperous life. Steinbeck’s book garnered acclaim both from critics and from the American public. The story struck a chord with the American people because Steinbeck truly captured the angst and heartbreak of those directly impacted by the Dust Bowl disaster. To truly comprehend the havoc the Dust Bowl wreaked, one must first understand how and why the Dust Bowl took place and who it affected the most. The Dust Bowl was the result of a conglomeration of weather, falling crop prices, and government policies.

Large numbers of people migrated to the grasslands and plowed the areas to farm. Over time, the soil wore out and the cycle of rain stopped, causing the soil to blow away. The natural way that wildlife lived was disrupted by civilization, and since nature was damaged, the mutual cooperation between humans, land, animals, and soil failed. Man wanted to proceed forward, but their desire for wealth caused them a Great Depression, and a horrendous storm that wiped away their land. The expansion to the frontier and the wearing of the soil was not to make a living, but to bring more money to the people even though the soil was not capable of growing a sizable amount of crops. The point that Worster clearly makes throughout his book was that capitalism caused the problem. He believed the two linked disasters, The Dust Bowl and The Great Depression were entirely man-made because of flaws in American society. Worster could not define capitalism with one simple meaning, but says that man viewed the land as a business. They worked the land until they could not work it anymore, and even then, they continued to plow the fields trying to get every last grain that would provide them with more money. Worster wrote that man had a right to use the land because "the highest economic rewards go to those who have done the most to extract nature from all it can yield" (Worster 6). Therefore, the land was

The story Dust Bowl by Donald Worster describes the environment as well as first person experiences to give a detailed description of the Great Plains during the thirties which led to the Dust Bowl. He uses accounts from people's memories of the dust storms that swept across the plains that destroyed farm land and homes. Not only is there people’s memories but historical facts of the environment at the time. For example how farmers misused the land as one key factor to the Dust Bowl along with many years of drought and dryness as the other major factor. Overall the book gives a great full picture of the time period and detailed description of the Dust Bowl.

The overuse of the new technology developing in the 1930s played a significant role in the Dust Bowl phenomena. Many farmers purchased plows and other farming tools- more than 5 million acres of unfarmed land was plowed. This meant that farmers took advantage of technology and abused the land by doing so. In (Doc C), the reader is informed that the famous tractor led the harvest up to 10,000 bushels of wheat, plowing nearly an entire square mile; shocking, right? Not only did this expose the land but it also caused the land to be carried in the wind, causing a dust storm as

In the early 1930s through the 1936, a massive event called the Dust Bowl occurred also known as the Dirty Thirties, dramatically affected areas within Oklahoma, Kansas, and Northern Texas due to extensive windstorms. This event forced numerous people to evacuate their hometowns. The Dust Bowl had a significant impact on society, it caused farmers to have no control of their agriculture because of the dried up land. Once the land dried up there was no way to renovate or replace the soil. This dilemma lead to more citizens to depend on the government for help, financially.

The Dust Bowl also known as the dirty thirties was a major crisis that happened in the United States in the 1930's. Drought struck over the Midwest causing their crops to perish and eventually making a majority of the farmers go into poverty. Thus causing them to flee from their homes and their belongings. looking for opportunities elsewhere. Some walked, some took the train, and some drove if they were fortunate enough to afford one. There are many different primary sources that picture this crisis which all lead to the conclusion that it was a devastating era in the Midwest and filled with misfortune. A few primary examples are as follows.

The dust bowl was caused by a combination of environmental conditions and use of new farming technology. In Oklahoma during the time of the dust bowl people people decided to leave “until it rains” (Document A: Henderson Letter). This quote implies that drought is the cause for the dust bowl and that the people of the Oklahoma panhandle believed that once the drought ended, the dust bowl would as well. While it does appear that drought is one of the causes of the dust bowl, “farmers and plows on the plains” also played a role in “destroying the delicate ecological balance that had evolved there” (Document D: Historian, Professor David Worster). This quote suggests that it was the use of technology and over farming that ultimately resulted in the dust bowl. In reality there were numerous causes such as “soils

The farmers could have prevented the Dust Bowl if they had not cut down all the trees and killed all the native greasses that were holding the soil together and acting as windbreaks. In the article “Dry Farming” by encyclopedia.com it says “. . .Great Plains farmers, aided by steel plows, uprooted most of the native prairie grass, which held moisture in the soil. Strong winds and extended droughts had not disturbed the land when the grasses covered it” (Dry Farming 1). Because the farmers cut all the native grasses and trees, the soil lost the anchors that were holding it together. These two things caused the soil to loosen and allowed the wind to go free, without anything to stop it.

During the Dust Bowl and Great Depression migration in the United States impacted the nation just as much as immigration did in the early twentieth century. The Dust Bowl was the time in which severe dust storms occurred in the South because the ground was so infertile from all the years of farming on it the wind would blow it away. Along with other agricultural and economic reasons it was during this time that many Southerners began their migration North in search of work. John Steinman’s, “The Grapes of Wrath” and Jacob Lawrence's, The Migration Series demonstrate one characteristic of the American Dream, the pursuit of happiness, through the theme of family both during times of need and difficult situations.

The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck uses numerous literary techniques to advocate for change in the social and political attitudes of the Dust Bowl era. Simile, personification, and imagery are among the many devices that add to the novel’s ability to influence the audience’s views. Moreover, through his use of detail, Steinbeck is able to develop a strong bond between the reader and the Joad clan. This bond that is created evokes empathy from the audience towards the Joads as they face numerous challenges along their journey. The chapters go between the Joad’s story and a broad perspective of the Dust Bowl’s effect on the lives of Mid-western farmers in which Steinbeck illustrates dust storms devastating the land, banks evicting tenant