How Did The Dirty Thirties Revealed In The Grapes Of Wrath

In the 1930’s, our economy took a major downturn when the stock market crashed on Black Tuesday in October of 1929, which affected many Americans in every aspect, including a rise in the unemployment rate. This resulted in farmers migrating from Oklahoma to California, as we see in The Grapes of Wrath when Tod Joad and his family take on this journey. Although the Great Depression lasted between 1929 and 1939, the people had hope in the restoration of the economy when Roosevelt came into office in 1933. He proposed the New Plan guaranteeing security in the economy. Unfortunately, it was not much help with the onset of the Dust Bowl during these tragic times. When the market crashed, people were in panic mode because all their money that they

Prior to the occurrence of the Dust Bowl and the Great Depression, farmers had rows of crops because of the demand. Soon after, this all failed with the onset of the Dust Bowl. The drought and wind erosion that had occurred amongst the land in the southern Great Plains region of the United States is what led many farmers to be displaced. In the Grapes of Wrath by John Steinback, he gives us the harsh reality of what occurred during the era of the Dust Bowl and Great Depression. “And then the dispossessed were drawn west—from Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico; from Nevada and Arkansas families, tribes, dusted out, tractored out. Carloads, caravans, homeless and hungry; twenty thousand and fifty thousand and a hundred thousand and two hundred thousand. They streamed over the mountains, hungry and restless—restless as ants, scurrying to find work to do—to lift, to push, to pull, to pick, to cut—anything, any burden to bear, for food. The kids are hungry. We got no place to live. Like ants scurrying for work, for food, and most of all for land.” Pg 158) The farmers had lost everything leaving many unemployed, homeless, and in

Though, changes were gradually made when Roosevelt took charge and implemented the New Deal. He was viewed as one of the most influential presidents because his goal was to lead the country out of the Great Depression. When accepting the nomination, Roosevelt said, “The last 3 years have been a time of unparalleled economic calamity. They have been years of greater suffering and hardship than any which have come to the American people since the aftermath of the Civil War. As we look back over these troubled years we realize that we have passed through two different stages of dislocation and distress. (speech accepting nomination)." He knew and understood what the country was going through and attempted everything in his power to help the people, unlike