In the short story Tending Roses, crafted by Lisa Wingate, the short story is of a woman, Katie, who is visiting her Grandma’s farm with her husband and son. She sits in the night, opening up a book about fireflies and wildflowers. She finds herself feeling sentimental about all of this, remembering how she was with her children and what lightning bugs reminded her of. Reading the journal leads Katie to remind herself to look for fireflies because they remind her of her Grandma when she was around and to put time aside to enjoy the smaller things in life.
The main character, Lizabeth, in Eugenia Collier’s short story “Marigold’s”, is supposed to be a portrayal of her 14-year-old self. The story starts off with the author, in Lizabeth’s words, describing what she remembers from her hometown in Maryland. She doesn’t remember every sight and sounds but she can recall how everything made her feel. Recalling one dry September she then introduces an old lady who went by the name of Miss Lottie and how much she disliked her beautiful marigolds. She mentions how when she was much younger she believed Miss Lottie was an old witch, even though she grew out of that, Lizabeth still had some sort of fear towards Miss Lottie.
Hence, the only way how to examine the ‘real’ aspect of life of ordinary people in the thirties, since there were no video recordings, is through the letter written to the public figures. The words of the men, women, and also children addressed to persons that were thought to be responsible for all the suffering and pain, can give us a better feeling of what it was like at that time. Therefore, McElvaine’s work, Down and Out in the Great Depression: Letters from the Forgotten Man, gives us the best insight about that time period and precisely describes the feelings and motifs why the letters were sent. Also, he smartly divides the letters into different sections, each characterized by the same group of senders. For example, he examines the letters from white men in one chapter and the elders in other.
The tone of chapter 11 in John Steinbeck's, “The Grapes of Wrath,” is sympathetic, sad and hopeless. His word choice and syntax show how the sad houses were left to decay in the weather. His use of descriptive words paints a picture in the reader's mind. As each paragraph unfolds, new details come to life and adds to the imagery. While it may seem unimportant, this intercalary chapter shows how the effects of the great depression affected common households.
Before this turning point she comments “we children, of course, were only vaguely aware of the extent of our poverty”(1), specifically alluding to her childhood. But not too long after the incident at Miss Lottie’s house, she changes her view and her “ world has lost its boundary lines”(4). She starts to realize that the world is not as good as it seems and that makes her question everything. The rose-tinted glasses from her childhood have come off and Lizabeth isn’t sure she likes what she sees. In her eyes, reality is a frightening
In 1847 Eliza Stacey, a frontier farmer’s wife, writes a letter to her father-in-law Edward Stacey for financial aid after her husband George had been arrested and taken to jail. Her family was deep into debt and needed help. As she was nearing the end of her pregnancy, she was swamped with stress and work. This letter attempts to persuade her father-in-law to help her family once more by stressing the time and urgency of the situation, establishing how he is the only who can help them, and taking off blame from themselves. Stacey tries to procure her father-in-law’s sympathy for her dire situation by stressing the time and urgency of it.
Walter Evan’s depiction of life and the people during the Depression of the 1930s is shocking, depressing, and infuriating. In the picture, one mother and three children sit and lay on the ground looking away from the viewer. The mother 's clothes are dirty and torn, along with the children’s clothes laying on the ground and at her side. For instance, the only person wearing shoes is the mother. She appears hopeless, distant, and tired as she looks at her dirty and half-naked children.
In the story of “Marigolds” the theme is you have to learn from your childhood mistakes. The story “Marigolds” is about how her hometown is filled with dirt roads and it’s very boring. It was this black lady named Miss Lottie that lived in Lizabeth neighborhood who loved her sunflowers. Miss Lottie loved her yellow brownish sunflowers that was planted in her big brown dry dirt yard, she watered the beautiful sunflowers everyday. The children use to always bully Miss Lottie and make fun of her by throwing rocks at her and calling her a name.
During the 1930s, the United States was ravaged by the Great Depression, a time of economic downfall. The entire population was an uneven social pyramid, the higher class citizens strived, while the lower class citizens were left to struggle, and the competition was fierce. Fifty percent of African Americans were unemployed, and those who were employed had wages 30% less than those of white people. People with disabilities were considered second class citizens and were given practically no rights. Some were just left alone to die.
Loss of work was an obvious struggle during the Great Depression and no doubt one the ‘Forgotten Man’ faced but the piece goes beyond surface. Man lost sense of community, motivation, and hope. The Depression may have caused citizens and the government to pull together in desperate need of support and comradery but that did not happen overnight. This piece shows a man, who is clearly not a hobo as he is dressed well and clean, being overlooked or as Dixon put it, forgotten. The frightful level of uncertainty the generation faced is unimaginable but they needed to remember they were not alone.
In Eugene Collier’s short story, Marigolds, the author used figurative language and diction to convey a serious and angry tone on poverty. Marigolds, a tale full of voice elements, addressed the theme of poverty with indignation and sincerity. Though Lizabeth, Collier narrated the story; it was about a girl recalling her life during World War 2 in a poor family. In the first example of voice element, Lizabeth described poverty as “the cage in which we all were trapped” (Collier 1). She uses this metaphor to explain how penury anchored her family.
In John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men, Steinbeck portrays that migrant workers in the Great Depression do not value life in all of its potential. George and Lennie’s friendship is different from what the expectation is, the two of them depend on each other. On the ranch friendship has no place. The workers on the ranch view life as expendable, George and Lennie’s friendship provides an alternative in that they offer companionship to one another and share a common dream. Despite the allure of their friendship and their dream, survival of the fittest overpowers the desire for community.
In John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men, the era of the Great Depression in the 1930’s is revealed through a simple story of ranch workers who hope to improve their lives. Migrant workers, George and Lennie, have a friendship that is based on trust and protection. The other workers lack the companionship and bond that these two men have. In the novel, the absence and presence of friendship is the motivation for the characters’ actions.
Steinbeck has also parted his views on the Great Depression using imagery and symbolism throughout his work to further emphasise that in a capitalist society, life isn’t fair. Steinbeck’s socialistic undertones and critique of capitalism are a prominent feature throughout the novella, more specifically when he contrasts the natural world against that of one built by
With his novel located in the town of Monterey, California, Steinbeck unveils the hardships of the “wealthy” and the “poor” during this decade of despair. Through his characters and their struggles with homelessness, job hunting, suicide, and extreme depression, John Steinbeck paints a picture of rampant poverty through
