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The Ghost Of Tom Jad Allusion

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The Great Depression The Great Depression is the lowest “trough” throughout the history of industrialized world. It lasted from 1929 to 1939. The primary contributor to the Great Depression is the reckless speculation in the stock market. This reckless speculation leads to the bankruptcies of many Americans. The Great Depression indirectly inspired a very famous song--The Ghost of Tom Joad. In this essay, I am going to analyze this song by finding out its background and by supporting its contents with actual evidence. To begin, the background of The Ghost of Tom Joad is pretty complicated. It was released in the year of 1995. It seems to have nothing to do with the Great Depression which is taken place from 1929 to 1939. However, the author, …show more content…

I am going to list three places from the song and support them with evidence. “Men walking’ ‘long the railroad tracks, Goin’ someplace there’s no goin’ back”(Springsteen line 1-2) These two lines give the readers an understanding of the intense atmosphere in the Great Depression, and they also described the men despairly working for the government along the railroad. Even though people have the jobs provided by government, they can hardly afford their families. According to th the statistics, average wage for each weeks fall from $50 to $22 during the Great Depression. “Got a one-way ticket to the promised land, You got a hole in your belly and gun in your hand”(Springsteen line 17-18) These lines describe how people choose to kill themselves in order to release from the pressure of how to survive. Everything is despair in the Great Depression. The New Deal carried out by President Roosevelt didn’t have a dramatic change. The suicide rate reached 22 people out of 100,000 people during the great depression. “Wherever there’s somebody fightin’ for a place to stand, Or decent job or a helpin’ hand”(Springsteen line 29-30) These two lines are parts of the speech of Tom Joad. From his mouth, we know that people have to fight for jobs and shelters. They need to turn against their friends, peers, or even family in order to survive. Nearly a quarter of the workforce was out of work. In other words, a quarter of Americans don’t have

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