The Great Depression

This article helps me understand that the Great Depression didn’t just impact some people, but that it impacted EVERYONE. Everyone in the book is impacted by the harsh living conditions and how they must make due with what they have. 

“Farmers, who usually remained stable during economic uncertainty because they could at least grow their own food, were suddenly in just as much trouble as the rest of the country.” (McBrinley) shows that even the wealthiest people were struggling. In To Kill a Mockingbird, there's this kid named Walter, who is very poor and his father is a farmer. Because of the the Great Depression, although never said directly, the reason he has to work even harder is because they’re all in the Great Depression, but Scout doesn’t understand that because she’s six. “Reason I can’t pass the first grade, Mr. Finch, is I’ve had to stay out ever’ spring an’ help Papa with the choppin’, but there’s another’n at the house now that's field size.” (Lee, 26) This kind of ties into abuse because Scout literally beats him up, but everyone also verbally abuses him when they call him poor and tell other people that his family doesn’t borrow from others because they can never pay them back.

in the book there is a lot of subtle yet not subtle hints on the great depression with it showing how scout thinks there's nothing to buy or no money to get these things with shown with this quote from to kill a mocking bird "nothing to buy and no money to buy it with."(Lee,6) which shows there's little to no value in the economic state of the world at that time. a quote from the article would be "many families were forced out of their homes. Some found other family
members to live with, while others had to take to the streets. Some people moved into small shanty
towns called Hoovervilles, named after the president at the time Herbert Hoover"(McBrinley) this shows that there really was no money or any value in it. the adversity that I saw a lot was Institutional Systemic workplaces and governments

This article helps me to understand the true extent on the damage caused by the Great Depression.  The focus area is almost always on the Great Plains, but people never really talk about how the entire country was suffering as well. Any citizen, rich or poor, office worker or farmer. It didn't matter. Every US citizen was struggling. Seeing quotes like " Families could not stay in the area. They packed up and left the Great Plains, heading west to places like California to find work. Unfortunately, other states already had their own unemployment problems; there were not enough jobs for the newcomers."(Page 2 / pg10) really put it in perspective for me that there was truly no escape at the time. Now... the prompt says to relate it to some sort of prejudice at this point, but that's not really what I got from reading this. The lesson I personally learned was that the only traits the Great Depression cared about were "American". It destroyed families across the country indiscriminately.

This article helps me understand "To Kill A Mocking Bird" better to know how hard it was to live and be successful in the time that they are living in. A quote that stuck out to me is when she said how much the stock market lost in one day, "This caused what is known as a stock market crash. In just one day, on October 29, 1929, the whole stock market lost over $14 billion" (McBrinley). 14 billion dollars is a really big amount now but almost 100 years ago that would have been worth a lot more to them. A quote to relate to this in "To Kill A Mockingbird" is,  There was no hurry, for there was nowhere to go, nothing to buy and no money to buy it with, nothing to see outside the boundaries of Maycomb County (Harper Lee 6), this quote is saying that the town was run down and they didn't have anywhere to go and any money to spend. This relates to ageism because Scout can go anywhere and do anything because the great depression is all she knows in her life.

this helps me understand scouts living situation and have a better image on how things are shown and seen as. it impacts the story because when they keep finding stuff they keep it because of very little they get with the no money they have. a quote that was quite astounding and helped me understand was- "One of the most important effects of the Great Depression was unemployment. At its peak in
1933, around 25% of adults were unemployed — this means 1 in 4 adults did not have jobs" (McBrinley). this helps me understand because on scouts street its a probablity that 1/4 houses has someone unemployed. walter cunningham does is very impovershed and his dad was a farmer and so they didnt have any money to grow or money to get food and they were just poor. "he didnt forget his lunch, he didnt have any." (Lee, 22) this s saying that they thought he forgot his lunch at home but on a real note he doesnt actually have a lunch and cant afford it. this article shows a lot of sexium because of all the jobs that the men lost like factory, or farm. they were all shut down and all ran by men. 

This article helped me understand how the great depression affected people more by telling me how " on October 29, 1929, the
whole stock market lost over $14 billion" (McBrinley) letting it tie into the book easily by giving me the information that this book is set in and around the height of the depression and it helps explain why Scout says some things like "He had probably never seen 3 quarters together at the same time in his life"(Lee 23). 

This helped me understand that not everyone could afford the necessities for everyday life because it was too expensive. I understand that everyone in Maycomb was affected, even the ones who were ‘more rich’, “When the stock market lost so much money, suddenly all those customers had no way to pay back their loans. But when people heard about the crash, they started to panic and wanted to pull the money out of their savings accounts just to keep it safe. With no money back from all the loans they had given out, the banks did not have enough money to pay out everything from everyone’s savings. The bank failures rippled throughout the nation, causing even more economic problems and panic for average Americans”(McBrinley).

This quote makes me think of when Walter couldn’t pay for lunch, and when Miss Fisher tried to offer and said he could pay her back he still said no, “‘Did you forget your lunch this morning?’ asked Miss Caroline… Miss Caroline went to her desk and opened her purse. ‘Here’s a quarter… Go and eat downtown today. You can pay me back tomorrow.’ Walter shook his head. ‘Nome thank you ma’am’”(Lee 21). This quote in my opinion shows classism mostly, in the book some of the kids were making fun of Walter for being poor, and the teacher didn’t realize that Walters family didn’t have much money.

This helped me understand that everyone in "To Kill a Mockingbird" was affected by the Great Depression. “To Kill a Mockingbird” took place around the peak of the Great Depression. Farmers, the rich, the poor, whites and blacks all struggled to get by.

 “At its peak in 1933, around 25% of adults were unemployed- this means 1 in 4 adults did not have jobs” (McBirney). Many people didn't have jobs and the ones that did struggled to get by as well. “He didn't forget his lunch, he didn't have any. He had none today nor would he have any tomorrow or the next day. He had probably never seen three quarters together at the same time in his life” (Lee 22). Walter's family were farmers but with the Great Depression, the dust bowl, they weren't able to get many crops so they weren't able to make a lot of money or have much food. 

This can relate to ageism, Scout didn't really understand that people were struggling to get by. Even Scout and her family were “well off” they were struggling yet Scout grew up during the Great Depression so she's grown up with struggle. But could also correlate to sexism since most of the jobs were farmers, lawyers, factory workers and they were typically men. Most of Scout’s family is trying to get her to act ladylike so she can tend to her future husband after work.

This shows how the Great Depression impacts the characters, like the Cunninghams' pride despite poverty, and how economic struggles worsen racism and class tensions. It helps explain injustices like Tom Robinson’s trial and how poverty, racism, and sexism shape the story.

This quote ¨The bank failures rippled throughout the nation, causing even more economic problems and panic for average Americans”(McBrinley) stood out to me because of what the great depression did to people.

The Great Depression shapes To Kill a Mockingbird by highlighting the economic struggles of families like the Cunninghams, who pay with goods instead of money, showing their dignity despite poverty. This context is clear when Scout recalls, "The Cunninghams are country folks, farmers, and the crash hit them hardest" (Lee, p. 21). Economic hardship also fuels tensions during Tom Robinson’s trial, where racism overshadows justice. This moment reflects racism, sexism, and class struggles, all heightened by the tough times of the Great Depression.

This helped me better understand to kill a mocking bird by helping to show how everything that people owned or found was considered precious or valuable. this was shown in parts like when Jem and Scout would keep the stuff from the tree knot or when Scout was excited to get pencils. a piece of evidence that helps this is "One of the most important effects of the Great Depression was unemployment. At its peak in 1933, around 25% of adults were unemployed — this means 1 in 4 adults did not have jobs" (McBrinley). this shows that most adults in that time frame didn't have a job so when they got something it had more value than you would consider today. this can also be linked to racism because even if someone was looking for a job if they were a person of color chances are they would be rejected anyway.

This article really helped me get a grasp on just how significantly people's lives and people in general were affected by The Great Depression in the book. It has affected people in many ways; for example, poverty. If it weren’t for The Great Depression, families like the Ewells or the Cunninghams might not have been so poor and could have lived a more normal life. A quote that really shows how tough times are is, “Every town the size of Maycomb had families like the Ewells. No economic fluctuations changed their status—people like the Ewells lived as guests of the county in prosperity as well as in the depths of a depression. No truant officers could keep their numerous offspring in school; no public health officer could free them from congenital defects, various worms, and the diseases indigenous to filthy surroundings.” (Lee 172) The article talks a lot about the dramatic realization of The Great Depression and the reality people had to face when trying to navigate through it. A quote that is an example of this is, “Without steady income, many families were forced out of their homes. Some found other family members to live with, while others had to take to the streets. Some people moved into small Shanty towns called Hoovervilles, named after the president at the time Herbert Hoover. These people often had to rely on charity soup kitchens to get enough food to eat.” (McBrinley) I believe this relates to the adversity abuse. Not in the physical sense but in the use case sense, as The Great Depression was caused by a series of bad decisions and the crash of the stock market partly in due to abuse of it. This affected everyone's lives going forward and could definitely be considered abuse.

This book is written in context of it being in the great depression.  It is clear in a lot of the actions of the characters. Especially in spots where some characters don't have enough money and are forced to barter with what they have. Which happens a lot in chapters two and three with the Cunningham family. Their son can afford lunch every day and they have to pay people back with gifts and services.  This is because of the stock market crash and bank failures. “the whole stock market lost over $14 billion..” … “the banks did not have enough money to pay out everything from everyone’s savings.”(McBrinley)   

The depression is also shown in how the world around as is described by the main character;they still have domestic servants. Calpernia is a servant of the finches, and though she is in charge of the children she still must clean up after the house residence, and do as told. 

During the great depression this type of classist and racist things were still going on. People look down on others because they can't afford their necessities. This is shown in times where Scout beat up the Cunningham boy, and when the children disregard their fathers warning against using the N word.

this article helped me relate better to "To Kill a Mockingbird" by Harper Lee, because it is showing how significantly The Great Depression affected the time period and the economy. an example of the poverty people experienced in the book revolves around the Cunningham family who are known throughout the town for being poor and not having enough finances to sustain themselves so they repay people with their goods from their farm, like in the book where they cant pay Atticus with money so they pay him with food. it shows really how bad the economy was and how badly people were struggling with everyday life. a  quote that stood out to me from the article states "One of the most important effects of the Great Depression was unemployment. At its peak in 1933, around 25% of adults were unemployed — this means 1 in 4 adults did not have jobs. Without steady income, many families were forced out of their homes.” (McBirney) and that quote stuck out because it proved how bad of a situation the economy was in. in To Kill a Mockingbird Atticus is trying to explain to the kids about the cunninghams “The cunninghams are country folk, farmers and the crash hit them the hardest”(Lee 21) showing how people werent doing well especially people who weren't outright wealthy in the first place.