Iris Huang
Mrs. Houle
English I Pre AP -6
15 November 2017
Roosevelt’s New Deal and To Kill a Mockingbird
America’s longest serving president, Franklin D. Roosevelt, once said “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself”. This quote from his inaugural address speaks of the American economy after the stock market crash when the country fell into the Great Depression. Roosevelt implemented a New Deal to provide economic relief to people who were hit hardest by the crash. “Although it lessened the hunger and harship of millios of people, it did not pull the country out of the Great Depression. That occured only when the nation entered World War II” (“The New Deal” 1). Roosevelt’s New Deal affects To Kill a Mockingbird because it takes place
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during the Great Depression in a town that was impacted by the Depression. Roosevelt’s New Deal provided jobs to the unemployed. “The Works Progress Administration became one of the most popular New Deal programs, providing jobs to as many as three million people”, including farmers like Mr. Cunningham and Mr. Ewell (“The New Deal” 3). In To Kill a Mockingbird, Mr. Cunningham turns down a job from the WPA in exchange for keeping his land and so he will not feel like he sold his vote (Lee 23). Mr. Ewell accepts a job from the WPA but is quickly fired for being lazy (Lee 285). While the WPA was proven successful, it was opposed in the South by nonliberal interest groups. Over time, Roosevelt was forced to make concessions to [opposing groups], such as southern Democrats, who sought to protect racial segregation in the South (Riggs 2). While the WPA was very successful in accomplishing the task it was assigned to, not all of Roosevelt’s programs were successful.
The National Industrial Recovery Act (NIRA) had promised to boost the economy but unintentionally dragged it down. “The [NIRA] of 1933 was groundbreaking legislation because it gave the government a major role in the financial and labor affairs of private businesses by establishing codes that these businesses must follow... These codes were highly controversial and unpopular, particularly with the owners of small companies, who believed the codes favored big companies” (“The New Deal” 2). In To Kill a Mockingbird, Scout says, “Firstly, people had removed from the store windows and automobiles the stickers that said NRA-WE DO OUR PART. I asked Atticus why, and he said it was because the National Recovery Act was dead. I asked who killed it; he said 9 old men” (Lee 254). Atticus is reffering to the Supreme Court’s decision during the Schlecter Poultry Corp. v. United States case of 1935, that the NRA codes section was unconstitutional (“The New Deal” 2). Another failed program of the New Deal was the Agricultural Adjustion Administration (AAA). Farmers began getting rid of animals and crops as instructed by the AAA. This program was declared unconstitutional later on, as many could not believe that the government was encouraging such an action when so Americans were dying of starvation (“New Deal” 2). However, within weeks Congress passed the Soil Conservation and Domestic Allotment Act, which allowed the government to pay farmers to reduce production” (“New Deal”
1). Though it did not pull the country out of the Depression, the New Deal was a beneficial factor in bringing up the economy, along with the spirit of American citizens. Harper Lee sets this novel in a time and place that was affected by the Depression, and therefore affected by Roosevelt’s New Deal. Works Cited “New Deal: Reform or Revolution.” Gale Encyclopedia of U.S. Economic History, edited by Thomas Riggs, 2nd ed., vol. 2, Gale, 2015, pp. 887-888. U.S. History in Context, link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/CS3611000607/UHIC?u=j021901003&xid+b30c35ce. Accessed 12 Nov. 2017. “New Deal.” Gale Encyclopedia of U.S. Economic History, edited by Thomas Carson and Mary Bonk, Gale, 1999. Research in Context, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do? p=MSIC&sw=w&u=j0219010003&v=2.1&id+GALE%7CEJ1667500436&it=r&asid=1 f1bd3f1003ce5438922a4d6232d9cd. Accessed 12 Nov. 2017. “The New Deal.” Gale Encyclocpedia of U.S. History: Government and politics, Gale, 2009. Student Resources in Context. link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/EJ3048400160/SUIC?u=j021901003&xid=3a7815eb. Accessed 12 Nov. 2017. Lee, Harper. “To Kill a Mockingbird.” HarperCollins Publishers Inc. 1960. New York, NY.
The New Deal was the solution of the great depression and brought people back to their regular lives believe that The New Deal was the best solution because it reversed a lot of what Hoover did wrong with the economy. It's also better than the Great Society and The Reagan Revolution because it had a bigger impact on the people at the time. Because of its effect on the Great Depression.
One of the most contradictory efforts of the New Deal was the Agricultural Adjustment Act. Through the AAA, Roosevelt proposed to pay farmers for cutting back on production or producing nothing at all. It was supposed to help increase farm prices by decreasing the supply. Now, the government had to deal with the existing surplus. The Roosevelt administration decided to destroy much of what had been already been produced, as to create a shortage so farm prices would increase. About six million pigs were slaughtered and ten million acres of cotton were destroyed. Secretary of Agriculture Henry Wallace described the wholesale destruction of crops and livestock as "a cleaning up of the wreckage from the old days of unbalanced production.
“[T]here is one way in this country in which all men are created equal- there is one human institution that makes a pauper the equal of a Rockefeller; the stupid man the equal of an Einstein, and the ignorant man the equal of any college president. That institution, gentlemen, is a court” (Lee 233). These are the words uttered by Atticus Finch, an important character in Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird. Atticus is a lawyer, and at this point in the novel, he is trying to defend Tom Robinson, a black man who was accused of raping a white woman. This reflects upon how society was in the 1930’s, when the color of your skin affected your chances of winning a trial. In fact, it is speculated that To Kill a Mockingbird is loosely based off of the trials of the Scottsboro Boys, a famous case from this time period. Most of the main characters associated with both trials share similar traits, experiences, and backgrounds.
With that act the Emergency Farm Mortgage Act came along also. These acts were designed to raise farm incomes, and give funds to farmers. They did this so farmers would not lose their land to foreclosure. The goal of this act was to lower production and raise prices. The Agricultural Adjustment Administration or AAA aided the farmers. In the spring, the Agricultural Adjustment Administration and the farmers got together. When the got together they set up quotas over how many acres of crop and livestock the United States needed. The Agricultural Adjustment Administration would pay farmers not to farm. The AAA secured themselves with the law of supply and demand. This became an enormous problem to the AAA. In 1933, the AAA plowed under millions of corn acres and slaughtered millions of pigs. Even though they AAA saved the farmers from economic disaster they still managed to do some harm along the way. Forty million acres of land had been taken out of production. Regardless of taking all of those acres out for production farm income increased with more than fifty percent within two years. (The New Deal,
In fact, the expenses were coming out of the rich class pockets and angered rich American families. Furthermore, the Wagner Act of 1935 caused problems in the relationship between the factory owners and government because business was not prepared to face all the new restrictions implied by the laws in this deal. It was argued that the “New Deal initiative to improve wage levels could not be successful if company unionism were permitted because an employee organization limited to a single employer deprived workers of critical information about national labor markets and business conditions and because employee representatives could never be wholly free to bargain with the employer who controlled their livelihood” (Cooper 861). However, it was also affecting the benefiters such as farmers who disliked being controlled and were forced to dismiss their corps to avoid the over production. In fact, droughts caused more tension in the agriculture sector due to the high regularity practices.
By providing a precise example of the times it is set in, To Kill a Mockingbird effects the readers opinions on today's society making them think of ways to better it. For example, in the novel, Lee describes what life in Maycomb, a southern town in Alabama, was like during the 1930's: “ a day was twenty-four hours long but seemed longer. There was no hurry, for there was no where to go, nothing to buy, and no money to buy it with...” ( Lee 6). People have a hard time imagining what life in a big depression was like, and this provides them with a description that not only helps the reader think about living during those times but broadens their knowledge about the history in general. This new insight helps them to see how far today's society has come and how many obstacles mankind has faced and overcome on their journey to today. In addition, Catherine Bernard explains through her book, Understanding To Kill A Mockingbird, that: “ While Lee's novel is set in the 1930's, the themes of discrimination and toleranc...
President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal was a package of economic programs that were made and proposed from 1933 to 1936. The goals of the package were to give relief to farmers, reform to business and finance, and recovery to the economy during the Great Depression. Among many other new acts to help bring recovery to the economy, the NIRA was born. The National Industrial Recovery Act (NIRA) was created by Roosevelt to meet the needs of industry, trade unions, and even the consumer, promoting cooperation among corporations while also establishing codes for fair competition between industries. Most importantly, the purpose of the NIRA was to the put people back to work and fight the Great Depression.
Harper Lee’s To Kill A Mockingbird is based during the era of racism and prejudice. This era is commonly referred to as The Great Depression and is during the mid-late 30’s. The novel is set in a small town and county called Maycomb, Alabama. The novel follows the story of the Finch’s and their struggle before, during, and after a rape trial that is set against an African American by a white woman and her father.
The Great Depression, beginning in the last few months of 1929, impacted the vast majority of people nationwide and worldwide. With millions of Americans unemployed and many in danger of losing their homes, they could no longer support their families. Children, if they were lucky, wore torn up ragged clothing to school and those who were not lucky remained without clothes. The food supply was scarce, and bread was the most that families could afford. Households would receive very limited rations of food, or small amounts of money to buy food. This led to the starvation of families, including children. African-americans faced tougher challenges than most during the Depression due to discrimination. The classes hit hardest were middle-class
Though unorthodox, the First New Deal had generated a degree of economic restoration back to the United States thus relieving the public need. There were various acts in help make the First New Deal to become a success, including National Industrial Recovery Act (NIRA) and Emergency Banking Relief Act. The former measure was a key number in the New Deal’s program, which Roosevelt himself called it "'the most important and far-reaching legislation ever enacted by the American Congress.'". The NIRA ...
To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee tells the story of a little girl growing up in a small Southern town during the 1930s, and facing everyday issues such as racism and growing up, and The Help by Kathryn Stockett shows the lives of black maids in the 1960s working for white women and feeling the effects of both racism and friendship from them. Despite the fact that the two books are from different time periods, The Help and To Kill A Mockingbird by are very similar novels because Celia Foote and Mayella Ewell both come from poor, white families, because both books examine society’s oppressive expectations of women from that era, and because both books show white people’s good relationships with the black people that work for them.
As most everyone knows, there are differences between a book and it’s movie adaptation. This is applicable to the book and it’s movie counterpart To Kill a Mockingbird, as well. But aside from the differences, there are also similarities between these two.
The Great Depression was one of America’s most trying times. It was the dark time following the good times of the Roaring Twenties. The Great Depression lasted from 1929 to the United States entry into World War II in 1941. The cause of the Depression was the panicked rush to get money out of the banks when the market crashed. When President Franklin D. Roosevelt was elected he created the New Deals to fight the Depression. It focused on relief, recovery and reform, setting out to fix the damage. Many people lost their jobs after the crash and were quickly losing their homes. Both of the New Deals had different programs to help America get back on its feet. Even though it wasn't a complete success, the New Deal did more good than bad because it significantly lowered unemployment rates, helped the Native Americans and helped feed millions of undernourished children. (Woodward, 4)
A Time to Kill and To Kill a Mockingbird both have a number of similarities to be compared and contrasted. Both stories can be compared in their themes about justice and racial prejudice. However, this is where the similarities end. The themes and ideas in both novels are vastly different in shape and scope. In A Time to Kill justice is the main theme and most of the ideas are focused on justice and the gray in between the lines of black and white set by the law, racial prejudice is also touched upon very frequently in the comparisons between Jake Brigance and Carl Lee Hailey and how he wouldn't even have had to face trial if he was a white man. In To Kill a Mockingbird justice is a theme which is not expanded upon or explained in nearly as much detail as it is in A Time to Kill. To Kill a Mockingbird also has a much larger variety in it's themes, ranging from the themes of justice to the exploration of a child's way of perceiving right and wrong as well as the idea of coming of age. These stories are honestly and objectively far more different than they are alike.
During World War I, England’s agricultural economy was badly damaged. This inconvenience for the English was a blessing to American farmers. Since the invention of the combine, and various other mechanical harvesting machines, American farmers could increase their crop yield. In turn they could export the extra crops to England for more money. Once England got back on it’s feet, American farmers could not find any exports for their crops. As they continued to produce more than the American people could consume, the prices of agricultural goods dramatically dropped. By the 1930’s many farmers were in serious need of help, with heavy farm loans and mortgages hanging over their head’s. Nothing had been done to help the farmer’s during The Hoover Administration. So in 1933 as part of Roosevelt’s New Deal, the Secretary of Agriculture, Henry Wallace devised a plan to limit production and increase prices. Which came to be known as the Agricultural Adjustment Act of 1933, also known as the AAA. The AAA was established on May 12, 1933 it was the New Deal idea to assist farmers during the Great Depression. It was the first widespread effort to raise and stabilize farm prices and income. The law created and authorized the Agricultural Adjustment Administration to: Enter into voluntary agreements to pay farmers to reduce production of basic commodities ( cotton, wheat, corn, rice, tobacco, hogs, milk, etc..), to make advanced payments to farmers who stored crops on the farm, create marketing agreements between farmers and middlemen, and to levy processing taxes to pay for production adjustments and market development. Basically the AAA paid farmers to destroy their crops and livestock in return for cash. In 1933 alone cotton farmers were paid $100 million to plow over their cotton crop. Six million piglets were slaughtered by the government after they bought them from farmers. The meat was canned and given to people without jobs. In order for this new bill to work there needed to be money to pay the farmers, this money came from the companies that bought farm products in the form of taxes. While it seemed like a good idea to pay farmers to cut back on crops to lowering the surplus and boost the economy, The Supreme Court found the Act unconstitutional in 1936.