Essay On To Kill A Mockingbird And The Great Depression

611 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: 1920s stock market crash

Harper Lee wrote that Maycomb was a “tired old town...there was no hurry, for there was nowhere to go, nothing to buy and no money to buy it with, nothing to see...” To Kill a Mockingbird is a story that is placed around the late 20’s or early 30’s. It focuses on a small town called Maycomb that is in the grips of a national crisis known as the Great Depression and a restrictive set of segregation laws called the Jim Crow Laws. The Great Depression started affecting the country in 1929. America found itself in a state of bankruptcy and debt. The Great Depression's impact was felt everywhere. People who seemed unassailable were torn down and left penniless. The Jim Crow laws were terrible laws that forced a wide division between white and colored people. The Great Depression had been coming for awhile. Many events took place to lead up to it. It really started with the introduction of the credit system. It allowed people to buy things immediately and pay it back later. Though the idea was entertaining, the reality was that people ended up not being able to pay for the things they bought. This led to the accumulation of debts. The Stock Market was another reason. People would invest lots money on stocks and shares. Then, October 28th, 1929 rolled around and brought the first big crisis of the Great Depression. The …show more content…

The storms destroyed houses, crops, and people. People moved to different regions of the country thinking they would fare better or could even escape the storms terrible grasp. To everyone’s dismay, nothing was left unaffected by these storms. President Hoover was leading the nation during the beginning of this catastrophe. President Hoover did little to help the country’s dilemma, so when his term ended, he was not reelected. The person who stepped into office and helped find a solution for the U.S. was Franklin D. Roosevelt. He pledged to help bring the U.S. out of this

Show More
Related

  • Compare And Contrast Franklin Roosevelt And Hoover's Inaugural Address

    708 Words  | 2 Pages

    He promises swift action to the problems the he and the nation face. The third issue was the impact of the Great Depression. Hoover’s focused on the recovery from World War I; however, the great depression clouded the nation during the rest his Presidency. Even though he, nor the rest of the nation could not foresee the depression, Hoover did indicate the failures of many institutions that could lead to the downfall of an economy recovering from war.

    Read More

  • What Does The Flowers Symbolize In To Kill A Mockingbird

    1095 Words  | 3 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • The Great Depression in Canada

    885 Words  | 2 Pages

    There were many causes for the Great Depression. The first and one of the largest was the stock market crash. Before 1929 the stock market was flourishing and everyone wanted to buy stocks. People were so confident in the stock market that they were buying “on margin”, which meant that brokers would lend them 10% of the money they invested (D1). The problems began when stocks were being over speculated. When people began to realize this, they began selling there shares. On October 29, 1929, 16 million shares were sold (D9). This day became known as “Black Thursday”, the day the stock market crashed (D12). The second reason was the overproduction of goods. Factories had already produced too many goods and now there was no demand for them. The government began to raise tariffs to protect Canadian industries but things only led downhill from there.

    Read More

  • Analysis Of Rosie The Riveter And Migrant Mother

    1020 Words  | 3 Pages

    The Great Depression began in 1929 when the stock market crashed. As a result of the market crashed, people’s savings were wiped. Over 100,000 businesses failed, leaving many

    Read More

  • Franklin D. Roosevelt Left an Indelible Mark on American History

    1880 Words  | 4 Pages

    President Roosevelt rescued America during the gravest crisis since the civil war, the great depression. When Roosevelt assumed the presidency, America was in its third year of depression. No other decline in American history had been so deep unemployment was high and 14 million people were looking for work. (“FDR”) Franklin D. Roosevelt at his inauguration on March 4, 1933, comforted the nation saying,” the only thing we have to fear is fear itself- nameless unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance.”(Meyersohn, 44) He also proclaimed that he was not going to watch while America suffered through the depression. “Action and action now!” he said. (Gilbert, 48) During the first hundred days in office, Mr. Roosevelt asked congress to pass a record amount of new legislation. The president signed off on the emergency banking relief act, which put all the nation’s banks under federal control and provided for their reopening. (Als...

    Read More

  • The Inevitable Causes Of The Great Depression

    863 Words  | 2 Pages

    The symptoms of the Great Depression began during the World War I and the economic boom of the 1920s, which was built on a shaky foundation. As a result, the Great Depression remained inevitable due to poor economic diversification, uneven distribution of wealth and poor international debt structure. However, although the Depression shook much of American society and culture, the capitalist system survived, the American people remained receptive and the belief in the "American way of life" didn't falter throughout the long years of economic despair.

    Read More

  • To Kill a MOckingbird

    603 Words  | 2 Pages

    The story To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee is set in 1932 in the middle of the Great Depression in a deep southern town called Maycomb, Alabama. In this time African Americans were segregated and looked down upon in America and especially in southern states like Alabama. In FDR’s 1932 inaugural address he stated that “We have nothing to fear but ourselves”. He said this because in a time of economical depression there was no hope. With no hope in a society things can start to fall apart and people go crazy. Harper Lee cleverly illustrates this.

    Read More

  • To Kill A Mockingbird Analysis Essay

    2045 Words  | 5 Pages

    Harper Lee’s “To Kill a Mockingbird” takes place during the 1930’s in the fictional and quiet town of Maycomb, located in Maycomb County, Alabama. The town of Maycomb is described as a tired old town that moves very slowly and its residents have nothing to fear but fear itself. Being in set in the South during the 1930’s the story does tackle racism and inequality for African Americans as racism was becoming more and more prominent in the 1930’s. The fact that the story takes place in a backwater county in Alabama makes the the injustice even more prevalent. The story goes through the early years of the main characters Jem and Scout so the exact time is always changing, however, the more important and intense parts of the story takes place

    Read More

  • To Kill A Mockingbird Explanatory Essay

    785 Words  | 2 Pages

    “‘Old Mr. Bob Ewell accused him of rapin’ his girl an’ had him arrested an’ put in jail---’” (Lee 164). To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee, takes place in a settled town called Maycomb in Alabama. It is based during the early 1930’s when the Great Depression hit. Poverty reaches everyone from families like the Finches to the “white trash” Ewells. Soon the settled town Maycomb gets into conflict characterized by poverty, racism, and domestic violence.

    Read More

  • American Culture and Lifestyle During The Great Depression

    1532 Words  | 4 Pages

    The Great Depression was one of the most important historical events that has happened within the last century that impacted every Americans life one way or another. There were many factors that could be an explanation of why The Great Depression happened, but there is no one definitive list of the reasons of what caused The Great Depression. It was a mixture of events in the United States and outside of it that probably led to this period of time to happen. The main reason that everyone could agree on was the event of the Wall Street Crash of 1929. Because of The Crash, it made people go on a bank run which made thousands of banks to close because they simply did not have all the money for all the people wanting to withdraw their savings. Because everyone was trying to take their savings out, most people were turned down by the bank and essentially lost of their savings in the bank. The banks were failing and because they had no more money left, this stopped the banks from having available credit for people to use which made matters even worse for the people. This leads people to poverty and were left with nothing. Because people were poor and were scared of spending their money now, it made people stop buying extra things that weren't essential to live. This was the cause of the unemployment rates during this time period because if no one was buying anything, then there was no reason to keep extra workers for things people are not buying.

    Read More

  • Great Depression WPA

    906 Words  | 2 Pages

    The cause of this was the Stock Market crash in 1929. Many investors in the stock market panicked and sold all their stocks. The results of this include frightened Americans withdrawing all their savings, causing and hoarding it in their homes, many banks to shut down and less money to circulate in the economy. Although the economy had taken a dramatic blow, there was hope. A new program was administered by the government to help people suffering from the depression.

    Read More

  • The Reality of To Kill A Mockingbird

    1437 Words  | 3 Pages

    The novel, To Kill A Mockingbird, takes place during a racially intense time in history. Harper Lee’s novel was intended to bring a harsh sense of reality to the real world, and demonstrate how it really was during this time in history. This novel is set in Maycomb, Alabama, somewhere during the time period of 1925-1935. Times were hard for the citizens of Maycomb during this period, because of the depression. There are many fictional events in this novel related to non-fictional racial events in history.

    Read More

  • The Great Depression Essay

    1429 Words  | 3 Pages

    To the nations rescue, President Franklin D. Roosevelt was elected and provided many alternative solutions for the repair of America. Roosevelt supplied hundreds of thousands with jobs. He also had acts passed that saved banks and found solutions to protect American jobs. The beginning of World War II marked the ultimate end of the depression.

    Read More

  • The Many Causes And Effects Of The Great Depression

    1257 Words  | 3 Pages

    There were numerous causes and effects of the Great Depression. It was a divergent distribution of wealth. The nation’s wealth increased extremely but they did not distribute it evenly. The economy didn’t have any way of paying the money back. It created a financial crisis when Europe couldn’t purchase goods from the United States. It was mandatory for Germany to pay for World War I due to the Treaty of Versailles. This debt made the United States pass the Forney-McCumber Act which created high tariffs. There were a variety of reasons as to why the Great Depression started.

    Read More

  • The Great Depression Essay

    1508 Words  | 4 Pages

    The Great Depression was the deepest and longest-lasting economic downfall in the history of the United Sates. No event has yet to rival The Great Depression to the present day today although we have had recessions in the past, and some economic panics, fears. Thankfully the United States of America has had its shares of experiences from the foundation of this country and throughout its growth many economic crises have occurred. In the United States, the Great Depression began soon after the stock market crash of October 1929, which sent Wall Street into a panic and wiped out millions of investors ("The Great Depression."). In turn from this single tragic event, numerous amounts of chain reactions occurred.

    Read More

More about Essay On To Kill A Mockingbird And The Great Depression

Open Document