Seperation And Sorrow Summary

In the article, “Seperation and Sorrow: A Farm Woman’s Life by Pamela Riney-Kehrberg talks about a woman named Martha Schmidt Friesen who was a farmer living near Kendall,Kansas. In this article, the author discusses the hardship Martha had to face during the Great Depression. Not only did the author touch base on economic struggles but the emotional struggles and family separation that they had to face through out this depressive time for everyone in America. Kegrberg describes the hardship Martha faced with her children and husband through out the article for a great feel of how certain woman felt.

Kehrberg didn’t touch on the thesis to much till towards the end of the article. She starts out with a background of Marthas life - which caused for confusion at first. The author didn't introduce the thesis as well as she could have in the beginning of this article. Her arguments for her thesis are well thought out and brings the thesis well together. She argues through out the article the separation and isolation Martha felt cause her to feel depressed and lonely since the Great Depression drove away her children and their children away. Once Will, Sally and Margaret moved, there was a significant change but no evidence was

shown in Martha diary but a small poem that she wrote . Before her children left, Martha relied a lot onto them due to her getting sick and older through out the years into the Dust Bowl. Kehrberg argues Martha didn’t social with anybody outside of her family, once her children were gone this disrupt the in network of area woman . Once her children did move away, Marthas husband George was to focused on provided to get money for his family, so while Martha worked her only companion was her radio. She did most of everything regardless of her being sick and suffered through her daily route. The Great Depression really caused for a fabric of family life which made it difficult for families to stay together. The small town Martha stayed in took a serious of loss for the community as tax bases, schools pushed young people out of the farm community. If the Great Depression didn’t happen, mothers and grandmas passing on generation would have been potentially woman farmers themselves.
The author used a variety of primary sources - mostly from Martha diary herself. She even quotes Martha exact words especially talking about the Dust Bowl.”Blowed hard after midnight when we got up this morning house was all sifted full of dust. Couldn't see that Mo had it all cleaned up yesterday”. Martha wrote in her diary as a third person describing herself as Mo and her husband George as Po. Another great primary source the author used was an article “Woman of Nebraska Farms.” This allowed the author to have a better understanding of Martha job being a female farmer as well as understanding difficult during the Great Depression. The author took great advantage of the sources - but could have done more research then just relying on Marthas diary for a little bit of more background knowledge.
Although, the background information was a bit of a through off, it was useful in the sense of understanding who Martha is as person.

The author really tied into together what Martha does and how well she cares for her family. Martha was seen as this strong woman regardless of her struggles being away from her children and her husband who slowly got into separation - this allowed for a good read. But, the author wasn't so good at making the thesis clear through out the entire article. The thesis was unclear till nearly the end of the article - allowing for some throwing off information. The author should have talked more details of what Martha fully did of being a women farmer and the way society portrayed her during the Great

Depression.
To sum it all up, In the article, “Separation and Sorrow: A Farm Woman’s Life by Pamela Riney-Kehrberg talks about a woman named Martha Schmidt Friesen who was a farmer living near Kendall,Kansas. The author doesn’t do a good job at having a clear thesis till the end of the article making sense of the economic and even the emotional side of the Great Depression had on woman farmers. Martha children were left with no choice due to the Great Depression but to move - making Martha feel more isolated and alone during these hardships. The author describes Martha getting sick filling in the void with endless work as her husband does the same. Overall, the article is a pretty decent read but could use a bit more detail when it comes to be a women farmer.