The Great Depression: Will Rogers, Woody Guthrie, And John Steinbeck

Around the 1930’s, the economy has crashed, and the dust bowl had happened which led into a difficult economic hardship for millions of people worldwide. It also brought people like Langston Hughes, Upton Sinclair, and many other talented people to be involved in events that has happened in the 1930's. The living conditions during the time wasn’t the greatest and was extremely difficult just to pass on by due the great depression that had happened. The great depression has cause many political crises not just in America, but all over the world. President Franklin D. Roosevelt created the New Deal

If I walked up to a person today they most likely wouldn’t know who John Steinbeck, Will Rogers or Woody Guthrie is. In the 1930s, this was a different story. Everybody knew who they were in the 30’s. Steinbeck, Guthrie, and Rogers were famous for their work considering the Great Depression. The Great Depression was caused by the Stock Market Crash of 1929.

John Steinbeck wrote the The Grapes of Wrath in 1939 to rouse its readers against those who were responsible for keeping the American people in poverty. The Grapes of Wrath tells the story of the Joad family, migrant farmers from Oklahoma traveling to California in search of an illusion of prosperity. The novel's strong stance stirred up much controversy, as it was often called Communist propaganda, and banned from schools due to its vulgar language. However, Steinbeck's novel is considered to be his greatest work. It won the Pulitzer Prize, and later became an Academy Award winning movie in 1940. The novel and the movie are both considered to be wonderful

For example, Frank Capra largely contributed to the attraction of the movie with his unique films, allowing individuals and families to gather to watch movies together as well. The radio and movie industries, the significant factors in American mass media at the time, were affected significantly by the Great Depression as a means of a positive escape tool for people. Secondly, the Great Depression also greatly affected America’s sense of identity through art and literature. The effects of the depression profoundly influenced new literature. Many authors, such as John Steinbeck, would write about the social, political, and economic strains that the Great Depression brought about in the nation.

   When Steinbeck wrote The Grapes of Wrath, our country was just starting to recover from The Great Depression.  The novel he wrote, though fiction, was not an uncommon tale in many lives.  When this book was first published, the majority of those reading it understood where it was coming from-they had lived it.  But now very few people understand the horrors of what went on in that time.  The style in which Steinbeck chose to write The Grapes of Wrath helps get across the book's message.

John Steinbeck is an american author who became very popular in the late 1930s and was popular until the early 1960s.He published his landmark novel The Grapes Of Wrath in 1939, and continued to publish popular novels throughout the next two decades.He received a Nobel Prize for Literature in 1962, as well as many other awards for literature. Some of his most popular works include The Grapes of Wrath, Of Mice and Men, East of Eden, Cannery Road, and The Pearl.

I. John Steinbeck used his personal experiences as a laborer to write many of his novels like Of Mice and Men and The Grapes of Wrath.

One unfortunate mistake can not only ruin the world, but the lives of innocent children and their families. Although America has had an amazing growth in economy over a course of decades and centuries, there was a time when everything plummeted. In history, this time was called the Great Depression, and essentially the stock market crashed. However, the impact of the Great Depression not only affected the economy, but the many lives of innocent American humans. Like Walter Cunningham in, To Kill a Mockingbird, the more poor families struggled to give even the basic necessities to their children. The headlines were splattered with photos of the eerie visuals going on regularly during the time; adults not being able to find jobs, and children

That novel was followed by what most people believe is Steinbeck’s best book, “Grapes Of Wrath”, which was based on articles he had written in San Francisco, and won the Pulitzer Prize in 1940. His talks of the poor conditions eventually caught the attention of Eleanor Roosevelt, who raised the standards, telling Congress to fix the bad parts of the labor laws and camp conditions. In all 17 of his works became movies or screenplays.

John Steinbeck was very important to American Literature because of many things. Starting off, he wrote about things he believed in, like labor issues. Steinbeck wrote three different books on labor issues in California, “In Dubious Battle” from 1936, “Of Mice and Men” from 1937, and “The Grapes of Wrath” from 1939. His book “Of Mice and Men” was his first play-novelette, which did fail at first but was remade fantastically. He did make two other play-novelettes, “The Moon is Down” from 1942 and “Burning Bright” from 1950. “The Grapes of Wrath” was one of his best selling books in 1939, as New York Times has said and has also won the National Book Award and the Pulitzer Prize for fiction in the same year. In February of 1940, 430,000 copies

As William R. Linneman says in the article “Will Rogers And The Great Depression”, "We was a mighty cocky nation, we originated mass production, and mass produced everybody out of a job with our boasted labor-saving machinery. They forgot that machinery don't eat, rent houses, or buy clothes” (177). This quotation is especially prevalent in The Devil and Miss Jones due to Mr. Merrick’s lack of care towards his employees and that he does not realize that they are actual living and breathing humans. He sees them only as profit. Fortunately later in the film, Merrick opens his eyes to his employees--Mary, Elizabeth and Joe--to see that they are more than income and invites all of his employees to the wedding of Joe and Mary. [Tayler Kalthoff]

Depression placed a dark brooding shadow over my mind. I was weighed down, oppressed by the burden of having to carry on with life. In my mind, there was a crushing sense of hopelessness that I have never felt before. The only therapy I found was taking that beautiful, freshly sharpened razor to my left arm. A sigh of relief departed me as I watched the bright red blood drip from my vein. The only burden I had was going to school and hiding my war scars. Each day, the darkness spread through me like cancer. My body withering away, I needed an escape route from this crucial disease. This all continued until the day I saw a light and the darkness began to fade

He loved writing from a young age and knew he wanted to pursue that; “attending Stanford University, he took courses in English and marine biology but left without completing his degree, having made the decision” (“John Steinbeck” 1). His first few books were not very successful, but that did not stop him. His best-known novel was Of Mice and Men (Written in 1937) was not as popular in his time as it is now. His work is highly respected in the Literature world and still studied to this day. “He was awarded the Pulitzer Price for The Grapes of Wrath, and in 1962 he received the Nobel Prize in Literature” (“John Steinbeck” 1). Overall his work was very successful and he had a huge impact on Americans and an even bigger impact on the American voice.

John Steinbeck was very influential in his time. He won the Nobel prize in literature and was the author of 27 books. He was very influential at the time because of one of his novellas, Of Mice and Men. Of Mice and Men was about life in the dust bowl era and the great depression. Throughout the book Steinbeck references problems he sees in society, and he makes it clear that he does not support these problems through the representation of prejudice of disabled people, sexism, and racism portrayed in the writing. Through this he is showing ways to fix society and what should be done to do so.

Have you ever wondered how someone decides to become a writer? Where do they find the inspiration and the characters for their stories. John Ernst Steinbeck was one of the greatest writers of his time. In 1962 he won the Nobel Prize for Literature. Not only has his books been made into movies they have become classics and added to school reading lists.