Of Mice and Men Setting

Of Mice and Men – Setting

The Great Depression

“The Great Depression was a worldwide business slump of the 1930s. It ranked as the worst and largest period of high unemployment and low business activity in modern times. The Great Depression began in October 1929, when stock values in the United States dropped rapidly. Thousands of the stockholders lost large sums of money. Many of those stockholders were even wiped out. Banks, factories, and stores closed and left millions of Americans jobless and penniless. Many people had to depend on the government or charity to provide them with food.”

World Book Encyclopaedia

Causes

The Great Depression started with the Wall Street Crash of 1929. Between 1925 and 1929 stock priced doubled, which led to speculation (when people buy risky stocks in the hope that they will improve in the future). There was a feeling of confidence and arrogance. On October 24 1929 (Black Thursday) stock prices dropped rapidly, and the following Monday they dropped again. This led to widespread panic and over 16 million shares were sold, seriously damaging the economy. Banks that held stocks had to close, resulting in lost savings.

As the Depression continued and money was scarce, people began drawing on their savings at the banks that were still open. The demand on the banks to suddenly pay out so much money meant that many banks couldn’t afford to and failed. Millions of people lost their savings, making it almost impossible to survive, and further depressing the economy.

Results

The Depression resulted in widespread unemployment as so many businesses closed down. In 1925 unemployment was 3%, by 1930 it had risen to 9% and by 1933 it was 25%. With so little money available many thousands of homeowners couldn’t afford to pay their mortgages, so they lost their homes and became hobos, wandering all over the countryside seeking food, clothing, shelter and a job.

Migrant workers

Terrible dust storms and a drop in farm prices made a lot of farmers lose their farms. They had to migrate, adding to the number of hobos. These migrant workers were known as bindle stiffs. These former farm owners moved in their thousands to the fertile Californian valley to find work, but ended up working as temporary fruit and vegetable pickers on extremely low wages. Their lack of education made it very difficult for them to ever find any other kinds of work.

Conclusion

The Great Depression finally ended thanks to World War II. As nations increased their production of war materials many more jobs were created and a lot more money was in circulation. This stabilised the economy and lifted the Depression.