TKAM and The Great Depression

"Maycomb was an old town, but it was a tired old town when i first knew it. In rainy weather the streets turned to red slop... somehow it was hotter then... bony mules hitched to Hoover carts flicked flies in the sweltering shade of the live oaks on the square. Men's stiff collars wilted by nine in the morning. Ladies bathed before noon, after their three-o'clock naps, and by nightfall were like soft teacakes with frostings of sweat and sweet talcum."

Lee chapter 1 page 6

In TKAM we see all sorts of people affected by the great depression. we see it through the Cunningham family, who are farmers and afford pretty much anything. Since all the farmers are broke and can't afford services the people who do the services are also broke. All of this can be seen through this dialogue between scout and Atticus: "Not exactly the Cunninghams are country folk, farmers, and the crash hit'm the hardest.""Atticus said professional people were poor because the farmers were poor. As Maycomb county was a farm country, nickles and dimes were hard to come by for doctors and dentists and lawyers." I will also note that there is a mention of the WPA (work progress administration) which was part of the new deal that FDR put into action to help combat the depression.

Yeah this quote is a bit of a throwback to chapter one page 6, and yes it was longer that what I typed but you can look it up if you want the extra detail. Anyway sit back enjoy my energy drink induced blog extravaganza. As you probably know this is the part of the book where scout is describing Maycomb to us. We get our first glimpse into what life in the small southern town would be like. We see the slow paced town with its old fashioned values. We can see this through the description of the men in collared shirts and ladies using talcum powder. The last part of the quote also makes a reference to FDR who said "the only thing we have to fear is fear itself." during his inauguration speech which just happened to be in the same time period as TKAM. This quote is leading into other parts of the book that show the great depression in action.

So to recap: what wrong in Maycomb county? Well, Maycomb county(as we know) is farmer based meaning the depression hit them pretty hard. There is no work for farmers meaning no work for everyone else. The crash of the stock market was the main cause of the depression and left a ton of people out of work. So, how could it have been fixed? You see I'm not into solving government problems but you know who was, FDR. FDR created the new deal since he knew WWII would only be temporary fix. The deal consisted of multiple programs to help create jobs and fix up the government. 

Wow that was a lot of thinking but, remember there could have been multiple reasons the depression occurred and could have been fixed. Oh, and comment if you want to. I love to read feedback and comments help me improve. Just be nice plz I can be a lil sensitive.