The Great Depression and the Dust Bowl

Economic Despair and Environmental Disaster: The Great Depression and the Dust Bowl

The 1930s was a decade of unprecedented hardship for the United States. The country was reeling from the effects of the Great Depression, a severe economic downturn that left millions of people unemployed and struggling to make ends meet. To make matters worse, the Great Plains region was hit by a series of devastating dust storms known as the Dust Bowl, which further compounded the suffering of the American people.

I have completed studying The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck. Before publishing, I would like to touch on two significant events that have a crucial effect on the novel. Like other novels, The Grapes of Wrath is based on significant events. One of them is the Great Depression, and the other is the Dust Bowl. If you have not read the novel yet, you should definitely look into these events to fully comprehend the novel. They are also pivotal events in American history. In our class, we study both American history and American literature. Therefore, in this blog, I will examine these events and then discuss John Steinbeck's 'The Grapes of Wrath: A Tale of Hardship and Hope' in this context. I hope to provide some insights to help comprehend these events, which are significant in American history.

The Great Depression was triggered by the stock market crash of 1929, which sent the economy into a downward spiral. Banks failed, businesses closed, and unemployment soared to unprecedented levels. Families across the country found themselves struggling to survive, with many unable to afford even the most basic necessities. The government's response to the crisis was slow and ineffective, leaving millions of Americans to fend for themselves. Oklahoma was one of the regions that experienced disasters caused by the Dust Bowl and the Great Depression in a particularly adverse way; therefore, the author must have chosen it for this reason. As if the economic hardship wasn't enough, the Great Plains region was hit by a series of severe droughts in the 1930s. With much of the land already over-farmed and over-grazed, the topsoil became loose and vulnerable to erosion. When strong winds swept across the region, they picked up the dry, dusty soil and created massive dust storms that blotted out the sun and turned day into night. These dust storms not only destroyed crops and livestock but also caused widespread respiratory problems among the people living in the affected. As if the economic hardship wasn't enough, the Great Plains region was hit by a series of severe droughts in the 1930s. With much of the land already over-farmed and over-grazed, the topsoil became loose and vulnerable to erosion. When strong winds swept across the region, they picked up the dry, dusty soil and created massive dust storms that blotted out the sun and turned day into night. These dust storms not only destroyed crops and livestock but also caused widespread respiratory problems among the people living in the affected. In particular, from Texas, Arkansas, or Oklahoma, they were called Arkies and Okies, and they traveled to California because it offered a warm climate and undamaged agriculture. In response to the dual crises of the Great Depression and the Dust Bowl, President Franklin D. Roosevelt implemented a series of New Deal programs aimed at providing relief, recovery, and reform. These programs included public works projects to create jobs, financial reforms to stabilize the banking system, and agricultural programs to restore the fertility of the soil. While these efforts helped alleviate some of the suffering, it would take years for the country to fully recover from the devastation of the 1930s.

I have just mentioned the Great Depression. Now, I will strive to illuminate the Dust Bowl, which is a crucial period in American history. Indeed, there are plenty of examples, such as the Dust Bowl, that have influenced a country. No need to look far; last year in my country (Turkey), we experienced earthquakes of 7.8 and 7.7 magnitudes. Therefore, I understand how disasters can influence the future of a country and its people. In my next blog, I will be observing The Grapes of Wrath, where you will come across the effects of disaster from Steinbeck's perspective. Dust Bowl is a natural disaster that was one of the causes of the Great Depression.

The Dust Bowl along with uneven stock market crashes, was a natural disaster that contributed to the Great Depression. Due to this, a significant number of American citizens had to relocate to another part of the United States due to the loss of their homes and crops. In fact, American agriculture had already been in crisis before the Dust Bowl and the Great Depression. Therefore, United States government had to take precaution to save farmers. President Herbert Hoover reached out to Congress to establish the Federal Farm Board in order to stabilize prices by buying agricultural products from farmers on the open market. A successful Agricultural Marketing Act was passed in May 1929. Nevertheless, shortly after, the Farm Board ran out of money and could not provide financial support for American farmers, causing many to go bankrupt. In 1932, almost a third of farm estates—60 percent in South Dakota alone—were taken from their owners and later auctioned off.

During the worst year of the Dust Bowl, which was in 1938, more than 850 million of topsoil were ruined. Moreover, the dust destroyed people’s homes, clothing, furniture, and food. In short, this natural disaster caused damages to the crops and properties in the Great Plain parts, making it impossible to keep living there.

Kurfürstová, T. (2021). The Great Depression and working class in novels by John Steinbeck (Bachelor's thesis). Palacký University Olomouc, Faculty of Arts, Department of English and American Studies.

As a result, farmers had already begun to suffer. Although the Act appeared successful, the situation remained unclear. It became impossible to sustain the farmers, their crops, and their estates. 

The beginning of the Great Depression led to an increase in strikes organized by unions and the working class. Author George Rawick in his work Working-class Self-Activity (1983), which focuses on the struggles of American workers up to the 1970s, describes that “[i]n 1932 there were only 840 strikes; in 1933 there were 1,700; by 1936, 2,200; by 1937, 4,740; in 1938, only 2,500; in 1941, 4,000.” All the disasters and factors contributing to the Great Depression led to enormous unemployment within a few years, causing significant problems for American citizens. Due to unemployment, people experienced quiet desperation; no job meant no bread, which in turn meant no family, emotional turmoil, and deep-seated fears. However, I believe that hard times create strong people. Because of these disasters, people learned how to be union. Workers came together to organize strikes, and from those movements, unions were born. These unions eventually became powerful advocates for improving working conditions. In The Grapes of Wrath, I will examine deeper into these issues. So far, we've had a brief overview of the Great Depression and the Dust Bowl. I hope I've provided some clues to help you understand them better.