America and The Grapes Of Wrath Essays

America and The Grapes Of Wrath Essays America and The Grapes Of Wrath Essay America and The Grapes Of Wrath Essay Essay Topic: The Grapes Of Wrath In The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck, the time period is set during the Dust Bowl and the Great Depression around the 1930s. Both of these devastations occurred relatively around the same time creating many problems across America. In the Great Plains region, the Dust Bowl hit forcing families into havoc. When families transitioned from their farming lands to industrial factories they were hit with the Great Depression. This affected about 15 million people throughout America. The Dust Bowl surrounded Oklahoma, Texas, Kansas, Colorado, and New Mexico. With almost no rainfall, loose soil, and high winds all of these factors combined to create dense dust clouds called â€Å"black blizzards†. From 1934 to 1937, the soil lacked the strong root system to resist the winds. The recurring storms strangled cows and pasture lands moving 60% of the population from the region. Most of these people moved to the west towards cities. The federal government mobilized several new agencies, principally the Soil Conservation Service formed in 1935, to promote farm rehabilitation. Farmers were instructed to plant trees and grass to anchor the soil, to plow and terrace in contour patterns to hold rainwater, and to allow portions of farmland to lie unplanted each year so the soil could restore. 11.3 million acres of land were purchased to keep out of production and by 1941 much of the land was rehabilitated. The region repeated its mistakes during World War II as farmer s again plowed up grassland to plant wheat when grain prices rose. Drought threatened another disaster in the 1950s, prompting Congress to subsidize farmers in restoring millions of acres of wheat back to grassland. The Great Depression was the longest lasting economic downturn in history. After the stock market crashed in October 1929, Wall Street wiped out millions of investors in a panic.Steep declines in industrial output and rising levels of unemployment as failing companies laid o