Great Depression Has Had a Significant Effect

¶ … Great Depression has had a significant effect on society as a whole and it has also provided inspiration for creative minds who acknowledged the suffering that it generated. Many American writers saw the events accompanying the economic crisis from a firsthand perspective and their artistic personalities thus came to shape their perception of these respective happenings. Literature actually provided a way out for individuals who suffered financial deficit, as they could escape society's problems into the pages of a book that could provide them with a whole new point-of-view regarding the depression and concerning their personal identity.

One of the principal negative consequences triggered by the Great Depression was the fact that the American Dream was no longer attainable in an environment dominated by poverty. American writers got actively engaged in writing in regard to the crisis and did not hesitate to paint a true portrayal of conditions in the U.S. during the event. Progress was no longer the concept sought for by most Americans, as they came to replace it with survival. As a consequence, individuals started to search for a way out and most people were willing to do anything in their power in order to be affected by the depression as little as possible, considering the horrific conditions that they lived in at the time. Even with the fact that reading was not exactly the most constructive method of recovering from the situation that they were in, individuals expressed particular interest in literature relating to the financial crisis. They most probably considered that they could gain a better understanding of the event if they were to see it from the perspective of someone who saw it as inspiration material.

Many writers came to acknowledge the importance of their role in the American society as a result of watching the Great Depression and the damage that it caused. "Like the Great War, the Great Depression forced a similar radical reassessment of the role of the artist in American society and the response of writers to its social challenge" (Burt 3). Taking this into account, one might be inclined to associate suffering with creation, considering that a great deal of artists produced remarkable works as a result of focusing on the depression and on its effects. In addition to wanting to emphasize the gravity of the event, many writers wanted to alert the population concerning the faults of capitalism, an ideology previously thought to be the most effective to have ever existed. It was practically as if these individuals were finally provided with the opportunity to condemn the strategies of a corrupt system and took advantage of it. It was practically impossible for someone to criticize them at this point, considering that they acted similar to correspondents who told a story as objectively as possible but without hesitating to involve their point-of-view into the writings.

It practically seemed that American literature experienced much progress during the Great Depression and that writers were ready to write more serious texts, works that they expected to have a significant effect on their readers and that they wanted to contribute to the general change that literature was going to make in order to remedy conditions in the country. While some might be inclined to consider that drama was one of the only concepts that could be associated with the event, other writers actually turned to using comedy as a means to condemn American leaders and to highlight the suffering of Americans. Writers realized that they were among the only ones holding power over ideologies in the U.S. And came to focus on providing the masses with education in regard to the attitudes that they needed to employ in order to improve conditions in the country (Solomon 124).

U.S. writers and intellectuals in general considered that the Great Depression stood as proof that they needed to employ much thinking in regard to the political ideology that they wanted to respect. Many came to see capitalism as a concept that was extremely flawed and that favored certain communities. As a consequence, some saw communism as a viable way out and considered that it would be perfectly normal for them to start to appreciate this ideology because it directly contradicted capitalism. The fact that they felt betrayed by their country's leaders also contributed to this feeling, as they believed that they would virtually pay them back by adopting thinking that was in disagreement with general thinking in the country. As they were already accustomed to being discriminated, a great deal of African-American writers put across little to no hesitation in regard to openly stating their interest in communism as the answer to the U.S.' problems (Andrews, Smith Foster, Harris 117).

While some might be inclined to believe that it would be impossible to describe the suffering experienced during the Great Depression, writers who thrived during the era believed otherwise and actually managed to produce some of the most significant works of literature that have ever been created in the U.S. "Common themes found in the literature of the period are despair, poverty, corruption, strife between labor and management, and the need to work together" (Great Depression, great creativity). It is generally accepted that the event played an important role in shaping detective literature. Writers used themes like corruption (this was common during the depression, considering that the authorities tended to take advantage of the poor condition that citizens were in) with the purpose of boosting the image of particular individuals. The fact that many American gangsters also emerged during the era made it possible for writers to devise works that related to the horrible effects that the financial crisis inflicted on the nation (Great Depression, great creativity).

In spite of the great works produced during the Great Depression, many of the period's writers failed to be recognized for the significant contribution that they brought to U.S. literature. This is mainly a result of the fact that they were associated with communism and later movements thus considered that it was better for Americans to ignore these works as a result of the false values that they could induce into the 'honest capitalist'. It appears that conditions today are no different in comparison to how they were right after the depression ended, considering that the contemporary society expresses suspicion concerning the period's most notable writers (Great Depression, great creativity).