The Power of Literature during the Great Depression

The chaos of the Great Depression (1929) forced definite economic and political changes such as the abandonment of the gold standard and the implementation of Keynesian policy through the New Deal. While these changes were necessary reactions to the economic travesty, the chaos of this period had significant effects of the environment in which people lived. Such dramatic losses and changes in governmental and economic systems resulted in a very expressive cultural period. The writing created in during the Great Depression was very personal and representative of the experience of the artist. Authors, such as John Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath (video clip) began to deviate from focusing of the subconscious and instead using their writing to write about a common experience (the Great Depression) and thus create a sense of unity and inclusivity—those experiencing hardship from the Great Depression were not alone in their suffering. I wouldn’t go as far to say that this writing the Great Depression offered a sense of hope in the idealized connotation—it did not portray a future with some sort of paradise after such suffering, but I do believe that such honest and real writing provided hope in that it eliminated the feeling of complete and total loss and isolation. While literature is typically used as a form to escape from one’s reality, books such as The Grapes of Wrath mirrored the reality of the audience, thus allowing the audience to escape (to a certain degree) from the feeling of isolation and emptiness that the Great Depression imposed on many.