Live From Their Car example essay topic

'What it was like to be poor, unemployed and homeless in 1930's USA. ' For an American to go without food for more than a day to us seems unimaginable. The country that so many see as the world leader today, has not always been as strong though. Less than 70 years ago many poor, homeless and unemployed Americans were starving to death. What they went through could be compared to some of the less well off nations today. To begin to understand the plight of the poor, homeless and unemployed American of the depression I will place an average Melbourne family into that situation.

To begin with, take away the house. Banks reclaimed a large number of houses of those who could not keep up the repayments. If this is a lucky family they may have a car to sleep in. Usually this car is a battered old Ford or Chevy; the car doesn't go very well. That doesn't matter though because they probably can't afford petrol anyway. The family will then have to beg for food for dinner.

If they are too proud to beg they will try to sell apples or other items on the sidewalls, if they still have nothing to eat they will queue for many hours in bread lines organised by the city charities. This family will most likely live from their car or move into one of the Hooverville's. In this Hooverville they will live like many other families, in a house made from packing cases and corrugated iron. Disease is rife here and few are able to get medical help. There is however no shortage of water. When it rains it comes under the walls and through the roof drenching everything inside.

News travels slowly amongst the poor, most people hear what is going on in the world by word of mouth. Or by reading a week old paper that they are using to stop their roof leaking. During the winters it is bitterly cold. Children search through junkyards for old cars, which might have a little bit of oil in them.

If they are lucky they will be warm for the night. Men have to work extremely hard. That is if they have a job. Unemployment is high; 12 to 15 million are without jobs. Men walk all day in search of work.

If they are lucky they might find some. The pay is bad and the conditions are bad, but they don't complain. They know that there are hundreds of others who are quite willing to take their place. The men can be sacked on a moment's notice. There need be no reason for being fired. Businesses have 'No Help Wanted's i gns placed on their gates.

Most disturbing of all is some are written in gilt letters. The new problem once they have money becomes crime. Many would kill for 50 cents. This doesn't matter though because many lose all their money though to the drink virtually straight away.

Now take this person or family and unless they have a car imagine how they can travel across the country in search of work. Of course they use the train. The ride is rough; this is because they have to stow away in the cargo carriages. That doesn't matter though because they will most likely fall off or be shot off by the railroad police. The police are ruthless and don't ask questions. If the family were living in the countryside the situation would be even more despairing.

Many farms and houses abandoned, or reclaimed by the bank. Farmers just wander, lamenting, bitter about their losses. It gets pretty hot in the countryside. That doesn't matter though because there are plenty of rivers to drink water from, although dumping and dead bodies floating in them is polluting these rivers.

These bodies belong to those who had no reason to live and decided to end it all. A way many people felt. Finally this family might be like 300,000 others who in the space of just 4 years migrated to California where the soil was meant to be good and there was supposed to be plenty of room. There didn't turn out to be room for some and others didn't have the money to buy land. This doesn't matter though because many of them were driven off by Californians who feared being over run.

But basically most poor, homeless and unemployed were in the same boat. They were all just rubber duckies in the heaving sea of uncertainty. They were left to drift at the discretion of those few who held the power. This whole period widened the gap between rich and the poor.

The rich got rich off the poor and the poor could do nothing about it. This whole era in America's history can be summed up by the phrase many heard and said:" Brother can you spare a dime?'.