|
The Great Depression
Below is a list of Writing Ideas to help you with your biography.
See our instructions if you need help
printing these Writing Ideas or finding Writing Ideas related
to other Topics.
- In later years, what was the first thing that came into your mind when you heard the word "Depression"? What feelings and memories did this word bring back?
- Did your family or friends invest in the stock market? Did you or anyone you knew lose money in the stock market? What did this money loss mean?
- How quickly were the effects of the stock market crash felt in your household, if at all? Did you notice what was happening because of the effects it had on your family or because of the effects it had on others?
- Did you experience bank panics? What happened at these times? Did you lose money or were you unable to get use of your money because of a panic?
- What did you have to do without during the Depression? New clothes? Money for entertainment? Meat? Or was your family still fairly comfortable?
- How did you feel when you became aware of the magnitude of the economic difficulties? Were you afraid for yourself and your family or were you confident that you would make it through? How did your expectations measure up to reality?
- About 25% of the work force was unemployed at the height of the Depression. How were your family and friends affected in this aspect? Were they out of jobs for extended periods of time or did they have steady work?
- Without steady work, what was done to get money? Did you have to sell any of your possessions? How did it feel to do this? Was it hard to part with some items or were you just happy to have the money? What was sold first?
- Did your family move to find work in another part of the state or country? If so, were you successful? How did it feel to face the unknown?
- Did your family move in with relatives or did you take in relatives who were having difficulties? What was it like having extra people in the household? Was there any resentment among the different family members?
- Did you or anyone you knew become homeless? What happened? Did you or they move into a "Hooverville"? What were the conditions there? What was the mood of the inhabitants?
- What did your family think about accepting or giving charity? Did you not like to accept help from others? Did you think that people should fend for themselves? Were you happy to give or receive what you could?
- Even during the height of the Depression, many people who could scrape together enough money still went to the movies. Did you do this? Why? Was it a way to escape reality?
- In later years, what did you remember about the movie stars of the era? Did they seem as glamorous then as we tend to characterize them now? Did you or others resent their lifestyles when so many people were desperately poor?
- How were holidays celebrated during the Depression? Did you still eat special foods or give and receive gifts when appropriate? Did they pass by without anyone noticing? How had the mood changed?
- What did you think were some of the major causes of the Depression? Did you think that it was caused by over-speculation in the stock market or bad bank loans? What else might have added to the problems?
- Why did you think that it lasted for so long? Were the policies of Hoover and FDR effective or ineffective? What would you have done in the President's place?
- What were your opinions of Hoover and his policies? What was he doing right and what was he doing wrong?
- Did you think that FDR would do a better job than Hoover? Why or why not?
- Before the stock market crashed, were people generally optimistic about the future? How long was it after the Depression before optimism returned?
[ Continue with This Topic | Next Topic/List of Topics ]
|
 |
