June | 2017 | Shea's Blog

June 2017
M	T	W	T	F	S	S
	1	2	3	4
5	6	7	8	9	10	11
12	13	14	15	16	17	18
19	20	21	22	23	24	25
26	27	28	29	30

Weaknesses of Women in the 1900’s

Being a woman during The Great Depression was hard. So what are the effects of depression on women? In the novel To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee and the world renowned novella Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck, both authors illustrated the impacts of The Great Depression on lower class female farmers. Although each of these unique stories took place in different settings, both Mayella Ewell and Curley’s Wife experienced loneliness, very little opportunities, and a yearning for love in all the wrong places. Both stories demonstrate how companionship is a human necessity, even with such different lifestyles.

During The Great Depression, the lower class ladies seemed to find themselves very lonely and isolated. In To Kill a Mockingbird, Mayella was isolated at home, always taking care of her many siblings. It was just herself and her drunken dad in a disastrous house behind the town’s dumpster. Her loneliness was evident in her testimony, when she was asked if she had any friends and thought Atticus was mocking her. Scout witnessed poor Mayella trying to answer the question and said, “Mayella Ewell must have been the loneliest person in the world.” (Lee, 191). On the other hand, in Of Mice and Men, Curley’s Wife was the only girl on the ranch and just wanted some attention. She had nobody to talk to and was desperate for companionship. She even went into Crook’s room, which was insane, because a white woman never enters a black man’s quarters. She displayed her sadness by saying, “Sat’iday night. Ever’body out doin’ som’pin’. Ever’body! An’ what am I doin’? Standin’ here talkin’ to a bunch of bindle stiffs… an’ likin’ it because they ain’t nobody else.” (Steinbeck, 78). All she wanted was to be free, but she was so far away from the rest of humanity that she was stuck. Both of these stories demonstrate how the lower class females were isolated during The Great Depression.

In the early 1900s, it was hard for females to be independent and carve their own futures. Particularly in the lower class, they were often degraded and treated with little respect. A perfect example is Mayella Ewell, who had no education or opportunities because she was forced to stay home and care for her siblings. Her lack of respect was indicated when she thought Atticus was mocking her by calling her Miss: “Wont answer a word you say as long as you keep mocking me… Long’s he keeps callin’ me ma’am and sayin’ Miss Mayella. I don’t hafta take this sass, I ain’t called upon to take it.” (Lee, 243). She had a harsh upbringing, with no education and no respect. Poor Mayella had almost no say in her own future. Meanwhile, Curley’s Wife in To Kill A Mockingbird was experiencing quite similar circumstances. She had a dream of becoming an actress and wanted to make it big, but the lower class life drew her down and she found herself at the bottom of the human food chain: “’I lived right in Salinas,’ she said. ‘Come there when I was a kid. Well, a show come through, an’ I met one of the actors. He says I could go with that show. But my ol’ lady wouldn’ let me. She says because I was on’y fifteen. But the guy says I coulda. If I’d went, I wouldn’t be livin’ like this, you bet.’” (Steinbeck, 256). She had real dreams and goals set out for herself, but the time period and circumstances held her back.

Along with a need for companionship comes an empty heart awaiting to be filled with love. For example, Mayella Ewell from To Kill A Mockingbird was isolated for so long, that she went to desperate measures and tried to have a fling with a black man! The thought of this would be revolting to other ladies during The Great Depression, but Mayella was so lonely that she didn’t have many options. He was one of few people that passed her house every day, so she saw an opportunity and grasped it. Her father, however, knew that her actions were wrong. He forced her to convince the jury of her innocence: “I seen that black nigger yonder ruttin’ on my Mayella!” (Lee, 231). Bob Ewell displayed his anger in trying to convince the jury of Mayella’s innocence. If the same situation had happened with a white man, nobody would’ve thought anything of it. Curley’s Wife from Of Mice And Men was in a similar position, and wanted someone to love. Yes, she was married to Curley, but she married him for financial reasons if anything. She ran around to all the boys on the ranch whenever Curley wasn’t around, just to find someone to connect with: “They left all the weak ones here,” (Steinbeck, 77) she once said, referring to when her husband and coworkers went off to town. She didn’t get the opportunity to expose herself to new people, and she was stuck on the farm all day every day.

Despite these two completely different story lines, each book outlined how it felt to be a lonely lower class female in The Great Depression. They lived without companionship, had next to no opportunities, and a deep yearning for love and contentment. Women were treated with disrespect in the world of independence, and these harsh circumstances degraded their freedom.

Related image