Now that we Americans can looks back into history and survey the past, its obvious that depending on the economy, it affected how people had to live. This is most evident during the great depression.
We see early on that the great depression managed to hit home and have an affect Jacob’s family. Times were hard for his parents, and when this all unfolds for Jacob to see, he doesn’t quite fully understand it. After the accidental death of Jacob’s parents, he finds out what his parents had never told him. Jacob was unaware that his parents had accepted payments in the form of food for quite some time. Just from Gruens words you can picture the mien of Jacob. “Apparently my father has been taking payment in the form of beans and eggs for nearly two years.” (Gruen 19) This was a big shock too Jacob and in some way embarrassing for the man to have to find out something like that after the death of your parents and not being told up front.
It’s not surprising that the book portrays circus owners as people who aren’t so lenient with their money, especially Uncle Al. They would do anything to save money or make a quick gain. A thing called red lighting was a scary thought, but all too often, a sad reality. Red lighting was a method used by circus owners where in the middle of the night; performers and other people of the circus staff would be thrown off the train. Although this was such a cruel thing to do, it was what had to be done. Owners had to cut down on staff in the easiest way possible, and red lighting was it. “ ‘A bunch of men went missing overnight, six at least, maybe more.’ ” (Gruen 187) This was a scary thought to sleep with for anybody on the train. We also see that Uncle Al would target circus’ that were struggling and use them for his financial gain. Al would purchase a circus last minute, right before it went broke. Even though it came with losing respect, it was a cheap method that came with a gain as he could turn them and make a profit.
The Essay on Owning People Picture Photograph Boy
Photography: Critical Analysis When I looked at this specific picture many words came into my head, but the first five words that I immediately thought of were rejection, poor, depression, sadness, and helpless. As I examined this photo further I began to ponder about what the story behind this specific picture was. This helped me think of three important questions that were; what happened to ...
Perhaps the biggest struggle during the time of the depression was trying to make ends meet and pay for something. Most things came easy for the upper class, and their wasn’t much struggle for them, but that wasn’t the case for the people who made up the middle and lower class. Getting an education was one instance where paying for it meant sacrificing something else. Another thing Jacob finds out after his parents death is that they had to mortgage their house in order to pay for Jacob’s education at Cornell. Jacob was disheartened by the fact his parents never told him, and it was even worse that he had to find out from the lawyer that he is unable to take over the family practice. “What if I come back and try to take over the practice?” (Gruen 20) “ ‘It doesn’t work like that, it’s not yours.’ ” If you had something to pay for, finding a job wasn’t the easiest thing to do. Many people as a last resort would just try to join the circus as a “walk on” job. Jacob finds this to be true after encountering a hobo jungle when walking back to the circus. Everyone thought they could just join the circus no matter what, even the most vacuous people, but that wasn’t the case. This made it even harder to find a job during such hard times.
Obviously, the time period back then was much different from the one we live in now, and we should be thankful for that. None of these events are mercurial but we can learn not to repeat them. Thankfully we do not have to live in such a way as portrayed in Water for Elephants.