The style of writing, the themes, and characteristics are always influenced by the time of writing. This can be seen in the early days of comic books as many heroes took on patriotism to fight not just outlandish foes, but also the real ones we faced. In the 1930s, as President Franklin D. Roosevelt sought to pull the United States out of the Great Depression, he encouraged writing through New Deal programs. The government encouraged people to write novels, plays, and poetry as a means of stimulating the economy through art. As a result, literature took on a somber tone, read by the eyes of the downcast and heavy-hearted.
John Steinbeck, a king of 1930s literature, published The Grapes of Wrath in 1939. The celebrated novel follows the Joad family who are forced to foreclose on their land and travel to California looking for work. Along the way, they meet many other families making the same trip, pulled in by the same promise. Their encounters consistently leave them in worse shape, and once they reach California, they are frustrated to find an abundance of workers, lack of rights, and not enough work. People in the ‘30s related to the characters as they dealt with similar financial struggles, searching for work and finding none or finding corruption.
A dominate voice among female and African American writers during the ‘30s was Zora Neale Hurston. Her novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God, published in 1939, is considered to be her most controversial work. The story of Janie Crawford, a passionately independent young woman growing up in southern Florida during the ‘30s, saw her through three marriages, a hurricane, and a frightening period when her husband is afflicted with rabies. Amid these trials, she finds strength to withstand the tragedies and poverty. The novel was criticized for its harshly realistic look at life within all black communities, but is now celebrated for its determination in facing adversity.
F. Scott Fitzgerald took a long absence between his incredible story of The Great Gatsby and his next book. Gatsby was published in the mid 1920s and nine years later in 1934, Tender is the Night presented the story of a promising young psychoanalyst and his wife who was a patient of his. It begins with the glamorous young couple staying in a villa in France; however, it takes a few dark twists, involving a murder in a friend’s bed, the revelation of an incestuous relationship, and an affair. Describing parties and easier times did not initially sit well with readers who were looking for something mirroring their own circumstances. But, as with many early 20th century writing, its popularity has grown since publication.
The 1930s saw many other incredible writers, including Ernest Hemingway, who recognized the social mood, and therefore, wrote novels entrenched in the Depression era. Richard Wright was a man unafraid of making his opinions known through his depictions of African American life, and his support for the communist party. William Faulkner wrote stories entrenched in the south, set in Mississippi, including Southern Gothic tones and experimented with diction. Regardless of the style, the collective talent amid these writers is anything but depressing.
