By Melissa Roe
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| Grandparent Paper By Melissa Roe |
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| My grandparents grew up in the 1930-1940 decade. Both sets of my grandparents were just kids at this time. This was a time of hardships, triumphs, and great possibility.� Life was much simpler during this decade without the luxuries and chaos we have today. | |||||||||||
| A Simple Time���� | |||||||||||
| As Gail Sheehy states, "This is the generation that grew up without television, before credit cards, tape decks, artificial hearts, word processors, condominiums, or computers" (29). This was a different world than what I"ve grown up in. My grandparents didn"t have the luxuries I grew up with. These young people had mostly stay-at-home moms, and grandparents in the spare room, since it was before day care or nursing homes (Sheehy 29). After dinner families would sit together listening to suspenseful stories told on the radio. At the same time every week families would tune in to listen to their favorite programs. This was sometimes the most exciting part of the day. Children would walk to school, "Up hill both ways," as my grandma would say. No matter what the weather was like. They would return to home at the end of the day to do daily chores. Helping their mother do the dishes or hanging the laundry, because there were no dish-washers or washing machines. My grandparents favorite toys were Mickey Mouse dolls, the game Sorry, and Chinese Checkers. Many hours were spent playing Solitaire. My grandparents loved to play solitaire also in their later years. These toys are very different than what we have now to play with, Power Wheels, Playstation, play cell phones, video games and talking robots. Back in 1930, no one would have believed that some of these toys would one day be in every kid's room. Walt Disney's first full length picture, "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs";, was shown to the public in 1937 (Daniel 477). This was my Grandma Peggy's favorite movie. | |||||||||||
| Great Depression | |||||||||||
| Both sets of my grandparents grew up around the time of the Great Depression. This was probably the hardest economic crisis America has endured. One year after the stock market crashed, 4 million families were left without any kind of financial support (Jennings). The Federal government did not know how to help these families. The Great Depression didn't affect my family too badly. They did however ration the food they consumed for a long time. My dad, Mike Nicholas, says "I remember asking for something to drink and my grandma would fill my cup up an inch full of pop or juice." Both of my grandmothers would get upset if we wasted food or drinks. During the depression, people made use of everything and put nothing to waste. My other grandma always saved the change she got in a drawer. Whenever someone asked for a quarter she always said, "No, I might need it someday to buy a gallon of milk." My great-grandpa worked for U.S. Steel who laid off 225,000 people (Jennings). My grandpa was hired shortly after by another steel company. Though he did not make as much money, my grandparents found a way to make it. | |||||||||||
| New York� | |||||||||||
| The world's tallest building opened in June of 1931. This was the Empire State Building. I remember my Grandpa Meyer telling me stories of his visit to New York when he was 15 years old. He used to say, "It was the greatest monument ever to be built." Little did they know this would just be one of the many magnificent buildings we have in our country today.� In 1940 New York had the first World's Fair. Some called it ";The World of Tomorrow." The most interesting exhibits were the ones that showed you what the future would be like (Brewster 211). My grandma remembered hearing about the fair. She said everyone was so excited and couldn't wait for these items to be available. She said when they became available she doesn't know how they lived without them. ����������� |
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| The world back then was very different than what we live in today. It is just amazing to see how things have evolved over the years and what accomplishments we have made. Today people take for granted the things that would have been considered luxuries back in 1930, such as indoor plumbing and electricity. | |||||||||||
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