Historical Aspects
Some details in the book that depict life in the 1930s is how families who farm land gave up and left the dust bowl, children had to wear face masks in school, and people died from dust pneumonia. An example from the book that depicts what life was like in the dust is when Billie Jo describes the rules of dinning, "Ma has rules for setting the table. I place plates upside down, grasses bottom side up, napkins folded over forks, knives, and spoons." Some of the things the author was able to vividly describe in the Dust Bowl is that there were mountains of dust, people had to sweep the dust out of their house, people had dust on their food whenever they ate, and people even had dust in their bodily system, " Daddy came in, he sat across from Ma and blew his nose. Mud streamed out. He coughed and spit out mud. If he had cried, his tears would have been mud too."
The author was able to vividly describe the dust bowl by doing various research like studying the effects of the dust, and what impact it had on farmers and non-farmers living in that area. She also read newspapers from that time period and listened to stories from her grandparents about The Great Depression and The Dust Bowl.
The most interesting facts I've learned about everyday life in the 1930s is that, most farming families did not leave the dust bowl. Only one-quarter of the dust bowlers fled to California, most people stayed in their homes, persevering through ten difficult years. The majority the Dust Bowl was both a man made and natural disaster, because farmers overplanted, over plowed, and flattened the land. There were also record setting summer temperatures in the 1930s, and this along with blowing topsoil and many droughts made matters worse and created the dust storms. The damaged ecosystem in the Dust Bowl unleashed plaques of grasshoppers and jackrabbits. With no natural predators to keep the insect population under control, the grasshoppers laid eggs and multiplied to biblical proportions. The warm weather of the 1930's coupled with lack of rainfall eliminated many of the natural conditions that killed young rabbits, therefore they multiplied. At one time there were 8 million rabbits in 30 Kansas counties alone.
The author was able to vividly describe the dust bowl by doing various research like studying the effects of the dust, and what impact it had on farmers and non-farmers living in that area. She also read newspapers from that time period and listened to stories from her grandparents about The Great Depression and The Dust Bowl.
The most interesting facts I've learned about everyday life in the 1930s is that, most farming families did not leave the dust bowl. Only one-quarter of the dust bowlers fled to California, most people stayed in their homes, persevering through ten difficult years. The majority the Dust Bowl was both a man made and natural disaster, because farmers overplanted, over plowed, and flattened the land. There were also record setting summer temperatures in the 1930s, and this along with blowing topsoil and many droughts made matters worse and created the dust storms. The damaged ecosystem in the Dust Bowl unleashed plaques of grasshoppers and jackrabbits. With no natural predators to keep the insect population under control, the grasshoppers laid eggs and multiplied to biblical proportions. The warm weather of the 1930's coupled with lack of rainfall eliminated many of the natural conditions that killed young rabbits, therefore they multiplied. At one time there were 8 million rabbits in 30 Kansas counties alone.
Making Connections
Several disasters that have occurred across the world that might compare to the great dust storms of the 1930's are: the flood in the Philippines, the earthquake in Haiti, and Hurricane Sandy. The way the people that lived through these natural disasters coped, was that they help each other out by organizing food drives, giving donations, and helping rebuild the community through their volunteer work.