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1930's And WW2

Escapism-

Movies: Social

During the late 1920's, the silent era of Hollywood movies ended paving way for a new era of movies called the talkies. This refers to the 1930's when Hollywood started making movies with audio becoming immensely more popular. These movies also started having animations and graphics that have never been seen before. Although Hollywood's main base was set up in LA, the movies were shown in theaters and watched in Canada as well. Everyone from young children to seniors were able to enjoy this form of escapism in the afternoons. Some famous movies of this time were King Kong, Wizard of OZ and Gone with the Wind.

Laasya Patibandla

Grasshoppers Plague: Political

Women: Home front

Grasshoppers thrive in hot weather conditions like when there are droughts. In fact, grasshopper eggs could lay dormant for years until it's warm enough to hatch. In the early 1930's climate caused there to be severe droughts throughout places like the Prairies encouraging grasshoppers to hatch. Due to these climate conditions, the grasshopper plague was born. This refers to millions or billions of grasshoppers traveling in a swarm and eating crops and several household items. The swarm could eat entire fields withing hours completely destroying a farm. The plague especially affected farmers by destroying their last hope in times of despair. After being shocked by the stock market crash, having your farm destroyed made people slowly lose in hope.

Timeline

Battle of the Atlantic: 1939-1945

Censorship: 1939-1945

Talkies: Early 1930's

1930's

Women on home front: 1939-1945

Grasshoppers Plague: Early 1930's

Stock market crash: October 1929

Much like WW1, when men left for war women became head of the household once again. The only difference is that this time, women were also permitted to fly carrier planes and participate in other activities that helped in the war. This new change started in 1941 after women finally succeed in convincing the government to give them an active role in the war. Excluding war activities women back home were permitted to run businesses, take over farms, and help make things for the war like tanks and ships. This was the trend all throughout Canada during the war.

After the War: The Future

1940's

After James' passing, the Smiths have now become a family of three. It has now become George and Mary's responsibility to make money for their family. Due to the war ending, Helen may now resume her schooling as it is free and mandatory. But Mary still won't have enough money to pay tuition for George just yet. If Mary decides to start up the farm again, it may be a few years before George can return to college. Another option would be for George to drop college and just help out at the farm or find another job. There are many different possibilities for Mary, George and Helen to choose from. However all of them have one thing in common. Either way, they will now have to learn how to fend for themselves and cope after the loss of an important family member due to the war.

1939

The Stock Market

Crash: Economic

1929

On the 29th of October 1929 (Black Tuesday), stock markets around the world crashed causing a time period known today as the great depression. This affected many places like Montreal, Toronto, and New York and lasted throughout the 1930's. Everyone from farmers to business people were affected by this decrease in stock. There is said to be 5 main causes behind this in Canada. They were overproduction/over expansion, depending on only a few primary products, depending heavily on U.S, high tariffs and too much credit buying. This crash set up the 1930's to be very different from the 1920's.

Grasshoppers Plague

The Great Depression

Women at the Home Front

This plague was almost like the last straw for the Smiths. After the crash, James and Mary tried to salvage as much of the farm as they could. But unfortunately, everything they managed to save was eaten by the grasshopper swarm during the plague. This meant that they officially lost their farm and were bankrupt. The lack of income and money meant they didn't have much food to eat, or crops to sell. George and James had to go out and try to find jobs with the little to no experience they had in other fields. This proved to be a very difficult task as there were also many other people looking for jobs at the time. Mary chose to stay at home and watch over Helen knowing that the chances of her getting a job in those times were slim. Helen was too young to fully understand that they were bankrupt and was confused as to why they suddenly didn't have food. With nothing left to do, the Smiths only hope was to pray for better times.

James: Even though James was not an employee or business man, the stock market crash severely affected him. When prices started to initially decreases, he tried to produce more to pay off debts. However, after the crash he is now struggling for money and is on the verge of bankruptcy and losing the farm.

Mary: The crash affected Mary the same way it affected James as they both took care of the farm. Struggling for money meant that there was less food, clothes and luxury items.

George: During the great depression, the Smiths didn't have enough money to continue paying George's tuition. Hence, he was forced to drop out of college and try to find a job. Unfortunately, during this time even experienced men were not getting jobs, much less young adults that didn't finish college. So George had to settle for helping out at the farm.

Helen: The stock market crash effected Helen the least. She was too young to properly understand what was happening in the world around her and continued going to school. The only difference to her was having less food, clothes and toys.

Similar to many other women, Mary took over control of the farm after James left for war. However, this was a very difficult task as the farm was mostly destroyed. Having to spend so much time trying to restart the farm meant that she wouldn't have as much time to care for Helen and George. George was old enough to take care of himself and help out his mother at the farm. Having his mother out most of the time gave him more time to go out in search of a job. But Helen was left to learn how to become more independent. She had to quickly figure how to live without constant support from her mother and with her father far away. To occupy time other children and her collected things like paper, rocks, metal and stones for the war and planted local victory gardens.

Mary Smith

- 38 years old

- Tending to the farm while James was fighting in the war

- Raises children and takes care of them

- Helps out at the farm

- Originally from Britain

James Smith

Battle of the Atlantic: War In Europe

George Smith

Stretching from 1939 to 1945, the Battle of the Atlantic could be seen as the longest battle in WW2. Hours after Britain announced war on Germany the first shots were fired on September 3rd, 1939. Although Canada's main role was to play escort, we eventually had to switch roles to help protect Britain. This cost nearly 5, 000 Canadians to lose their lives. This battle was fought between both the allies and the axis powers as they fought for control over Europe and North American shipping routed in the Atlantic Ocean.

1939

1930's

Censorship: Social

Escapism- Movies: Social

During the late 1920's, the silent era of Hollywood movies ended paving way for a new era of movies called the talkies. This refers to the 1930's when Hollywood started making movies with audio becoming immensely more popular. These movies also started having animations and graphics that have never been seen before. Although Hollywood's main base was set up in LA, the movies were shown in theaters and watched in Canada as well. Aspiring actors from here often moved to LA for this reason. Everyone from young children to seniors were able to enjoy this form of escapism during the afternoon shows. Some famous movies of this time were King Kong, Wizard of OZ and Gone with the Wind.

Censorship goes hand in hand with the War Measures Act that was revoked during the second world war. It is when the government prevents society and citizens from finding out certain information about the on goings of war. They do this to ensure that volunteers don't back out and that there isn't an outbreak against the war. The government will block out certain words in letters, and control what the media releases to keep the information confidential. This was done all throughout Canada. The second War Measures Act was put in place from 1939-1945.

1939

- 39 years old

- Fought bravely in WW1 and survived

- Owns a farm in the Alberta Prairies and makes a living from it

- Enjoys spending time with his wife and children

- Originally from Britain

- 18 years old

- Attends local college and studies engineering

- Helps his father at the farm during free time

- Born in Canada

Helen Smith

- 9 years old

- Attends nearby school

- Also helps her father at the farm occasionally

- Interested in teaching and aspires to become a teacher

- Born in Canada

Battle of the Atlantic

Escapism- Movies

Censorship

James fought with courage during the Battle of the Atlantic for a few years but sadly didn't make it back home in the end. He was one of the many casualties in the war. Due to censorship, this news took the Smiths by complete surprise. They were devastated and had to cope with losing a vital family member. For Mary this meant that she was now the head of the household and had to make money and take care of both of her children. She had to decide whether she wanted to keep the farm or start a new life elsewhere after the war. For George this meant that he was the only male in the house and had to take on some of his father's responsibilities. It also meant that he needed to try to get a job very fast to help support the family. Helen is now forced to grow up without a father figure and the affection he provides. In these ways James' death greatly affects the Smith family.

In the hard times of the great depression, many people sought out various forms of escapism to distract them from the problems at hand. A very popular form of this was movies and Hollywood. As such, the Smiths also found escape in this with their monthly movie nights. On the first Saturday of every month, the Smith's would have a mandatory family movie night to reconnect and talk. They would have to go in the afternoons as this was an afternoon event. This positively affected all members of the family as it offered them a chance to step away form their lives for a little while. James particularly likes these movie nights because it gives him a break from the farm. Generally he spends most of his time at home or in the farm but movie nights give him an excuse to go into the city. Mary also likes going into the city because she is generally a housewife who doesn't get to go out much. Leaving the house and the farm for a while helps give her a break. Helen loves watching the new talkies movies with fascinating graphics and believes that they are real. She enjoys the movie nights because she gets to step into the city and see cool new things. For George, movie nights help him try to forget about the stress of work or trying to find a job to help support his family. He enjoys the quality time with his loved ones.

With no other jobs left, James made the decision to fight again in WW2 to help serve his country. Although George wanted to also enlist , he was not yet 21. Censorship affected Mary, George, Helen and even James because it blocked proper communication between them. Although James was allowed to send letter, many words would be taken out. This means that Mary was not able to understand James' condition or what was happening. Being left in the dark about their father's well being also made George scared for his safety. He was old enough to understand that war was not all good like propaganda suggests and that his father could be in serious danger. The same doesn't apply for Helen. She was too young and naive to differentiate what the government was trying to make her believe form the truth. This meant that she believed that war was all good and that her father was completely safe. All in all, censorship affected the Smith's because it didn't allow for the rest of the family to know conditions of the battle James was fighting.