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Big Idea Overview and ResourcesBig Idea 1: Return to Regionalism Big Idea 3: The United States and the World Big Idea 1: Return to Regionalism Overview As Americans suffered through the Great Depression, they lost faith in the federal government. During this time writers returned to the literary style known as Regionalism, which focuses on the traditions and cultures of a particular geographic area. Unlike the Regionalists of the 1800s, who emphasized characteristics such as manner of speech or style of dress, the new Regionalists concentrated on the impact of setting on character. One of the most famous writers to emerge from this literary period was Californian John Steinbeck. Steinbeck wrote of the Dust Bowl migrants, who left the Great Plains to seek a new life in the West. Steinbeck's novel The Grapes of Wrath, one of the best-known novels from this era, depicts the struggles of Dust Bowl farmers trying to rebuild their lives by seeking work in California. The South, where racial strife and conflict continued, produced a large number of Regionalist writers, including William Faulkner. Faulkner created the fictional "Yoknapatawpha County," where characters representing Southerners from all walks of life interacted. He is perhaps best known for his novel The Sound and the Fury , which depicts a Southern, aristocratic family struggling with the changing times in the South. Another literary form that emerged during this period was Southern Gothic. Influenced by writers such as Edgar Allan Poe, this style often featured characters who were strange or alienated from society. The works of Southern Gothic writer Flannery O'Connor, which featured characters who experienced life-altering events and shocking discoveries, were considered "grotesque" by some critics. Web Resources The California Novels of John Steinbeck William Faulkner, American Writer: 1897–1962 America from the Great Depression to World War II: Photographs from the FSA-OWI, 1935–1945 Farming in the 1930s Overview The twentieth century saw the rapid growth of cities in the United States. Major cities like Chicago and New York became magnets for industry and culture, attracting both migrants and immigrants alike. Museums, opera houses, and theaters flourished, and the explosive growth of U.S. cities brought with it crime and poverty, giving writers an opportunity to explore the best and worst of times. Author E. B. White worked for the New Yorker magazine in the 1920s. He was known for his essays and sketches on current events and urban living. Even though cities attracted diverse populations, discrimination and segregation still existed. Author Ralph Ellison characterized the African American man as an "invisible man," one marginalized by white society. In Ellison's novel Invisible Man, the protagonist struggles to overcome racial and social stereotypes. Bernard Malamud wrote of lives torn by discrimination and poverty. Malamud's Russian Jewish parents settled in Brooklyn, where they experienced isolation and suffering. His work captured these emotions and also incorporated humor, pain, fantasy, and realism. Between World War I and the 1960s, more than 6 million African Americans moved to northern cities from the South. African American writer Gwendolyn Brooks grew up in what is now known as Bronzeville, a largely African American community on Chicago's South Side. Bronzeville became the setting for much of her work. Her poetry and fiction exposed the anguish of America's black urban poor Web Resources Audio Clip of Gwendolyn Brooks Reading "The Pool Players. Seven at the Golden Shovel" American Masters: Ralph Ellison Fly Away—The Great Migration: The Movement of African Americans from the Mississippi Delta to Chicago Big Idea 3: The United States and the World Overview Despite the characterization of World War II as the "good war," most Americans initially opposed military involvement in the effort. However, the bombing of Pearl Harbor in 1941 served to unify Americans' resolve to defeat what were known as the Axis Powers: Japan, Germany, and Italy. World War II required weaponry, materials, and supplies for U.S. troops. This increase in production revitalized America's economy during the 1940s. Along with burgeoning prosperity, however, came an increase in racism. After Pearl Harbor, Japanese American citizens were placed in internment camps. A renewed migration of African Americans from the South continued northward, resulting in race-related tensions and riots around the country. World War II also has become synonymous with the Holocaust, which began shortly after the Nazis seized power in the 1930s. All across Europe, millions of Jews, Poles, Russians, Gypsies, and non-Aryans were systematically exterminated. It remains one of the largest atrocities against man in the history of the world. After World War II, other countries struggled to rebuild while the United States became an industrial giant. However, at the same time Americans continued to enjoy economic security, the threat of nuclear war with the Soviet Union loomed. Tensions between the United States and the Soviet Union erupted over the conflict between capitalism and communism. Although the two countries did not go to war, they raced to stockpile a reserve of nuclear weapons, bringing Americans into the atomic age. Web Resources Remembering Pearl Harbor: December 7, 1941 Children of the Camps: The Documentary World War II Poster Collection from Northwestern University Library Log InThe resource you requested requires you to enter a username and password below: | |||