The Great Depression

Untitled Part 3

The Great Depression

Jozlynn Pitts

It was the beginning of the 1930’s when everyone’s lives came to a halt, and the struggles to survive began. Alcohol began a stress reliever, suicide became the answer, and not having money for food became normal. Once the stock market crashed, so did everyone’s lives. People weren’t able to provide for their families, one family being the Frederickson’s, a young family trying to get through the horrible Great Depression, it was my family.  

It was the end of the 1920’s when everything was going good. Robert, my father, he was a young father of four including me. He is tall, very serious and scary man with a deep voice to go with it, and short golden brown hair. My dad, Robert had a family farm that was growing to become a huge success. My very old family farm was located in Trenton, New Jersey where the soil was good and the regular rain fall was a blessing. All that changed once the Dust Bowl came and ruined my father’s crops. Marilyn, my father’s wife, and also my darling mother. My mother was stay at home mom who had no income. She was also tall herself, had gorgeous red long curly hair, and was very skinny before the Great Depression she was only going to get skinnier. The farm was my family’s rock that was all of a sudden ripped out of our hands. The Dust Bowl was a disaster that hit in 1930 and lasted about a decade.

My family, the Frederickson’s lived in our home for another year, until August of 1931. The struggle continued to get harder, and my father turned to alcohol. My mother was always able to fake a smile during the day but once my younger siblings and I were in bed and the lights were out she began to cry. Myself, Alice, the oldest of her four sibling. I’m used to be little chubby, but that all changed when we were forced to eat less. I was blessed with my mother’s curly red hair, and my face is absolutely covered with freckles. I knew something was wrong, but I didn’t know what. I just couldn’t wrap my head around why my family was moving out of the home I grew up in, until I heard my parents talking about it one night while they thought we were sleeping. I could always hear my mother’s cries, it always made me want to cry also. I also noticed my mother would always hold her tears in during the day, but let them out at night. Whenever my father would lean in to give me a kiss before he went to find work I could smell a scent that had never been on his breathe before, I started smelling it when my family decided to move because we couldn’t afford our farm any more.

I had three younger siblings that I helped mother take care of. I am the oldest, I was born in the year of 1917 which makes me thirteen years old. My birthday is October 27th, so in a few months I will be a big bad fourteen year old.  Jack, my oldest younger brother is ten years old. He is the funny outgoing one that keeps our family on our toes. He always knows how to make all of us crack a smile, whether it’s the weird made up stories he tells or the hilarious voices he makes. He also never wants to sleep, he throws a huge hissy fit once my mother tells us it’s time for bed, but once one of us brushes his thick red hair he calms down and is ready to go to bed. Next in like in Carl, he is only six. He is probably the quietest out of the four of us, he want to happy when his little sister came along. He never plays with us, he sits by himself and draws pictures of our old house. He doesn’t ever like to play outside, he prefers to be inside in the dark. Last but not least is Anna, the baby of the family. She is four years old, mother and father always favor her. She is the one to get all the attention, I’ve learned to get used to it, but Carl on the other hand is still adjusting. She has the brownest and frizziest hair I have ever seen, but she works it. I heard the other night mother talking about how she might be happy five little ones running around the house, I would love to have another baby sibling.

My father keeps selling all of our furniture, I know we need money but now we have nowhere to sit down as a family. It is starting to drive me nuts that all my stomach does is growl. I don’t even get to enjoy my food anymore because I inhale my food before I can even taste it. Carl is beginning to get awfully skinny, and he is always coughing. I think he is starting to get sick, which isn’t good because we can’t afford food let alone take him into the doctor.  It is almost time for the snow to start falling. We always have our heat on low due to the fact that we can’t afford the high heat bills, which isn’t going to help Carl get any better. All I want is to go back to the farm house.