Imagine you are a young person living in the United States during the 1930s. The Depression is raging in your state and you and your family, which is a large one, is in crisis. Your parents cannot pay the rent, let alone feed you and your three brothers and sisters as well as your widowed aunt who has newly come to live with you. To make matters worse, your little sister has asthma and her medication costs a lot.
You are young and strong and have always had a good head on your shoulders. You desperately want to help your family in any way possible but the situation is very bad. What do you do?
Write a five-paragraph personal narrative describing your situation and how you choose to deal with it. Your paper must have an introduction, a three-paragraph body, and a concluding paragraph. It will be much easier to write a good paper if you follow the process of writing outlined in the writing activities rather than waiting until the last day of the unit to write the entire paper.
Here are some questions to help you brainstorm ideas:
• In what part of the United States do you live?
• What was life like prior to the Depression? After?
• What did your father/mother do for a living? Are they unemployed now?
• How are your siblings reacting to the circumstances? Your community?
• Has the government done anything to help your situation? Are they doing enough?
• Whom do you blame for the Depression? Why?