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Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe Historical Context
The Great Depression
Flagg's novel refers to several historical eras but primarily to the period after the café's opening, the summer of 1929. "By the way," reports Dot Weems on October 15, 1929, "is it just my imagination or are times getting harder these days? … Five new hobos showed up at the café last week.…" The hard times she refers to are the result of what John Galbraith describes as a "funda mentally unsound" economy. A mere five percent of the American population receives thirty percent of all personal income. The booming economy is the result of an over-productive industrial sector. Two weeks after Dot Weems's report, the stock market crashes on "black Tuesday," October 29. Millions are thrown out of work and soups made of dandelions and catsup pass for a good meal.
In the 1930s, people clog the highways looking for work while overhead new airplanes are tested. The...
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This section contains 594 words (approx. 2 pages at 300 words per page) |
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