Topic > The Many Terrors of the Dust Bowl

Did you know that during the Dust Bowl people's homes were covered in dust so they could barely see the floor? The dust bowl has affected many people and their daily lives. Passage 1 is Letters From the Dust Bowl by Caroline A. Henderson, Passage 2 is from The Worst Hard Time: The Untold Story of Those Who Survived The Great American Dust Bowl by Timothy Egan. It was incredible the amount of dust people had in their homes, so the amount of cleaning they had to do was enormous. They also made items that they used to keep dust away and keep themselves safe. Then, when they thought everything was fine, they had to sell their livestock. Additionally, people were forced to leave their homes for their own safety. When they were on the road, they needed horses to make the 500-mile journey, so they had to sell their belongings and sometimes family heirlooms. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay When the dust bowl hit 1930s Oklahoma was devastated. You can't even imagine the amount of dust and cleaning that was wrapped up in this. In the first passage it states: “Everything is again covered in a silt-like deposit that can vary in depth from a film to actual ripples on the kitchen floor.” That quote shows that there was dust on the floor so thick that it even formed ripples or small waves. Additionally, other people stranded in Oklahoma have been trying to find ways to keep as much dust away as possible. Step one states, “I keep oiled cloths on the windowsills and between the top and bottom sashes. They do little to delay or collect dust. Some seal windows with gummed paper strips used to wrap packages, but no method has been fully effective." This quote is important because you can see that no matter what people tried, they couldn't keep all the dust away. As you can imagine, it was difficult to keep everything clean and safe, but imagine keeping yourself clean. Step 1 says, “Wearing our shade hats, with handkerchiefs tied over our faces and Vaseline in our nostrils.” These are just a few of the many ways people kept themselves clean. When there was no more grass, due to little rain, the livestock could not eat and the farmers no longer earned anything. Again in Step 1 it says, “In early May, with no more grass or weeds on our 640 acres than on your kitchen floor, and even the scant remnants of last year's dead grass cut and swept away, we decided, like most of our neighbors, to ship cattle to graze in the central part of the state." This quote shows that there was no grass in the spring/summer, so most people's last choice was to sell their livestock to the central states so that they would not die and when they returned they could earn money again. he drove many people from their homes and they would have to sell what they loved. Passage 2 states: “The family was not yet halfway through their exodus. Ahead of them lay 209 miles of road over the high, dry roof of Texas, across the Canadian River, bypassing dozens of the Panhandle's budding villages. This quote is an example of a family going on a long journey to get away from the dust. As the quote states, they weren't even halfway there yet and still had 209 miles to go before they were there. Just think about how difficult it would be, walking in the rain and shine. Passage 1 says: “Bam's wife Lizzy hated the atmosphere of No Man's Land. The”..