Spoon River in History Essay -- essays research papers

With the coming of the new century America under goes a change led by many different events. The collection of poems written in Lee Masters book Spoon River Anthology portrays the typical small town at the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century. Show the different social, economical, and political trend and influences throughout the United States.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The city of Spoon River went through many of the same social trends that the United States experienced like social Darwinism and the change in woman roles in society. The idea of social Darwinism had its part in the country as well as in Spoon River. In Spoon River Anthology the character Felix Schmidt found out the hard way of the concept of social Darwinism where only the strong person wins or in this case the one with more money wins. Schroeder the fisherman also shows the example of the new concept spreading through the country. Schroeder tells of the conflict between many different types of animals in relation to the Felix Schmidt case how Schmidt was the weaker of the two and loses all his property including his little doll type house. Schmidt had to become a tenant farmer, since he became a tenant farmer he had to give a portion of his profits and income to Christian Dallman who was Felix’s landlord.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  As Spoon River grew the social conflict grew between men and women in contrast to the role women had during the time period. The typical roles of men and women had a very strong line of distinction between them. However with time comes change these roles slowly began to intermix, mostly the role of women began to change. Women become more active in the community and the work place. With women becoming more involved in the jobs such as teachers it led to a very new and different life style. Teachers during this time were mostly men, however with the involvement of women and the racial movement which lead the 19th amendment giving women the right to vote and to end woman suffrage. During the many different wars that the United States got into the wounded was cared for by nurses, which were most of the time women. Women’s roles in the beginning of the 20th century had changed.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  As the economical ups and down took its tolls on the United States it also hit Spoon River hard. With the country going in and... ...talk with the most powerful man in the United States government shows that United States wanted to be more into the government policy. With many new presidents moving into office each had a different idea on how to help the United States. McKinley thought that if he would make a tariff that would raise the price on manufactured goods by 48% that it would scare off the people from buying products that were not American made, which would help raise the economy. What it did was just make things worse because other countries were putting high tariffs on American products so it hurt the United States businesses both large and small companies. . The people of Spoon River had encountered many different trends that had shaped the community into a typical town in the Unites States. From social Darwinism to the depression of 1893 to many different ways the railroad influenced the people and society of Spoon River. As Spoon River grows and ages with the country there will be many more and different trends and influences on the thriving little town. With many things to come from all of the different social, economical and political fields in the Unites States.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚