Social Consequences of the Great Depression in American Theater

Examining trends in American theater during the Great Depression, one finds that social concerns are loudly voiced in numerous works, thus showing that plays served as a reflection of the problems caused by the economic collapse of the 1930s. Maxwell Anderson's "Both Your Houses," Clifford Odets's "Awake and Sing!" and "Waiting for Lefty," and Eugene O'Neill's "The Iceman Cometh" all aptly express a growing climate of dissatisfaction and despair in American society which manifested in various social problems. 

Dire monetary conditions caused people to look for someone to blame, to re-examine their individual role in the context of the group, to believe in money as both the cause and the solution to problems, to contemplate alternate political systems, and even to create and destroy dreams. America was festering with broken people, broken bank accounts, and broken dreams.

In "Both Your Houses," Maxwell Anderson explores the initial repercussions of the Great Depression, when a greater political awareness seemed to arise among the American people. Money became such a national focus point that the people naturally became more interested in governmental spending and the allocation of national resources, perhaps looking to make the government a scapegoat which could be blamed for their personal monetary troubles. 

After all, if the government can't handle its money in an honest and fair manner, it is no surprise that its people would suffer under such a corrupt system - and if the government is corrupt, maybe it is to blame for the widespread poverty among its people, because "you can look up and see the depression all around you" (Anderson, 1933: 11). On the other hand, the government could conceivably provide monetary relief to the people and thus would be accepted into a savior role. Money and politics, then, are simultaneously accepted as both the cause and solution to society's problems.