History 271
Devine
Fall 2004
Paper
Assignment #1 (OPTION B) – Russell
Baker, Growing Up
The
Growing Up paper is due 28 October.
Papers must be FOUR COMPLETE PAGES with one-inch
margins. See the “On Writing Papers…”
section of the syllabus for further information on the paper assignment. The syllabus is available on line at:
http://www.csun.edu/~twd61312/271syl2004.htm
If
you did not submit a Children of the City paper, you must turn in this paper. If you did write on Children of the City,
but would like to try for a higher grade you are welcome to do so. I will count the higher of the two grades
and drop the other.
Choose ONE of the following:
- During
the late 1930s, a noted sociologist remarked, “The depression has killed
the American family. Unemployment,
dislocation, and the inevitable interpersonal tensions that hard times
produce have all combined to rend the social fabric of the family. It has been a national tragedy. It is
difficult to say if the institution of the family will ever recover.”
To what extent do you believe this
statement applies to Russell Baker’s family?
- Drawing
from what you’ve read in Growing Up, what were the most significant
ways in which the Great Depression affected people’s everyday lives? (In
answering, you should take into consideration that not all of the effects
need be negative – perhaps the Depression had some indirect or unintended
positive effects.)
- What
role did Russell’s mother play in shaping her son’s life? How did she exercise influence over
him? To what extent was she a
positive or negative influence?