The Psychology of Adult Coloring by Blake LeVine

Author:Blake LeVine
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Skyhorse
Published: 2016-03-21T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 17

Healthy Escapes

The Great Depression was a time of confusion. There were countless Americans struggling to hold on to hope. It was common for citizens to feel overwhelmed by financial problems, sadness, and fear. This historical time period is ideal to help us understand how escapism is used during hard times. Alan Brinkley is an historian who has taught for over twenty years at Columbia University. He has written amazing books that examine the causes and consequences of the Great Depression and World War II.

I found and read Culture and Politics in The Great Depression. In it, Professor Brinkley helps us understand the psyche of Americans during these days. His book outlines how many would assume that Americans would grow angry and hostile. The response would be to believe that their country has failed them. They would be upset that the whole country is struggling and that consumerism needs to change. What they found was remarkable and took me by surprise.

Mr. Brinkley discusses the work of sociologists Robert and Merrell Lynd. They went to Muncie, Indiana to research a famous book they wrote called Middletown. In the 1890s, Muncie was a Victorian town. By the 1920s it was booming financially. The residents were awash with abundance and financial success. They had a new set of values now that they were wealthy and successful.

The Great Depression then struck the whole country and Muncie, Indiana. In 1935, ten years after the first book, the sociologists went back to this town. Brinkley writes “the great knife of depression had cut down impartially through the entire population, cleaving open the lives and hopes of rich as well as poor.” The sociologists assumed that residents would be up in arms and requiring changes.

The truth was far more interesting and shocking. The values of the people were the same in 1925 as they were after the Depression had struck them. The families didn’t blame the times or the economy for their failures. They put it on themselves that “they were not succeeding.” They believed it was their own personal failings and that they were to blame. How do you succeed when everything is failing? Is it a man’s fault for not finding success when there is none to be had? Their answer was that it was your own fault if you were not a success even though all were likely failing financially. What did people do? The fascinating truth is many lives had changed. The women were often more able to hold and keep their jobs. They worked as nurses and teachers who often stayed employed during a crisis. This left many men out of work and blaming themselves for failure. They often lost their business or couldn’t find a job. Many of the men kept trying to find work day after day, instead finding only frustration and negative results. These men would beat themselves up emotionally and secretly hide their feelings.

This is when escapism became a common part of our culture. The times were filled with movies and books that were light and funny.

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