Historical Fiction History Research Paper Coursework

Historical fiction: Journey through the depression
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Historical fiction: Journey through the depression
The paper is historical fiction of the great depression that occurred from 1929 to 1939. According to Benmelech, Frydman, and Papanikolaou (2017), the great depression of 1929 occurred due to a series of institutional failures and led to an extended financial crisis that lasted ten years. Ohanian (2016) listed the outcome of the great depression as a period of the widespread financial crisis that destabilized the stock markets, lead to loss of investments, caused inflation, led to job losses, and occasioned poor industrial output. The fictional story is set in a fictional country called Merican Land. The story revolves around an investor in Wall Street called McDonald, who lost his wealth due to the financial crisis and witnessed a deteriorating economic situation. The historical fiction captures the historical events in chronological order. The story captures the events surrounding the occurrence of the great depression. Additionally, the story uses several fictional characters who are members of the McDonalds family as well as business acquaintances to bring out the order of events.
Sitting comfortably in his living room, McDonald perused the day’s paper briefly getting engrossed in a story of the recent divorce case in one of the most progressive New York families. Matters of infidelity triggered the divorce and have recently gotten the attention of the press. Depressing as it may be, McDonald read the story as it involved his friend and business partner, Mr. Silverstone. It was warm, and McDonald recalled how he first met Mr. Silverstone when both were looking for a buyer for their pieces of land. Recently, the prices of land had plummeted since the government vacated their plan to support farmers sell their produce at a higher price as a post-war recovery strategy. The high prices fetched by the farm produce had encouraged more people into farming, leading to a surplus of farming products in the market.
The effect of the surpluses in the market triggered price reduction since the government left the forces of demand and supply to determine market prices. Consequently, the low farm prices produce rendered farming an unprofitable venture. The prices of land came crashing down with the prices of the farm produce.
Voices in the living room lured McDonald from his flashback to reality. He gently tossed the newspaper aside and prepared to greet his family, who had arrived from a shopping trip from the grocery stores. It was a family of four, and they were doing well as per the prevailing economic circumstances of the day. After exchanging pleasantries with the family, McDonald prepared to leave the house for the pub to meet some of his business associates to finalize some business deals. His wife asked him not to stay out too long since dinner will soon be ready. Nodding in acknowledgment, McDonald left the house for the pub. It was a beautiful day, mid-October, the surrounding area was colorful. Starting the motor of his Ford vehicle, McDonald left the house for the city center.
Sitting in his favorite spot, with drinks in hand, McDonald conversed with his friends in low tones on diverse issues, including Mr. Silverstone's impending divorce. The group was concerned with the further declining prices of land and the surplus farm products in the market. They felt sorry for the farmers who continued to hold on to their parcels of land despite the reducing prices. They went over some of the attractive stocks in the market, deliberating on which to invest. McDonald and his friends were wealthy; they had invested a lot in stocks and still ha sizeable amounts of savings at the bank. As the night drew on, the talks at the bar got more boisterous, and fights were beginning to erupt. McDonald decided it was time to go home to face his wife, who worked up due to his lateness. He staggered out of the pub, missed a few steps, got into his car, and drove off to his home.
Once at home, he took some food and quickly settled down. For several weeks, this was the routine at McDonald's home. Then towards the end of October, news filtered in from the radio that the stock market had crashed. The last three days before the announcement, there was unease at the stock exchange due to the rapidly declining stock prices. When the news finally came, McDonald did not know what to do. He had no way of knowing the magnitude of his loss until a few days after the announcement. In the next few days, more news came that investors could not access their savings at the bank. There was widespread panic across the land. People rushed to the banks to get their hard-earned savings only to be turned back as the banks had no money to give back to their customers. McDonald did not know that he was staring at the beginning of the great depression that will drag on for most of the 1930s.
The next few days were tough for McDonald and his business associates. For the first time, they made huge amounts of losses from their investments at the stock exchange. They lost all their investments. McDonald felt the world collapsing around him. Nothing seemed real anymore. He could not believe that he was practically a poor man after making smart moves to sell his land and farm produce and choosing to invest in stocks instead. He felt sick and was unable to eat or sleep well for many days. He worried about his future and for his family’s wellbeing. His wife, Elizabeth, still worked at the factory earning high wages, and they could survive on that for some time. Nevertheless, McDonald knew that this wa...