Dust Bowl and Human Reactions

Paper Summary:

In this article, the writer looks at two books that present both similar and differing views of the Dust Bowl, 'The Dust Bowl Diary' by Ann Marie Low and Donald Worster's 'Dust Bowl: The Southern Plains in the 1930s'. The writer maintains that despite the similarity within their topics both authors explore the topic through vastly different lenses. The writer points out that for Ann Marie Low, the Dust Bowl was her childhood and the vivid imagery and feelings that she expresses in her book colors the human nature of the Dust Bowl and the stories and feelings of those individuals who survived through this time. The writer then notes that Donald Worster approaches the topic of the Dust Bowl through the lenses of a scientist and sociologist and he approaches the problems associated with the Dust Bowl through a much more detailed and detached manner than Low. The writer concludes that while Low and Worster's accounts of the Dust Bowl are from differing perspectives, they share similarities in content and narrative description.

From the Paper:

"Mary Ann Low's "Bust Bowl Diary" was an important literary piece because it accurate encapsulates the conditions of the people living within the Dust Bowl period. Her narrative is colored by personal observation rather that research and thus her narrative appears much more in depth and three dimensional than Worster's account. Low uses first person narrative through this book and this is extremely important to her story. This is because she writes from the perspective of her actual age during the Dust Bowl era, 12 years old. She explains that the dust bowl permeated every area of life and as a result implicitly changed the way that individuals during that era lived and worked."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Gregory, James N. American Exodus: The Dust Bowl Migration and Okie Culture in California. Oxford: Oxford University Press , 1991.
• Baska, Vantassel. Dust Bowl. Boston: Kendall Hunt, 1996.
• Low, Ann Marie. Dust Bowl Diary. Omaha: U of Nebraska Press, 1984.
• Worster, Donald. Dust Bowl: The Southern Plains in the 1930's. New York: Avery, 1998.

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