"Snowfall" and the Great Depression

I’ve always had a fascination with the 20th century in America, particularly through the 20’s, 30’s and 40’s. It’s a time that begins as so frivolous and silly and just gets worse and worse with the Depression and a war brewing.

My graphic novel is an allegory for the Great Depression, which is what this article by Peter Termin covers. The article discusses the causes of the Depression (real and imaginery) as well as deflation, the gold standard and the first and second New Deals.

I’m trying to collect as much info on it as possible so that I have not only an understanding of the Depression, but also what sets it up and what set up WWII afterwards, as I have thought about possibly doing other parts of my story based before and after the events of this novel.

 

This is still a world that is sobering up from the raucous Roaring 20’s. I wanted to show the change that people were experiencing, through Snow’s eyes. There are some areas of the world that seem not to be affected yet, so experience is different. For example, Snow passes entire towns that seem to be destroyed or filled with lines of people waiting for jobs or food, and then there are others that seem to barely even acknowledge what has been happening.

The Great Depression left many unemployed and bankrupt. In the story, the depression is personified in the wild and other-worldly “Snowfaller,” an Ice Queen-like beast that has seemingly come from nowhere. She, like the Great Depression, has nearly ruined the world’s economy. She has destroyed the railways, a main source of transportation of goods and people, as well as villages, small towns and crops. Many are panicking as nothing like this has ever happened before and they are turning to those in positions of power for help.

One of my main antagonists is Chairman Rose, the president of the large city “Vizarro Grand,” the New York/Washington D.C. hybrid of my world. In my story, he was a young politician that was very popular and rose to power during the “Greycliff War,” a war that preceded the events of the story and is a reference to the WWI. He then serves for seven years as Chairman and his term is coming to an end. Enter the “Snowfaller” from out of nowhere and he is in a panic, having never dealt with anything this massive before. When he learns of the Snowfaller giving birth to my main character, Snow, he is intent on having her found and brought to him. I am using Hoover and FDR as influences for him, as well as reading up on other politicians around the time of the Great Depression.

Also, in my story I am interested in showing the corruption of those who have money and don’t want to let go of it. There is a factory owner, named Mr. Greene, who has orphaned children forced to work in his factories as a means of saving money on employing adult workers. In fact in my story, green, a color often associated with money, wealth and vitality, represents tragedy.

As this is from a child’s perspective, a lot of what Snow knows about world events are overheard from adults around her. I will be mentioning many things that would have been a real problem during the Great Depression (people mentioning unemployment, the stock market, bankruptcy, etc.) and she will slowly be learning and understanding the older she gets and the farther she goes.