Studs Terkel #7

Florence Scala

Scala’s story describes her attempt to stop the government from building over her childhood home, Hull House. She realizes the importance of the settlement to protecting children from violence in the neighborhood and bringing hope to poor families with minimal prospects. Terkel includes her story because he wants to examine the relationship between the people and the government. During this time period the government continually tried to modernize American cities. The United States was built by citizens from all kinds of countries, but there is a constant struggle between maintain their old cultures and forming a new unified “American” culture. While the government attempted to create this unification process, Scala tried to maintain her roots and the old culture of the city. Florence Scala’s story helps explain the difficult and tenuous relationship between the people and their government. In the end, the government won and the Hull House was built over by a new college. Scala argues that the outcome shows something about the power of our government.

Kid Pharaoh

Pharaoh spent his life as a con-man after he suffered a difficult childhood during the Great Depression where his family lived in poverty. In his story he examines his feelings on race, how American society promotes individual success over communal success, and lastly how the Great Depression caused lasting impressions on Americans. Pharaoh explains his racist feelings against African Americans. Terkel includes this to examine how race relations during this time affected where people lived, how they acted, and their true feelings towards each other. While slavery and Reconstruction were many years in the past, still lingering thoughts of racism affected the society during this time period. The main argument that Pharaoh discusses is that American society is too focused on building up the individual for success and not on promoting a group mentality. This is not necessarily a negative thing in my point of view, but it is important to understanding the way our culture has been formed and the way our society is built. Lastly, Pharaoh’s story helps us comprehend how the Great Depression led to lasting insecurities about money. Just like any other tragedy, children during the Great Depression often lived in horrendous poverty. It affected the way they viewed money and financial security, and thus had a large and lasting impact on the economy.