In chapter 2, Scout remembers that she asked Atticus once if they were poor. He says that they are, but Jem asks if they are as poor as the Cunninghams. Atticus responds by saying, "Not exactly. The Cunninghams are country folks, farmers, and the crash hit them hardest" (21). The crash that he is talking about is the Stock Market Crash of 1929, which then resulted in the Great Depression. Atticus takes the time to teach his children that when farmers are poor, then professional people are also poor. Since most of Maycomb County's population consists of farmers, this creates quite a predicament for everyone. This is the same economic predicament that most of the United States suffered for a good part of ten years after the crash.
The second time that there is an allusion to the Great Depression is on the morning after the Tom Robinson trial in chapter 22. Tom's father, friends, and community show their appreciation to Atticus for defending Tom in the trial by giving him all kinds of food. Due to the great amount that Atticus finds on his kitchen table and on the back porch that morning, he becomes emotional and says the following:
"Tell them I'm very grateful . . . Tell them--tell them they must never do this again. Times are too hard" (213).
The "times" to which Atticus refers is the Great Depression. Not only that, but the black community, being on the bottom of the social and economic caste system, don't have much for themselves as it is. Atticus feels poorly taking so much food from good, hard-working people during the country's greatest economic crisis.
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