“Blackest day on Wall Street in many years.” Swamp New York Market Sell Orders. Billions cited. Values ​​fade’” (Shreve 133). Similar headlines probably made the front pages of most newspapers on October 30, 1929, the day after the stock market crash. From this date, the United States entered the Great Depression, a period when the economy was at its lowest. Although signs were present, this era came as a shock to most citizens, as the 1920s were a time of extreme economic prosperity. People's lives have been completely uprooted from their roots. They were left with no means of earning a living, but had to take drastic measures to survive. People were desperate and doing everything they could to get food on their tables. Anita Shreve depicts the hardships of the Great Depression through the novel Sea Glass via the lives of Sexton Beecher, Quillen McDermott and Alphonse, Vivian Burton and Dickie Peets, and each's involvement in Mironson's communist acts. Sexton Beecher is married to Honora Willard and his life with her is a strong parallel to the difficulties of the Great Depression. They started out in a poor economic situation, but found themselves drowning in debt once the Great Depression hit. Originally, the couple stays for free in an abandoned house, in exchange for keeping the place clean. Both are in love with the house and Sexton makes an effort to buy it. He falsifies the necessary documents. The bank barely controls this, because in the 1920s banks gave out loans like loose change. The banks were not cautious about their actions nor did they know that they would need this spare change later. Once the stock market collapsed, banks were forced to cancel these loans because money was tight (Brinkley 670). Because of the rapid removal from the medium of paper, the lives of Sexton, McDermott, Alphonse, Vivian, and their peers reflect the hardship of victims of the Great Depression. Works Cited Brinkley, Alain. An investigation: American history. 12th ed. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill, 2007 “First-Hand Accounts.” Oracle ThinkQuest Library. March 20, 2010. “Great Depression Statistics.” Shmoop: Study guides and resources for teachers. March 20, 2010. Nishi, Dennis. Life during the Great Depression. San Diego, CA: Lucent Books, 1998. Nordeen, Ross. “The Great American Depression.” The amateur economist. December 28, 2007. March 21, 2010. Shreve, Anita. Sea Glass: A Novel. Boston, MA: Back Bay Books, 2003. Yass, Marion. The Great Depression. London: Wayland, 1973.