Ms. Eileen Barthe

Monday, November 10, 2008

I listened to the interview of Eileen Barthe, a caseworker who did relief case work during the depression in Chicago. She talks about how she did a case study of this man from Central Illinois who came to Chicago to look for work because he had lost his job. She tells the story of how she was required to go and find out empirically how her cases are living. She is told by her authority that she needs to “see” the poverty. She goes to the Central Illinois man’s house and asks to look in his closet. She says that the man was very prideful and very insulted and humiliated by the fact that she would want to look in his closet. Eileen then states that the way that she made him feel made her also feel humiliated. She was not happy about what she did that it still makes her cry years later in 1971.

My impression on this interview is one of understanding. I can understand why the man would feel insulted and humiliated. He has worked on the railroad all his life and has been able to provide for himself and his family. And then the depression comes. Now he has no source of income because he lost his job, and then there are no other jobs available due to the collapsed economy. This man who was self sufficient now has to ask for help from the government. Some people feel like it is an embarrassment to have to ask for help, and then going through the motions of getting help can make one feel less prideful. When Eileen asked to look in his closet to make sure that he really needed help, one could tell from the interview that was a dissatisfying experience for the man from Central Illinois. Eileen saw his pain and felt bad about how she was making this man feel. She was causing harm to him and is regretful for that. That is why she started crying in the interview. The deep poverty of the depression affected every working man and woman. It brought about a new pain that did not seem possible to materialize in these people’s lives. It hit them hard when it came.