'Moving On'- Arthur Rothstein 1936

I chose this picture bcause I believe it really captures what life was like for those of a lower social class durnng the Depression and this image is not a rare one. The situation of moving is one that many people found the,selves in, many people were forced to move as a way of finding job opportunities and cheaper living conditions.

This image stands out to me because it not only portrays hoe people were forced to move, but it also highlights the class divide between the police officer and those being forced to move. We can see that the police officer is clearly of a higher social class because he is just standing by and watch a group trying and load all of their possessions onto this car. The officer is just standing by, cigar in mouth showing that he has available funds to be able to spend on luxuries such as cigars, whereas many of lower social classes would barely be able to buy food, let alone luxuries such as cigars or alcohol. The officer is also clearly well fed. In this image and in many others, we see many people looking very malnourished as they would often not have enough to buy a substantial meal for themselves or their family. However, this police officer clearly earns enough in his stable job to be able to afford three meals a day.

The group loading their belongings seem to have not very many possessions, this may be because they had been forced to sell some items as a way of making ends meat. They may also have been limited by the amount they could take with them as space in the vehicle may have been small so they would have to take just the bare essentials. Therefore, this image not only shows the struggle of poor people having to leave their homes to hunt for better job possibilities or cheaper living conditions, but  it also highlights the social divide and how people of a higher social class were reluctant to help those in need, whether that be physically like this police officer, or whether that is financially.