Richard Cory

In terms of its impact on the economy and unemployment, the economic depression of the 1890s is comparable to the infamous Great Depression of the 1930s. Agricultural crises hit the American South and the Midwest, and by 1893 the shock had hit Wall Street, signifying the beginning of this worldwide economic downfall. In some cities, unemployment rates grew up to 20-25%. The depression impacted Americans in various ways. Some low-income families found themselves living on the street in the middle of winter, starving to death or becoming wanderers, known at the time as “tramps.” Some even went as far as to knock on the doors of middle-class family homes, begging for work, food, or shelter. As is customary during tough times, opinions were split as to who was to blame. Many blamed the poor for being lazy and not working, even though the crisis was structural and beyond their control. Stories of hopelessness and sadness appeared daily in the newspapers, even reports of suicide in a few cases.

In this way, Robinson’s readers would not have been unfamiliar with the kind of despair that led to suicide during this period. However, Robinson flips the expectations and assumptions about who would commit suicide around to prove a point. In the case of “Richard Cory,” it is not the lower-class townsfolk, the “people on the pavement” (Line 2) who “go without the meat, and curse the bread” (Line 14) that become so sad that they take their own lives. In this case, it is the rich man that everyone was envious of and who appeared to have everything that falls into despair. Keeping the economic crisis in mind and the widespread hopelessness that came as a result, the poem makes a statement about the way society values money. The poem critiques the view of money as the most important aspect of a person’s existence. For Richard Cory, his money could not save him. Perhaps society needs a better barometer to gauge what is considered “true happiness.”