Final answer:
The last lines of the song 'Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?' express the sense of abandonment and desperation experienced by the unemployed during the Great Depression, highlighting the inadequate public assistance and the cultural shift towards community support.
Step-by-step explanation:
The final lines of the song “Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?” reflect the social consequences of the Great Depression. The song suggests that those who were once productive and contributing members of society became victims of the economic downturn. The prevalent unemployment led to a sense of abandonment as friends and neighbors sometimes forgot those who lost their jobs, affecting the social fabric of the time. The lines illustrate the desperation felt by the unemployed who would ask anyone, even a brother on the street, for help. This underscores the lack of adequate public assistance during the Depression and the shift in American culture from individualism to a more community-based lifestyle where sharing and mutual aid became survival strategies amidst widespread poverty and suffering.