Walker, E. (1936). Posters covering a building near Lynchburg to advertise a Downie Bros. circus [Digital image]. Retrieved January 19, 2017, from https://www.flickr.com/photos/library_of_congress/3548858861/in/set-72157618541455384
I interpret this image as showing the other side to the popular culture of the time. There may have been many people suffering and starving, however you must always keep up appearances, so we kept up ours. It makes sense that many took comfort in entertainment to hide from their daily lives, and to appear normal to those around them.
Working for the Farmer's Security Administration, Walker Evans would document the horrible effects of the Great Depression as well as the Dust Bowl. He had had experience with documenting atrocities and horrible things that effected many people negatively. He had in fact documented political violence in Cuba and he brought his knowledge back with him to the United States to document another avoidable mess.
With his documentation of the ads covering the walls of a small shack, he is showing how the people of the area took comfort in the circus and other forms off entertainment while their lives were falling apart in almost all other aspects.