As the narrator remembers past scenes, he writes, “Brushstrokes flash, a red bird’s/wings cutting across my stare” (22-23). The author recalls memories from the battles, and he retells them as if they are a beautiful piece of art, although the reality is brutal. By envisioning traumatic scenes in a different light, the narrator infers that even the darkest scenes can be viewed with warm energy. When the persona glances into the reflective wall, he explains, “My clouded reflection eyes me/like a bird of prey, the profile of the night/slanted against the morning” (6-8). The author compares night and morning, which puts light against darkness. Although the narrator came with sorrow for all of the lives lost in the Vietnam War, he still sees the hopeful aspect among the grief. No matter what the situation is, hope is always present within one’s darkest…
Simone de Beauvoir was born in Paris in 1908 to Georges de Beauvoir and Francoise Brasseur.1 Her father was raised in a rich family that drew him to the right on the political scale.1 He was a strong atheist and pushed this on Beauvoir and her sister.1 Her mother on the other hand was a devout Catholic, and that along with her weak and rather submissive personality (something that manifests itself in the fact that she grew up in a time before first wave feminism), polarized her and Beauvoir. Her father fed her intellectual side, providing her with abundant works of literature and encouraging her to read and write from an early age. Beauvoir was very religious as a kid, which was likely a result of…
This photograph has two main purposes: to commemorate a loved man who was murdered and to point out the injustice of his murder. There is a painting of this man with clouds behind him signifying he was a great man who is now in a better place, however, the man is covered in red and there is a large amount of red underneath him on the curb representing the bloodshed of his unfair death. Right in the center of this photograph written very largely across the wall of the building is the phrase, "When you take someone's life, you forfeit your own." There are also flowers that people have placed in the surrounding area, somewhat like a grave site. These things represent the people's opinion about this man and the killing.…
In the novel, All Quiet on the Western Front, the author uses strong imagery and detailed descriptions to convey the horrors of the Great War and their detrimental effects on soldiers from all fronts. Images such as desperation, starvation, trauma, guilt, and camaraderie create a lasting impression on the reader as they are planted in the shoes of German soldiers, fighting and depending upon each other for survival. These themes were the unfortunate reality of life in the trenches, where rival sides are united in the battle of maintaining sanity and preserving life in any way possible. Specific images that have lingered in my mind after reading the novel are the types of brutal weaponry used in warfare. Trench mortars blew the clothes right…
In Amber Bierce’s harrowing short story “Chickamauga,” the author portrays that war is not all honor and glory, but momentous and deathly through imagery. In a make-believe game of battle, a little boy ventured further than his normal grounds and “went forward toward the dark inclosing wood.” The writer uses the words “dark” and “inclosing” to make the reader feel more on edge, and assemble an ominous atmosphere. It hints that this boy is no longer playing a recreation for children. Later on, the child runs into damaged soldiers who’s “creeping figures” had been lit up by a “strange red light,” giving them “monstrous” shadows.…
Through the eyes of the narrator Paul Baumer and the graphic use of language, Remarque, exposes the reader to the gruesome reality of the war. When Paul and his fellow soldiers have just been under attack by the French and the men have been exposed to the true horror of the war, Paul observes his own comrade being carried off after the attack. “Haie Westhus is carried off with his back torn open; you can see the lung throbbing through the wound.....” (p.g 93). Readers are confronted with disturbing images which turn many people away from war. The war does not only destroy the soldiers but also the animals that are involved in the war. This is evident when the horses have been wounded in an attack. “The belly of one horse has been ripped open and its guts are trailing out... wounded horses who have bolted in terror, their wide- open mouths filled with all that pain.... it is the most despicable thing of all to drag animals into war” (p.g 44-45). Furthermore, the men mostly speak about fighting the French and see them not as the enemy but as the victim. The war is the enemy and the armies are the sufferers. “We’re out here defending our homeland. And yet the French are there defending their homeland as well” (p.g 140). This scene was purely about the injustice war and it is also about propaganda. The novel outlines the fact that the soldiers are against their parents and their teachers. “These people here are different, a kind I can’t really understand, that I envy and despise” (p.g…
Distinctively Visual can form meaning when the composers are either sending messages or emphasising certain aspects of a character, an event through the use of particular images. In act two, scene thirteen of ‘the Shoe-Horn Sonata, Misto uses photographic background images to covey the idea of what is truly happens in the war field. ‘On the screen we see a photograph of the atomic bomb that destroyed Hiroshima – the infamous mushroom cloud. This is followed by a photograph of the devastated city.’ Also when Bridie stated ‘they wasted no records of what they’d been doing’ P.80. These examples reinforce the responders to understand how the war is structured and how the government covers up past event or experience over time. The images give a devastating shock to the responders and help compare the truth of war within current reality. Thus the audience are able to linking the different images to the events in this case when the war was occurring and after the war had occurred images emphasising the truth of war.…
The mouse is the symbol for purity while the bush is freedom and protection, but also of death, of the innocence that cannot survive or must be sacrificed. The birds that fly free in the sky also feed on the bodies of dead soldiers. The bland colors used on the poster symbolizes the element of earth which represents both the cold and dry traits on the front the war was fought on and is associated with the melancholic or depressed trait seen in people. The pistol robert carries symbolizes authority and security, protection from what may harm him. The fire in the war is a symbol both of passion and…
After examining and exploring the poster in depth, it becomes apparent that the color scheme plays an important role in assigning the role of the victim and of the enemy. The Japanese soldier has very dark skin whereas the American girl being threatened and possibly raped has fair skin. The dark versus light contrast always seems to symbolize the struggle between evil and good. The technique in which the creator of the poster uses in juxtaposing the dark skin of the Japanese soldier with the light skin of the American girl fully achieves his intended purpose. Further inspection reveals another dark versus light contrast. The…
Observing the artwork you begin to clearly distinguish the content that Antoine-Jean Gros intended to reveal to the viewer as the subject matter. The subject matter from the content reveal the compassion by Napoleon as a leader to his sick subordinates. Images so powerful such as this one elevated the leader to most likely a hero status in his time, he gives his subordinates hope and faith with his presence alone. It also has elevated him to a godlike status with the light from the window directly behind him embracing him all around. Many times in personal experiences I have seen this scenario repeated during my military service. Always at that particular moment when morale is at its lowest it is followed by that perfectly timed visit from the Commanding Officer. In these such visits those welcome words of reassurance from him that all things will be alright and also that we are to succeed in our mission at hand. He would always take time to take questions from his soldiers and then personally talk to any member part of any heroic act or wounded during the conflict. The representation of Napoleon extending his arm to aid a sick soldier also adds courage to his actions. The courage that he is does not fear the sickness that has caused so much suffering to his soldiers. When looking further more at the art work you understand that not only displays of acts of courage and compassion but also of the suffering. The woman in the painting are attending the sick with their face partially covered as if they were afraid to breath the smell of disease in the building. One other aspect of the painting that grabs your eye sight is the soldier at the door, he seems to be trying to communicate to Napoleon. Antoine-Jean Gros brought many elements together to represent suffering, compassion, faith and hope. He clearly attempted to represent Napoleon in a manner that would benefit him in his future…
Through my passive seeing, I perceived the picture as a woman looking directly at me with calligraphy going across her face. Her face, however, was split in two by what looked to be a stick or object of some sort. Therefore, my initial reaction was that the artist was depicting a non-American culture through this woman in her clothes and the writing. The fact that the image is all black and white also suggests a very solemn mood.…
All Quiet on the Western Front, written in 1929 by Erich Maria Remarque, is superficially the story of one soldiers’ journey in World War 1 and his eventual death. Beneath this, however, Remarque has composed a literary treasure which, above all, seeks to illustrate war as that which is engrained in the nucleus of humanity and through the hugely negative effects of war depicted, seeks to question humanities apparent advancement through its need to engage in such a futile exercise as war. Remarque’s Liberal Humanist ideology is given expression through the correlation between war and nature, thus emphasizing the innate position of war within man, the ultimate paradox contained within an advanced mankind engaging in primitive conflicts and the ironic search for an omniscient being derived from man’s reduction to the barest quest for survival. In addition through the examination of the negativities surrounding the social institutions and hierarchies set up in the absence of god, All Quiet on the Western Front becomes much more than an emotive and well constructed piece of historical realism. In All Quiet on the Western Front, the connections between war and the natural surroundings in which it is fought give rise to the position of war the collective psyche of mankind. The military jargon of the ‚the white puffs of smoke from the tracer bullets‛ is followed by the natural imagery of ‚the sun shining on them‛ in order to emphasize the apparent synchronization between war and nature. The colour imagery of white of the bullets and yellow of the sun, being light colours, connote the harmonious relationship between nature and war. Through the proximity of phrases describing both war and nature in an endearing fashion we are led to conclude that war and nature, or that which is primitive, are fundamentally linked. The gaian imagery ‚Earth, with your ridges and holes and hollows into which a man can throw himself , where a man can hide‛ is ironic as it takes a man-made…
There are many symbols that the film depicts, for example, all the way that the soldiers shave and do their hair. This shows that the soldiers had a uniform way of looking, they all styled their hair a certain way and…
Floria has used many features of visual language which is very appealing to the human eye. In this photograph she has directed into a gothic meaning, with black hail, eyebrows, and clothing, with a touch of red as a highlight. She has used false fingernails which appeals to the audience as her fingernails now fit fight around the cat which adds great positioning to the…
“Miller illustrates a woman resembling a male, to convince women to consider how they can help their country. The painting also shows women as an empowering and useful force in the war effort. It encourages feminism and allows women to believe that they can be influential in becoming victorious.”…