In the photograph below, taken by Dorothea Lange in 1937 it shows an eighteen-year-old young woman pictured with her son. The first thing I noticed about this photo is the mother looking down at her son, which is the center focus point of the image. The boy is young and is sitting at his mother’s feet. The woman is resting her head on her hand looking down at him. It appears to me that the mother is resting her head because she is exhausted from her long day as a migrant farm worker in California. It seems that the mother is thinking to herself because she is biting her lip and her eyes are nearly shut. I believe she is looking down at her son while she is thinking to remind herself that her hard work on a migrant farm will one day pay off and she will be able to give her child a better life.
The next thing that I noticed is the mother and her son are sitting in a shadow cast that is coming off from their dirty old tent. There are stains on the outer part of the tent and it looks like their shelter is falling apart. I noticed that the tent had the name Fresno stamped on it, which would mean they were living in a tent community in Fresno, California. I would not normally notice the shadow but I believe that it is a very important part of this photo. The mother and son are in a shadow that I believe represents the darkness and depression of their lives. There is sunlight around the mother and son that symbolizes optimism. I also noticed the mother and her son’s appearance. Their clothes seem to be very wrinkled and tattered, their shoes are worn and the boy’s face is very dirty. She appears to have worked very hard and she hopes that their living conditions will improve and they will have a real chance at a better life.
I really like this picture; I think it brings out a lot of feelings that happened during the depression. There is dirt everywhere and the child just has to sit and play in it while the mother has to deal with all of the serious thoughts that are overwhelming. I like how you interpreted the meaning of the light. It is nice to believe that even in the dark feelings of the Great Depression that there was still possible hope available to young families like these. I would like to know if these families really did think about a bright future, or if there was just too many struggles for them to even have any hope.
ReplyDeleteTo me this photo not only represents the struggles of the Great Depression but also the struggles as a single parent. Although there is no father displayed in the photograph there is another tent peering behind hers which symbolizes that it takes a village to raise a child both physically and mentally. I really enjoy the expression on the little boys face because although he has hunger in his eyes the rest of his face shows that he has maintained his innocence in this depressing time. I enjoyed how you were able to point out where they are living in California which makes me wonder why the photographer included that within the image. Was that particular area have some sort of uniqueness within the Great Depression. Although you say that the shadow represents the darkness of depression, I also see how the small child is placed in its mothers shadow meaning that the baby is going to grow up just like its mother with all of the economic hardships she has faces which could be why the mothers face looks the way that it does.
ReplyDeleteLike the other photos we all have, I feel are theme is set around what a family has to do in this crucial time, or another theme could be how the parents, uncertain with their families future, have the understanding with what they have to do to provide for their family. Only this pic has a just a mother and her child. Does she have a husband that is at work? Are there any other child she might have that aren’t pictured? The other pics have larger families which requires a lot more work to be accomplished to get paid enough for provide for the family. Regardless of the size of the family, all families might have the same mindset, which is each day can’t be taken for granted and the sacrifices they make today will eventually pay off in the end.
ReplyDeleteAnnie does a great job here of connecting a lot of pieces of the image to the narrative that she has constructed. Annie incorporates the mother's facial features and body language, the tent, the hygiene and clothing of the subjects, and even the shadow created by the ten into a story. Some of the questions that y'all raise, including the absence of the father, provide even more for us to consider in relation to Annie's analysis.
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