Reflection:
Most Americans can recognize the painting "American Gothic" by Grant Wood. But what a lot of people do not know is that the woman in the picture is not the farmers wife, but his daughter. In a New York Times article by Jeanine Basinger, she says ''American Gothic'' ranks in importance as a recognizable national emblem alongside the flag, the eagle and the Statue of Liberty." In connection with Jack Kerouac's quote "This is the story of America. Everybody's doing what they think they're supposed to do," American Gothic was painted in 1930, at the beginning of the American Great Depression, when farmers has to migrate off of their land to find jobs in cities. One can only imagine, in this day and age, how hard it must've been for an entire family to leave their homes and move to cities to restart their lives. American Gothic stands out to the modern world because of how honest it is. At this time, people are "supposed" to and expected to leave if they wanted to have food on their table every night. As one can tell by the expression on the farmer's face and the face of his daughter, this was a horribly hard transition but it was what was "supposed" to happen.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/07/10/books/review/10BASSING.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0
Most Americans can recognize the painting "American Gothic" by Grant Wood. But what a lot of people do not know is that the woman in the picture is not the farmers wife, but his daughter. In a New York Times article by Jeanine Basinger, she says ''American Gothic'' ranks in importance as a recognizable national emblem alongside the flag, the eagle and the Statue of Liberty." In connection with Jack Kerouac's quote "This is the story of America. Everybody's doing what they think they're supposed to do," American Gothic was painted in 1930, at the beginning of the American Great Depression, when farmers has to migrate off of their land to find jobs in cities. One can only imagine, in this day and age, how hard it must've been for an entire family to leave their homes and move to cities to restart their lives. American Gothic stands out to the modern world because of how honest it is. At this time, people are "supposed" to and expected to leave if they wanted to have food on their table every night. As one can tell by the expression on the farmer's face and the face of his daughter, this was a horribly hard transition but it was what was "supposed" to happen.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/07/10/books/review/10BASSING.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0