When I first analyzed the picture, it didn't really make sense to me; it honestly looks like a baby simply playing with some of his toys. Once I dug deeper and really thought about it, here's what I got.
We associate doves with an archetype of peace, and war as a sign of struggle or sadness. The fact that the baby is winding up a dove really sends a message that people are trying to force or create peace when it's kind of "unwanted" or hard to have. Another factor that really comes in would be that the picture was painted right after the Vietnam War, so it all kind of ties in together. We know that the whole time during the Vietnam war, and also before it, people wanted peace. So now what I'm thinking is that maybe the people are having to "wind" themselves up so that they can create peace because they aren't used to being peaceful in the first place. It also shows that maybe the young and naive are the ones who are trying to influence the whole "peace wave" on everyone else. However, I think the illustration could also mean that no matter how hard society tries, they can't be peaceful about anything even when the bad stuff is over.
I think the author really does a great job of portraying these themes. It may take a minute for you to receive the full idea but once you get it, it's really easy to understand. I love how he uses the wind-up dove, because it really portrays the struggle in society, and that is to try and be peaceful.
-Taylor
No comments:
Post a Comment