Under The Dark Cloth Analysis

In Alexander Gardner’s Photographic Sketchbook of the Civil War, the haunting image “Harvest of Death” catches one’s eye with the seemingly endless field of corpses. The jarring facial expression on the figure in the foreground draws one into the narrative of the piece. However, our initial understanding of the image’s narrative is limited to what we can see and what we know of the circumstances surrounding it. While we know it was taken during the American Civil War, by simply looking at the photograph, we cannot know who is depicted. In black and white, it is difficult to even tell what side of the conflict these fallen soldiers fought for. We can interpret the image for our own readings, but we cannot tell what the artist intended us to see or what message he wanted to impart with it. These unknowns, however, are addressed in the related text associated with the image. These short passages can tell us a great deal about the photographer’s intentions and influence the way we read the image. Through the excerpt, we not only learn the intended meaning of the photography, but we also learn about Gardner’s political intentions and the key points he wanted his viewers to note within the image. Published as a pair, Gardner used his text to contextualize his images and inform the way we perceive them. This is clearly illustrated in “A Harvest of Death” and its accompanying passage.

Films are created for many reasons. Some of these include to entertain, inform, and raise awareness. Whilst the film ‘Kokoda’ is entertaining, it also has some value as a historical source. However, its information is limited and some aspects of the battle are not portrayed. The battle conditions for Australian soldiers in Papua New Guinea is presented in an informative way in the movie yet it does not cover the conditions the Japanese soldiers had to face as well. The portrayal of the conditions for the 39th battalion full of Australians is depicted effectively in the film through scenes that emphasise the struggle and difficulties the soldiers faced due to them. We can see the tough terrain in many scenes in the movie such as when the

How can day exist without night; how can night exist without darkness? In Paul Bogard’s, “Let There Be Dark”, Bogard elucidates on the absence of darkness in today’s world. With authenticity, Bogard analyzes the significant elements of darkness in both a rational and factual way. In “Let There Be Dark”, Bogard creates a refined and persuasive analysis using rhetorical appeals to endorse his ideology on preserving Earth’s natural darkness.

The notion of the contemporary indigenous identity and the impact of these notions are both explored in texts that have been studied. Ivan Sen’s 2002 film ‘Beneath Clouds’ focuses on the stereotypical behaviours of Indigenous Australians highlighting Lina and Vaughn’s journey. This also signifies the status and place of the Australian identity today. Through the use of visual techniques and stereotypes the ideas that the Indigenous are uneducated, involved in crime and the stereotypical portrayal of white people are all explored. Similarly the notion of urban and rural life is represented in Kennith Slessor’s ‘William Street’ and ‘Country Towns’.

One of the most famous photographs in history was taken by Joe Rosenthal at the Battle of Iwo Jima, during the Second World War. The American people on a whole embraced this photo and saw it as a firm success for the army, so the government knowing that the war needed lots of added funds decided to cease this opportunity and sent the survivors of the flag razing on a propaganda based bond drive for the army. Clint Eastwood in the way he directed the film showed just how different an image of war is compared to a real war. Clint Eastwood allowed the viewer to get an insight to all three survivors of the photo and this gave an insight to how the war on Iwo Jima and the image that gave them a entirely different course in the war. The

During the period of American Gothic literature, authors, such as Nathaniel Hawthorne and Edgar Allan Poe, incorporated the sinister perspective of the human nature in their writings. Both Hawthorne’s symbolic short story, “The Minister’s Black Veil”, and Poe’s violent fiction, “The Tell-Tale Heart”, demonstrate separation and symbolism throughout the course of each story. In Hawthorne’s story, the protagonist, Minister Hooper, decides to wear a black veil over his face and vows to never remove it. This vow continues to the point of his death. Mr. Hooper’s decision to wear the black veil consequently separates him from society. Hawthorne uses the veil to symbolize the human psyche and efforts to hide sins. In Poe’s story, the narrator is the caretaker of an old man with a blind eye. He describes his internal discomfort when he sees the eye, and later devises a plan to murder the old man. His separation from humanity due to the uneasy feeling of the old man’s pale, blind eye are shown through his efforts to commit murder.

The novel “Night” is a vivid representation of a man’s loss of faith from the beginning to the end of the catastrophic era in which this book takes place. As a young boy Elie’s inquisitive mind directed him to the synagogue where he would study the Kabbalah’s revelations and mysteries. Here is where “Moishe the beadle,” a friend to Elie, would sit with him in the synagogue and they would talk for hours about the intriguing secrets of Jewish mysticism. One important piece of advice that Moishe told Elie was, “There are a thousand and one gates allowing entry into the orchard of the mystical truth.” This simply meant he would need to pursue these answers on his own. However, Elie believed Moishe would help him bind his questions and answers as well, into one. These meetings were interrupted when Moishe was extracted from the Sighet where he experienced malice.

On February 19, 1945 five Marines and one Sailor participated in an event that would forever change the course of events for the Marine Corps. Undoubtedly one of the most powerful images of the 20th century is the flag raising atop Mount Suribachi on Iwo Jima. The flag raising captured the courage, commitment and honor that these Marines held as they reached the top. These individuals were only doing what they were instructed to do, but it was the Pulitzer Prize winning photograph that was taken by Joe Rosenthal that turned this war time event into a world wide historical event. Behind the eagle, globe and anchor, the flag raising has taken the form of a second emblem for the Marine Corps.

The arrangement of this photograph is not manipulated which makes its message stronger. Instead, the photograph was captured as the event was happening. This draws attention to the gravity of the impact of these protests. In the article, Preforming Civic Identity: The Iconic Photograph of the Flag Raising on Iwo Jima, there is an emphasis on the importance of this type of arrangement; the description the arrangement of the iconic Iwo Jima photograph is “there is no hint that anyone is preforming for the camera”. The authors go on the explain that the lack of acting in the photograph “the image can become a performance of war as a national event. By fusing a moment of military action with a sense of visual transparency, the photograph creates a truth effect; this is the image through which the meaning of war can be seen” (Robert Hariman, John Louis Lucaites 372). This concept can also explain the power of the ‘Flower Power’ image, and the message

“Introduction to Poetry” and “Traveling Through the Dark,” are poems written by Billy Collins and William Stafford. The poem’s, “Introduction to Poetry”, main conflict is a teacher who tries to get his students to read and appreciate a poem, but what all the students only care about is figuring out what it means. The conflict is highlighted through the many uses of metaphors to help us understand how he wants the students to look and decipher a poem and how they only focus on finding the meaning instead of taking their time to listen and see the art of poetry. William Stafford’s poem, “Traveling Through the Dark,” describes a driver’s dilemma of deciding whether to throw a dead pregnant deer into the river, or leave it laying on the road where it can cause an accident. In both poems, the use of literary devices such as metaphors, personification, imagery, and diction are effective in making and building up the conflict and reaching the resolution.

In "The Minister's Black Veil," Parson Hooper wears a black veil that becomes a "barrier" between him and the community. The black veil causes everyone to distance themselves from him and he is not able to form any meaningful relationship or really participate in the community because of this. The veil to Parson Hooper is a representation of the "veils" everyone else wears everyday by not acknowledging their sins and trying to hide the fact that they are not perfect either. This is explained in the final hours of Parson Hooper's life when he is asked to finally remove the veil by Reverend Clark. "When the friend shows his inmost heart to his friend; the lover to his best beloved; when man does not vainly shrink from the eye of his Creator,

Society tends to judge the people whom are a bit different. In the story of The Minister Black Veil by Nathaniel Hawthorne, the town preacher decides to wear a black veil. He decided to wear a black veil because he wanted to remind everyone that sins are in everyone. I believe Hooper is self-reliant because he doesn’t care what the people around him think or say. Even his fiancé leaves him because she becomes scared of the veil. Hooper dies with the veil still on. Hooper believed that wearing the black veil is a form of symbolism to show everyone that sin resides on everyone. According to Hawthorne, Father Hooper was judged by the civilians because father Hooper mentioned before dying “Tremble also at each other! Have men avoided me, and women shown no pity, and children screamed and fled, only for my black veil?” (Hawthorne 22).

In his TED Talk, Robinson used a quote from W.B. Yeats’ “The Cloths of Heaven” to warn that we must tread carefully upon the dreams our children place beneath our feet.  Robinson made the point that civilized human communities thrive upon diversity both in abilities and talents. The quote should make one consider that the jobs available to the next generation probably do not exist today.  It would be reasonable for one to agree that, to prepare the next generation of workers, instructional design must include all components required for a human capital continuum.  Therefore, many advocate that efforts be made to ensure emerging learning technologies and delivery systems from Pre-K to post-doctoral are instilling the levels of imbrication required

Jack Kerouac’s introduction meticulously puts Robert Frank’s photographs into words. Both the text and pictures complement each other well, pictures evolve in the audience’s mind while reading the text. As a person who saw Frank’s photographs before reading the introduction, I knew which pictures Kerouac was describing in his text. As well, Kerouac’s text opens the reader to new interpretations of Frank’s images; for example, “... Hoboken in the winter, platform full of politicians all ordinary looking till suddenly at the far end to the right you see one of them pursing his lips in prayer politico (yawning probably) not a soul cares” (Kerouac ).

Depression is the leading mental illness worldwide, affecting millions of people every day. As one of the most common mental illnesses, it can occur to anyone, at any age, and to people of any race or ethnic group. With his book Darkness Visible: A Memoir of Madness, William Styron became of the first people to publicly acknowledge his struggling battle with depression. Darkness Visible is an intense and haunting account of Styron’s own suicidal depression in which he reminds us of the toll that this dreadful illness can have on an individual. As Styron describes his own descent into depression, he tells about the place that he was in, “the despair beyond despair” as he describes it to be. Since its publication, his memoir has been appreciated throughout the world and become a helping hand for people around the world who are suffering from depression. Styron’s description of his experiences resonates with people in a deep and profound way, turning his work into an advocate for the movement for the awareness for depression