Summary Everything about the American Dream, perfect for preparing for the Abitur:)
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Course
Englisch
Institution
Gymnasium
Insgesamt 17 Seiten rund um den American Dream, mit Bildern, Tabellen und Grafiken um alles anschaulich und sehr umfangreich und detailliert darzustellen.
Gliederung der Zusammenfassung:
1.Defenition
2.Symbolism
3.American Progress, Painting
4.The Statue of Liberty (Banksy)
5. The origin...
General Info
This picture, (painted in 1872 by John Gast) was the epitome of what was happening
out West. The painting represents the bright side of the East, with its industrious
cities and productive plantations, to its counterpart out West, which was described as
"unruly".
In the nineteenth century the young new nation of the United States had great
aspirations for its future. As a result, westward expansion was an appealing thought,
and the idea of manifest destiny was a common mindset among early Americans.
With this ideology so common among people at the time, the West wasn’t only
thought of by some as a great opportunity to start anew. It was also viewed as a
serious economic opportunity for people seeking to exploit the hopeful thoughts of
others. As a result of this, propaganda began surfacing portraying the West and the
American expansion west in a very positive light. John Gast’s painting “American
Progress” is an example of this (it was printed in traveling guides at the time), and –
through different displays of symbolism – it portrays Western expansion by
Americans as a glorious and righteous thing. In reality, however, expansion may not
have been as just as the painting makes it seem.
The painting is set on an American landscape, with the right half of the painting
representing eastern America, and the left half of the painting representing western
America. The first thing to notice about the painting is the variations in light seen
when comparing the east and the west. The rightmost edge of the painting is bright,
but as the painting shifts left it begins to grow darker, with the furthest left edge being
marked by a foreboding sky adorned with storm clouds. Similarly, the gentle rolling
hills of the east give way to jagged mountains as the painting moves left into the
west. From these landscape features alone, Gast creates the idea that the East is
warm and welcoming, while the West is dark and ominous. This creates a platform
which, upon Gast’s introduction of characters into the painting, plays a great deal on
the viewer’s emotions.
The next thing to notice is the dominating figure in the middle of the painting. The
figure is a woman who resembles an angel, and the light aforementioned
(vorgennant) clearly exudes from her. She appears to be moving westwards,
illuminating the way as she goes. Amy Greenberg writes: “It is the benign domestic
influence of [her] allegorical figure, […] Gast seems to indicate, that is responsible for
the smooth and uplifting transformation of wilderness into civilization.” When looking
at the painting, this claim certainly seems to hold true. The painting features covered
wagons, then stagecoaches, then trains, all moving west. This presents the idea of
technological advancement being brought further West as American folk continue to
settle the frontier, a thought which was very widespread at the time.
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