Formal Essay Two: Thesis

Question: How does "A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings" show society's expectations of the enchanted and what are the main aspects of Western society that fuel these expectations?
The reading that caught my attention was "A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings" because of its ambiguous style, which conveys a very specific ideal dealing with sociology. This reading is basically about the manner in which a society cumulatively reacts to an old man with wings. This reading exemplifies how the modern world can take something as innocent as an angel and entangle it within the presumptions and expectations of its society. In the western world noble objects have always been subject to the stranglehold of religion or science as humanity tries to empower themselves. To have an understanding of an entity is to have power over this entity. Science, in its efforts to categorize nature's creatures, study the ways of all organic life and understand all that can be empirically understood builds the character and power of humanity. In understanding nature we gain power with knowledge while simultaneously distinguishing people from nature. In the reading there are many opinions on what the creature could be. Some say he could be an angel yet since he does not fit the expectations of the folktale angel this presumption is quickly discarded. They call on people who they feel have a better intuition of unearthly creatures such as, a doctor and a priest. This shows the reliance on science and religion for answers. Furthermore, once the people deny the creature of a holy regard because of a lack of holy actions they quickly turn him into a show. This exemplifies the way in which society feels a sense of entitlement in that this freak, if not an angel must have some entertainment value.

People in Distress

The art piece that struck me the most was a picture that was included in "a shimmer of possibility. Photographs by Paul Graham" at The Robert and Joyce Menschel Photography Gallery called New Orleans (Woman Eating).   This photograph caught my attention because it is a captivating depiction of a real life human being whose face shows the wear and tear of life.  I have prior knowledge of the fact that New Orleans is a city stricken with poverty and high crime and death rates.  This women must have exemplified the struggles of life in New Orleans to Paul Graham who wanted nothing more than to capture this struggle in one photo.  Graham chose not to paint or sculpt a depiction of New Orleans life, instead he captured it in the most realistic way possible.  This piece of art is the greatest example of modern realism, in that it is an actual real life picture of a person.  Graham chose to portray a message not with bright colors or a landscape but with a single person.  The saying, " a picture say a thousand words" never sounded so true.  There is no way of knowing that this picture is taken in New Orleans, because there is no recognizable entity of the city like the famous Bourbon street, only the women is shown with the sun beaming down on her head.  Looking at her I wonder what she could be thinking?  I ask why is she not looking at the camera, is she so preoccupied with the stresses of her life?  Not to be stereotypical but she can be seen as a poor women by the fact that she's waiting at the bus stop and is not made up at all.

This photo also caught my attention because of the fact that it resembles The Peasant Girl With a Hoe, in that, even though one is a painting and the other is a photo they are examples of modern realism.  The girl with the hoe is not doing anything spectacular, she is simply sitting there in a realistic fashion as the woman who is eating.  Unlike classical art where women are seen as mythical angels in an exotic pose, in modern art realism depicts the human as a person living a normal uneventful life.  Sometimes the most humane of actions is to just sit and think as shown in both these pieces.  Also the perspective of both pieces is focused on the person with little activity or eye catching stimuli in the background.