A Visual Journey

•H o w d o e s t h e u s e o f l ig h t im p a c t t h e p o r t r a y a l o f W a s h in g t o n ?•H o w d o y o u k n o w t h e s o ld ie r s & t h e i r g e n e r a l a r e d e t e r m in e d t o w in t h i s b a t t le ?•W h e r e d o y o u s e e s t r a ig h t l in e s ? W h a t i s a c c o m p l is h e d b y t h e u s e o f s t r a ig h t l in e s ?

•How does this bronze relief show men united by a cause?

•Visually, how are the soldiers depicted differently than Colonel Robert Shaw (the man on horseback)?

Allies Day, MAY 1917By Childe Hassam

•Does the painting emit a feeling of lightness or of heaviness? Explain.

•What is the focal point of the painting? Why?

•Why portray the people as tiny and the flags as large?

•Overall, then, what does this painting suggest about America after WWI?

•W h a t f e e l in g d o e s t h is m e m o r ia l c o n v e y ? E x p la in .

•H o w d o e s t h e s t r u c t u r e c o n v e y a s e n s e o f w h o le n e s s ? O f u n i t y ?

•H o w w o u ld t h is p o s t e r m o t iv a t e a n A m e r ic a n t o s u p p o r t W W I I?

•W h a t d o e s t h is p o s t e r s u g g e s t a b o u t g o o d & e v i l in W W I I?

•W h a t d o e s t h e im a g e o f a l l t h a t s m o k e s u g g e s t a b o u t N a z i G e r m a n y ?

•D is c u s s t h e ju x t a p o s i t io n o f t h e l i t t le g ir l a n d t h e s w a s t ik a . W h a t i s t h e e f f e c t o f t h e ir p la c e m e n t ?

•W h a t f e a t u r e s o f t h is J a p a n e s e o f f ic e r a r e e x a g g e r a t e d ? W h a t i s t h e e f f e c t o f t h e c a r ic a t u r e ?

•T h is J a p a n e s e o f f ic e r i s c la s p in g h is h a n d s in ______.

•W h y w o u ld h e w a n t a n A m e r ic a n t o “ t a k e d a y o f f ” ? ( e f f e c t o f t h e m is s in g “ a ” ? )

•S o , o v e r a l l , h o w d o e s t h is p o s t e r m o t iv a t e A m e r ic a n s t o w o r k e v e n h a r d e r t o s u p p o r t W W II?

•W h a t d o e s t h is p o s t e r s u g g e s t a b o u t g o o d & e v i l in W W II?

When Tim O’Brien gets his draft notice in “On the Rainy River,” he implicitly contrasts WWII with The Vietnam War. Unlike WWII, in Vietnam . . .

“Certain blood was being shed for uncertain reasons. I saw no unity of purpose, no consensus on matters of philosophy or history or law. The very facts were shrouded in uncertainty: Was it a civil war? A war of national liberation or simple aggression? . . . . Was Ho Chi Minh a Communist stooge, or a nationalist savior, or both, or neither?”

He then goes on to say,

“There were occasions, I believed, when a nation was justified in using military force to achieve its ends, to stop a Hitler or some comparable evil, and I told myself that in such circumstances I would’ve willingly marched off to the battle.”

Apply O’Brien’s statements above to the images from WWII we just examined.

Let’s further examine what made The Vietnam War different from all previous wars . . .

•D is c u s s t h e c o n t r a s t in c o lo r s b e t w e e n t h is p o s t e r & W W II o n e , a n d w h a t t h a t c o n t r a s t s u g g e s t s .

•W h a t h a s V ie t n a m d o n e t o A m e r ic a ? U s e d e t a i l s f r o m U n c le S a m ’ s a p p e a r a n ce in y o u r a n s w e r .

How does the nature of the Vietnam War change conventional notions of Courage?

Find quotes in “On the Rainy River” that show O’Brien’s definition of courage.

When he thinks about the American people, including his town & family, O’Brien writes,

“They didn’t know history. They didn’t know the first thing about Diem’s tyranny, or the nature of Vietnamese nationalism, or the long colonialism of the French—this was all too damn complicated, it required some reading—but no matter, it was a war to stop the Communists, plain and simple, which was how they liked things, and you were a treasonous pussy if you had second thoughts about killing or dying for plain and simple reasons.”

Identify O’Brien’s tone here.