In light of 9/11, we have been discussing Melanie Einzig's
photograph in American Studies for the last couple of days. It is a photo that consists of a UPS man
delivering a package while the Twin Towers burn in the background. In class, Mr. O'Connor asked us to think of a
word to use in this sentence, "The UPS man is ______". Some of the words that my classmates came up
with were: uncaring, apathetic, unconcerned and callous. I was raising my hand to add to the
discussion and say a word, but Mr. O'Connor happened to call on another boy
instead. The word that he added to the
bunch was "focused". I was
interested and a little shocked by this word choice, because the word that I
was going to say at that exact moment was distracted. Can two words that are antonyms represent the
same picture? As I began to think about
it more, I realized that it could be either word, even though they are
antonyms. Luke (the boy who said focused)
claimed that the man was focusing on his job and his duties, rather than stopping
to gawk at the horrific scene. My
interpretation was that his job was
distracting him, a diversion from the more important tragedy at
hand. I find it so interesting that our
interpretations can be so different and yet so similar. My understanding of Luke's claim is that the
towers burning were the distraction and the man's work was the priority, while
I basically claimed the exact opposite.
Could either one be correct? Of
course. No one knows for sure what that
man's thoughts were on this sad day. This also goes back to our class discussion about positive and negative connotations. Luke and I examined the same picture but drew different conclusions. I
guess your interpretation of the man's priorities could depend on your specific
values and/or past experiences. But in conclusion, specifically based on this small snapshot, I feel as if I am in no position to judge this man nor his intentions.
1 comment:
Madeleine, I think it is really interesting that both you and Luke were able to draw such dissimilar conclusions of the same image, yet both of you we're able to argue your ideas based on evidence from the photograph. I think the connotation of the word "focused" that Luke used in class is that the UPS worker was being a good employee and doing his job and I think that is true based on the photograph. The point that Mr. Bolos brought up that the man appears to be a bit blurry in the photo perhaps because he was walking fast also gives another hint that the man may have been focused on his job. That does not mean, however, that he was apathetic to those affected by 9/11.
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