1. The Problem We All Live With By Norman Rockwell

12. Character: Rockwell painted the girl looking forward with a good posture to indicate her determination. The sky shown on her book is a metaphor for dreams. The girl’s dream is to go to school. The guards around her have their heads cut off because it enforces the fact that their identity does not matter. They walk in step to indicate that they are all cogs in a wheel. They are anonymously protecting her like robots. The girl copies them because she wants to act powerful like them. She views the guards as strong people who are unfazed by the crowd, and she wants to do the same thing. The guards’ neutrality proves that they do not give good protection to the girl. An uncaring law enforcement is a problem because they offer no real protection. Color: The bland colors on the guards establish that they are neutral. Their neutrality proves that no one views racism as a serious problem. The girl’s white dress demonstrates her innocence. The red tomato splatter on the right looks like a blood splatter, which expresses the violence of the crowd. Its bright red burst stands out and looks out of place in the bland yellow wall and grey ground. The boring background colors show that this could be any school, as there are no school-specific details. It emphasizes that racism does not fit in any school, or anywhere. The tomato splatter and white dress also demonstrates that violence does not fit in with innocence. This is still shown today, from overreacting cops in Ferguson, and to killing Jews in World War Two. Light: There is no visible light source in this scene, meaning there is no obvious hope. There is light on the sidewalk in the middle of the scene, but the outside is darker. This means that the girls is the light, or the hope that things will change. The darkness on the outside is prejudice. It is far away because the prejudice is not important to her. She is an innocent child that wants to go to school. Angle: The angle of this picture is shot from the angle of the protestors. It is ironic because the viewer is expected to feel angry at the girl like the rest of the protesters, but instead the viewer feels sorry for the girl. It gives the viewer an “angle” on how the protestors viewed racism. The scene is shot straight on, with no special angles or tricks. This gives a truthful angle of what happened in the scene. Proportion: The most dominant part of the photo are the Marshals. They enclose the girl in a large box that takes up most of the picture. However, insults and threats still manage to penetrate the box. The guards are protecting her physically, but not mentally. This shows the extent to which the guards are protecting her. They care that she is alive, but not for how she is feeling. The girl is bigger than the tomato because she is better than violence. This means innocence is better than violence. The big crack on the wall shows the cracked foundation the insults are based on. This cracked foundation is ignorance. The crowd knows nothing about the girl. This ignorance is still shown in society, Placement: The girl is near the front of the guards, and not slinking in the back. This indicates her boldness and determination to get an education. This could also be because of her determination to get away from racism. The insult in the upper left corner is almost out of the picture because it does not matter to the girl. Setting: The girl is in a school. Rockwell paints the girl walking to school to show that the protestors have not even given the girl a chance to learn in school. They automatically think she will be horrible. It is ironic because a school is a place for learning, however the protestors are yelling insults at the girl to stop her from learning.