Quynh Anh 1

Final Assessment

In the piece, I was drawing a woman inside a closed room who wore an angry look with

a piece of feather in her right hand.

In the picture, the light from the left is the enlightenment that Europeans bring to

America (referring to the “American Progress” painting by John Gast), which are technology and

civilization. It also symbolizes the American’s arrogance for the fact that they compare their

expansion to the light, using the Manifest Destiny to call it a good thing. I want to say that early
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American colonists have no sense of justice, and it’s ludicrous when they think they are the

saviors of America.

The cracks on the wall coming from the brighter part emblematize lightning, which,

according to the poetry “The New Colossus” written by Emma Lazurus, is a metaphor of

electricity or technology. The wall cracks all the way to the left, which alludes to the Americans

pushing the natives westward. To me, the lightning is neither bright nor noble, but rather just

cracks that break the Natives apart.

The door to the right is taken from the piece “The New Colossus” as well, where the

Statue of Liberty said she would “lift [her] lamp beside the golden door!” to express her

welcomeness of everyone from other places. What is only known to people who have walked

through that door is that there lies no freedom, but a smaller, suffocating world which, in fact,

entraps their freedom.

The light that the woman turns her head away from calls attention to the famous

Frederick Douglass’ speech named “What to the Slaves is the fourth of July?” which says that

“[he was] not included within the pale of [that] glorious anniversary,” symbolized by the

“glorious” light that does not make the woman feel belonged to. This big discrimination exposes

the ugliness of free Americans in the world of oppression, who enjoy “their” freedom while

trampling on others’ rights.

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Following up is the feather in the woman’s right hand. The feather resembles the

headdress worn by the Native Indians. This calls up the story told by chief Black Hawk in his

surrender speech, who saw his people murdered and lands taken from by the whites. This adds to

another unsightly identity of the Americans for having wronged the Native Indians.

For the most important part, the woman in the middle is colored all black and white

except for the color of her eyes. Blue is the color of freedom, reflected in the eyes, or gateways

to the soul, indicates that humans whose lives are pitch blackness have the strongest

righteousness at heart, since they understand the frustration of being mistreated and despised.

They are the resemblance to the authors of the Declaration of Independence, who devote their

hearts to freeing their people. What goes along with a corrupted society are Americans who DO

carry out those ideals of freedom and follow the will of the Native Americans, which explains

why the woman stares deeply into the piece of feather and committed to refixing that half-assed

freedom.

I don’t deny the American’s evil doings’ important factor to the freedom that the

Americans now have. Some may argue that it’s better if no inequality exists in the first place, but

that is just not possible. Where there is light, there must be shadow (1). Still, that shadow makes

the discriminated continuously strive for true freedom and lead to greater equality. This state of

never-ending conflicts that issued the matter of freedom more than other countries is what I call

the American Identity, the yin and yang ☯.

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(1) Haruki Murakami > Quotes > Quotable Quote

https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/456951-where-there-is-light-there-must-be-shadow-w

here-there#:~:text=%E2%80%9CWhere%20there%20is%20light%2C%20there%20must%20be

%20shadow%2C%20where,our%20understanding%20and%20our%20definitions.