Adriana Sosa

CWL 161 Sec06

Letitia Deon
Migrant Mother: Read and Response Questions
Understanding the Text
1. The woman in Dorothea Lange’s photograph appears to be looking in the distance and
away from her living situation. The description states, “There she sat in that lean-to tent
with her children huddled around her and seemed to know that my pictures might help
her, and so she helped me” (Lange 416). Therefore semiconcluded that the woman was
aware of her picture being taken. The woman knew the author would potentially help her
by spreading her situation to the public. Her look and direction of gaze could
communicate that she is worried but also very thankful that she is still alive and doing
the best she can not only for herself but for her children as well. The look in her eyes
could be interpreted as someone determined to push forward no matter what it takes.

2. The two children in the picture have their faces away from the camera because they
could be shy or embarrassed about living conditions at a young age. Society thinks that
if you are young, you have a whole life that you could chase after as long as you don’t
make dumb decisions but these kids don’t have the choice to be living in poverty. The
effect that this could have on the photographer herself in the picture would be the shame
these kids feel and how unfair life can be to anyone of any age.

3. From what is visible in the picture, I can tell that the baby that the mother is holding is
practically starving and is tired. It’s possible that due to lack of nutrients, the baby
doesn’t have enough energy to stay up all the time like a baby would. The baby also
appears dehydrated but probably decides to sleep it all off.

4. If I saw the photograph without any knowledge of its title, the photographer, the cultural
and historical context, or the subject of the photo it would definitely lose the value of its
meaning but still hold an impact. I would personally still feel resentment toward the small
family and feel that sadness from the woman’s look but I wouldn’t think about how
determined she is towards providing for her kids. I would just think this is another photo
of a homeless family in Los Angeles or someplace similar. I believe the photographer
would still be trying to say or show that message to those who aren’t in poverty that our
world needs to do better to help these families rise back up. Knowing the context and
information doesn’t change much about how I see this photo besides knowing that this is
a determined mother who wants to do her best to provide for her kids.

Making Connections
1. Both mothers in each image have some kind of desire and resentment towards their
children but each situation captures a different vibe or feel. In Need (p. 469) the mother
shows a deep hurt towards her child who is sick and nearing death. In the painting, the
mother is unable to do anything to save her child because she doesn’t have the wealth
to take him to a hospital meaning she has no other choice but to watch her child suffer
through his last moments. The mother is full of grief and pain and there is nothing in her
power that she can potentially do to save her child. On the other hand, Migrant Mother
(p. 416), the mother in this image is still in poverty but she still has the strength and
desire or determination to continue to provide for her children as much as she possibly
can. Her determination is what pushes her to continue to try to feed them and help them
retain as many nutrients as they possibly can with what they have. What might account
for the differences is the change in mindset. If you find yourself in a hard situation it’s
much easier to get by with optimism rather than pessimistic views. If you stay positive
you are more likely to determine yourself to push harder and harder until you achieve
your goal. If negativity starts to ponder through your mind, it is more likely for you to fail
and think that it’s the end of the line
 The Last Lockdown - Read and Response Questions
Understanding the Argument
1. The first thing I notice about the images is that they’re both black and white, they show
the desk the child is hiding under and there are different perspectives of the desk. When
looking at the first perspective with the child holding the desk, it isn’t quite immediately
obvious to me that the subject is gun violence. Here in California, we as students are put
through various drills for natural disasters and my first impression was that maybe an
earthquake happened that caused this little child to become fearful and they were putting
their drills into use.

2. To describe the child’s facial expressions I would say they are disturbed and panicked
over the situation they are in. We see these emotions being portrayed both in the child’s
expression and body language. The child is holding on with a tight grip onto their desk
and their face is scrunched up. It is visible that the child’s eyes are showing fear and
their forehead displays wrinkles which is unnatural. These images encourage empathy
because if put into such a heart-rushing and threatening situation, it is only natural to feel
fear and panic, some people don’t know what to do, and others just hope staying still
and being quiet is the best choice and that's how they start to empathize with the
feelings of the child in the image.

3. The child is kneeling probably because they know that if they stayed on one knee it
would cause an imbalance in their posture and in a situation where there is a shooter, it
is necessary to be as quiet as possible to not attract the shooter towards the location
you are in. It doesn’t seem like a natural posture but the symbolic component that could
be taken from this could be letting your guard down and trusting your instincts in a highly
stressful situation. Sometimes you need to let everything go and lay it all down instead of
acting on impulse.

4. The text on top of the desk interacts with the image by showing real messages on the
topic of school shootings and gun violence. This gives this spread of awareness
credibility by showing that it’s not a simple situation that should be addressed and then
moved on. It should be a situation that should be discussed and then take action to
change it. The image itself wouldn’t quite be as understandable without the text because
it could be interpreted with some kind of natural disaster drill rather than a school
shooting.

5. The primary argument that The Last Lockdown makes is that we as a nation should elect
leaders who will protect all the children in schools from school shootings by creating
laws that suppress the use of firearms more than it is already. The statue itself supports
this argument by showing the real fear behind the eyes of an innocent child and attempts
to communicate the empathy that we should be feeling towards these children.

Making Connections
 1. In all three images from the different photographers, all the images show a situation with
emotional stress on the mind. In The Last Lockdown, we see a child who is scared about
a shooting happening in their school. This shows the worriedness behind the minds of
parents and their kids when they see shootings on the news or the worry we should be
feeling as a community. In Migrant Mother, we see a mother who is worried for her
children because she is unable to provide the correct amount of food or water that a
child needs to grow healthy. Finally, in Need we see a mother worry and mourn over her
dying child because she can’t control the situation or the sickness he is going through.
All images produce a similar emotional response of fear and worry.

2. The Last Lockdown exhibit works to generate empathy in its audience by including the
scared child in the statue. Seeing a kid with such terror in their expression makes us
older teenagers or adults feel sorry and bad for the kids who have gone through these
experiences. This is an effective way to advocate for policy changes because it depicts
an image where we can imagine ourselves in that situation and have an idea of how
much fear the child is going through. It helps advocate for policy changes as well by
including the statistics on school shootings on the desk and informing the public about
how disturbing it is to have these kids experience school shootings and ruin their
innocence.
Writing about the Argument
1. In The Last Lockdown, visually we see the statistics on top of the desk the child is hiding
under and the visual fearful expression the child has to understand the argument it is
conveying against gun violence. In Slave Labour, a child is seen manually making flags
with a sewing machine but is being overworked. While looking at one and the other,
Banksy’s Slave Labours’ message is a little more toned down. We don’t quite see the
written out message and we have to look for it. But in The Last Lockdown, we are given
words that show exactly what message it is trying to convey. Different audiences may
take each art piece differently by either decoding the message behind the art if they care
about what it is trying to say or having some people just simply look at the art and ignore
the overall important message.
2. I believe that the statistics etched on the desk accurately represent the problem of gun
violence in America. I’m not very educated in many gun laws but I definitely have heard
about guns being a problem in schools in America. Every year in school, I’ve almost
always heard about school shootings on the news but there has never been a change. I
believe that a lot of the statistics on the desk in The Last Lockdown are accurate to the
world we currently live in.