abby+reflection+2

All of these paintings represent a struggle in America. Everyone in America wants to achieve the American dream, but generally that dream is hard to obtain. One big part of American is struggle, struggle to get somewhere, be someone, or achieve something. The first picture of the mother with her children was taken during the dust bowl, during a point in time where no one had any food, money, and was on the verge of being evicted. The passages from Steinbeck's book, similarly to this picture, comment on struggles during the dust bowl and specifically the struggle of not knowing what to do with oneself, one's land, and one's family. The quotes from Steinbeck also involve being in an awful situation to the point where one has to move. The woman with her children will eventually have to move somewhere where there are jobs, and in the second picture African Americans are migrating to the north seeking a better life. The second picture is of a migration of African Americans from the south to the north, this represents the struggle that they had to endure in the south and the struggle that they had to endure once they got to the north. The next picture is of people standing in line during the Great Depression to get coffee. After the stock market crash most Americans lost everything that they once had and that they once took for granted. After the market crashed many people had to stand in lines like this in order to get food, a job, or aid. The poem by Langston Hughes is a mother explaining to her son what she had to endure during her life. Americans have to struggle to get to where they want to be in life.