A Look at the Norman Rockwell Paintings Regarding Education

To me, all three pictures we observed (The Spirit of Education-1934, The Graduate-1959, and The Problem We All Live With-1964) by Norman Rockwell are all perfect examples of what we have been discussing in class. The first one really jumps out because of the crazy outfits the boy and his assumed mother or teacher are wearing while the second is just plain odd looking, and really makes you think.

I chose the painting The Problem We All Live With because I grew up around minorities, and I've seen how they are treated, even if it's just how they're observed and looked at. Question number 6 on page 193 asks to basically pick apart the picture, and define why it pinpoints the little girl. The men are all so uniformed, they all look the same. They are all wearing suits, walking the same, wearing dark shoes, even all wearing wedding bands! Their body language is all the same: clenched fists, small strides, shoulders back... it's as if they are marching or something. Then there is this little African-American girl, who appears to be about 8 or 9 to me, is very relaxed, and not following the crowd's movement, only their direction. She carries notebooks and a ruler. Her white dress compliments her dark skin and makes her look angelic among these men who's faces are unseen by us, the readers. She looks straight ahead, and no where else, because she's focused on her goal, no matter what the rest of society is doing.

To me, she represents the smallest percent of her "kind", as people have come to call the minority races. She is diligent, it seems, and she works hard at what she does, which isn't how most of the minority races do things, at least how I've grown up to see. She's going against the grain, and I have so much respect for the actual people that represent this little girl.