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Vietnam Memorial Symbolism

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Remembering the past in one’s life is full of mistakes, regrets, joy, memories, both memorable and forgettable. Pictures and other memorabilia allow us to have flashbacks into certain points of our lives which are unique and shared experiences. Being able to recollect memories would be both a blessing and a curse. There are multiple ways to remember events and people, some include; monuments,statues, acres of land, or in extreme cases entire cities. However, the size does not matter to an extent. When memorializing a person or event, a group or agency should consider, the correlation or significance to society, the setting of and around, whether or not the subject is controversial and the materials used to create the memoir. Our time on …show more content…

Objects and colors are symbols in literature, this philosophy is applied to monuments as well. The quality of the material represents a degree of respect to what is being remembered. Sadly our Maine Lobsterman was made out of plaster, a fairly cheap material, and was eaten by rats (Roadside America). This outcome of being consumed by rats represents that the agency was cheap and inconsiderate showing disrespect. A perfect example of material consideration is the Vietnam War Memorial. The Vietnam Memorial uses black granite which is very reflective because symbolizes the U.S needs to “reflect” about the tragedies of this war. Fighting the war was controversial because there was internal economic problems occurring in the U.S during this time period and the war costed a lot of American lives in vain. Another example was the desired granite would have came from Canada which at the time there was tension because people would dodge the draft for the Vietnam War by moving north to Canada. Given these points, the careful selection of black granite avoided the controversy with other countries and respectfully pays tribute to those lives lost during the

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