Summary

My piece is about the rituals and symbols that make us American compared to the past to the modern day. The image is to compare the things we think of when someone says the word America, and how we treat them as symbols of our own identity, and the way we worship them.

In the image, the comparison at the bottom between the religious symbols such as the star of David and the cross, compared to more modern American symbols such as baseball and football.  The purpose of this was to show how as we move into the modern time the things that connect us to our country are less on the basis of religion and more on long-lasting symbols of our country. If one were to think of football or baseball the first thing to pop up in their mind is America, in the same as how people in the past when thinking of  Om symbol, one would think of Hinduism and India. These symbols of America do the same thing, they are the bases of America. Moving up the image one sees a church and a Wallmart, as well as a movement of what starts off as a pilgrim and ends with a car. The reason for this is to relate back to why people came to the United States in the first place. The reason the pilgrims came from Britain to the U.S. was because of wanting to worship without persecution. In the same way, nowadays people come to the U.S. for the economic freedom and advantages America has over other countries, such as the ability to pick what one eats.  At the same time, these places also hold meaning in themselves. The church was a symbol of America, it was apart of America's identity, in the same way, that Walmart is. When one thinks of the U.S. in the past they think of the church, but now companies like Walmart and McDonalds are the things that people think represent America instead. When looking at the middle of the image there is a bible that instead of holding religious words, it instead of hold the words that Americans hold religion, the Star Spangled Banner. The words that every single American holds dear to heart. In the same way that Christians hold the words of the bible as truth, the words of the Star Spangled banner our Americans truth. When looking at the bottom of the image again, the two soldiers kneeling hold two meanings. Soldiers and the military themselves are one of the biggest American symbols there is. The strength and size of the military have always acted as a symbol of America and is something many Americans hold dear to them. The other part of the soldiers kneeling, is the fact that the act of kneeling itself is a ritual of giving respect and honor to fallen comrades who die within the military. In the same way that kneeling in sports is an act of respect and honor for a hurt player. Lastly, the American Flag (an obvious symbol) mixed with the red, white, and blue background are to take the entire image and bring it together and to represent and look at it in an American point of view.

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Staples High School Sulzycki 2A 2018-19

Final Exam Performance Assessment

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