Maloney 1

Grace Maloney
Ms. Thompson
AP Lang Block 1, Skinny B
March 30, 2015
Synthesis Draft 1
Monuments
18 hours later, the bus reaches D.C. Money for food, hotels, and transportation, all
going into what? Rocks. The students only see rocks- rocks that could be seen just as well
from a Google search, rocks that all of tourist America has seen through trips, pictures, and
videos, rocks. Yet the students look through the eyes of artists and historians into another
time period by looking at the exquisitely shaped, named. Sculpted, placed, and designed
stone: our countrys greatest sculptures and monuments. Every monument tells a story and
teaches a lesson in a different way, appealing to patriotism and jingoism for the United
States. When creating a monument, the artists and designers must consider the meaning or
underlining purpose of the monument, who it is intended for (as well as their ideals), and
what kind of impact the monument will make based on its location.
Every monument tells a story of history, making the intended meaning extremely
important in the constructing of a monument. In D.C., the Lincoln Memorial stands tall and
strong, serving as a reminder of how remarkable President Lincoln was and how important
of a role he played in the Civil War time period (Source A). However, nothing in the
memorial is actually him. Yet everyday, thousands of tourists go to see this and are taken
away by it. Although Lincoln is not actually there and nothing actually happened there, the
Lincoln Memorial tells a story through its enormous Lincoln, resting in his chair and the

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round sense of unity of the Monument, representing how Lincoln reconnected the country
after the Civil war, and the inscribed speeches, which Lincoln made, his words tying the
country back together, one syllable at a time (Source A). The Lincoln Memorial did
everything it was supposed to for its purpose in reminding the country of Lincoln pulling
America back together, just as the action stature of Paul Revere reminds tourists of his
bravery that night (Source B).
Artists need to consider who the monument is for. In Source E, Musser discusses the
atrocities of planting a Holocaust museum in D.C.s National Mall. The Holocaust Museum
would act as a memorial to the countrys Jewish population who lost family in World War II
to Nazi Germany. Yet the monument would not be seen as nice and welcoming to the Jews;
it would be seen as offensive (Source E). In World War II, the U.S. did not do much to help
the Holocaust victims in Europe (Source E). Putting a monument in the nations capitol
could be seen as insulting and insensitive. Similarly, a sculpture is being made in South
Dakota of Crazy Horse, an Indian Leader (Source C). The sculptors have been working
since 1948- perfecting the face before even moving on to the body (Source C). However, the
Sioux people do not appreciate the efforts being put into this statue. They believe it makes
him look proud and vain, even though Crazy Horse was a man so humble he never got
painted or sculpted, so the artists do not even know what he looks like. Both of these
circumstances had great intensions but resulted in being extremely insensitive to groups of
people.
Overall, monuments, statues, museums, etc. are all very important for education on
our country as well as remembrance of the good and bad past and how/ who constructs adds
in to the importance and meaning behind the statues/ monuments/museums.

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