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| Above: the cover of the UK edition of the novel |
Each of the question sets posted for the 2026 Summer Read is accompanied by an image, usually a painting, but in at least two cases, a short video.
Identify one of these images that was most thought-provoking for you, either because of the mysteries of the image itself or because how it appears to relate (or doesn't relate?) to the question set that it accompanies.
Identify the image by its title, its creater, and the question it is associated (include the page number) and explain why you found it to be thought-provoking. There is no minimum word count for this assignment but don't limit yourself to the bare minimum.
The word count does not count toward your overall total for this assignment.
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ReplyDeleteThe painting that I thought was the most thought provoking is "The Great War" by Renee Margritte. This painting is attached to the question titled "95. Inside Emotions". At first sight this painting made me think of a similar painting titled the "The Son of Man", which I discovered is by the same artist. In both paintings the subject's face is obscured by a floating object. Personally, I think it was very clever to use this painting alongside this question. The painting could be interpreted as hiding one's emotions to appear more pleasant to other people. This is why the flower (something pretty) is covering the woman’s face (her emotions). She could be seen as putting up a front to seem more appealing. This perfectly fits the question because the question deals with the topic of concealing emotions to be more appealing. Some emotions are too unpleasant to be let out in the open. For example, this painting is titled “The Great War”, which suggests that this horrible war is why the woman is keeping her feelings a secret. There are a lot of unpleasant emotions she could be keeping buried.
ReplyDelete"Lear and Cordelia" (1848) by Ford Madox Ford is the most interesting to me because of all the range emotions you see in the people in the background that convey the range that kids can show when criticizing their parents.
ReplyDeleteOne painting that interested me was "Pollice Verso" (1873) by Jean-Léon Gérôme in question 60. The question speaks about how we talk about people passing away from cancer. Being characterized as being killed by it, being defeated, similarly to the image. In the image, the gladiator could represent cancer beating someone, but I believe this image could also be used for someone beating cancer. A gladiator coming to victory against all odds is an amazing image for someone battling a life threatening illness.
ReplyDeleteI really liked the image (and title) of Question 22, "Odd Couples". The picture is of the two main characters from the show The Odd Couple, which is about two divorced men who room together and aren't alike. I thought it was great to have the tie in of a show about divorced people with a book about a woman getting divorced, as well as the question that surrounded roommates and whether or not race should be a factor. The two actors for the show were Jewish, and one of them was actually born in Tulsa while the other was Russian. They technically were not only an odd pair of roommates, but similarly to Darlene and the narrator, both were minorities in the public eye yet actually different and distinct. It had a lot of layers! I didn't answer the question, but figured here was the place to get excited for the concept of it.
ReplyDelete"Lear and Cordelia" (1848) by Ford Madox Ford
ReplyDeleteWas the most interesting to me due to all the differing emotions found in the faces and body language of the people within the painting.
I thought the video with question 7, "Right Behind You" was the most thought-provoking. I had never heard of Plato's Allegory of the Cave before, and I found it to be really interesting. I did a little more research on it, and my favorite way of summing it up was "Don't trust the shadows when you can find the source of the light."
ReplyDelete"The Two Frida's" (1939) by Frida Kahlo.
ReplyDeleteI found this image the most interesting because it sparked the notion that all of us can be split into two people, the person we are on the inside and the person we are on the outside that we present to the rest of the world. In truth I did not chose to answer this question, but the painting itself stuck with me.
The way two completely different woman only share two features, the face, and the heart. It made me think about how we present ourselves to society to fit in or mask who we really are, while the true us hides away.
The image of Natalie Portman in Black Swan (2010) at 102 perfectly encapsulates not only the question but also how our narrator feels about her identity. In the movie Black Swan, a dancer loses herself in the character she is playing and becomes someone she does not recognize. I think our narrator, in a way, also struggles with this. She losses who she was within her family, and I think that throughout the book, we see the narrator trying to find herself again. - Nina Benton
ReplyDeleteI thought the image, "I am a Secret" (1993) by Shinin Neshat used for the question, "Secret" on page 84 was the most thought provoking. The image shows a woman who has every part of her face covered except her eyes and nose, and she has what looks to be words written all over her face. I thought this was the most thought-provoking image because it really showed that people can be hiding so many secrets. By just looking at their eyes, you don't know all the secrets they may have. It really made me think and wonder about what everyone is hiding behind their eyes. Also, the words written on her face made me think about how our faces often speak for us, but even then, you still can't know everything a person knows or is thinking. It also relates well to the question because the question is talking about the narrator keeping the secret of her cancer from her husband. So, I think the image relates well because it shows the secrets we can hide.
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