Throughout my first semester of English here at GMU, the word "symbol" was used countless times. Until Professor Beach's English 101 class, I never really payed much attention to a symbol's meaning, other than the one I had assigned to it. I chose this image because it reflects my experience in the course. I remember one day Professor Beach projected symbols one at a time onto the board. As we focused on the image, it was our job to write down every word associated with the symbol in the spotlight. It was amazing to see all the different words people came up with to describe one symbol. Everyone had a different perspective, negative or positive. This image speaks for itself and I. When I see the Nazi symbol I see genocide. When I see the Confederate flag, I do not see "southern heritage," I see underlying meanings to a rebellious, racist regime. Symbols are arbitrary, ambiguous, and abstract representations of other phenomenon. They make great topics for papers.
Professor David Beach: syllabus
Museum Reflection 3 Assignment
Narrative on
a Visual Scene
[ PDF ]
Argument Essay on Symbol Representation
[ PDF or html
]
Comparison Paper on Minority Report: "From Story to Screen"
Research Paper: "Tatt-who? An Essay on the History of
Tattoos"
