John Lennon Memorial Research Paper

On December 8, 1980 John Lennon was shot directly across from Strawberry Fields, by the Dakota building where he and his wife lived. In John Lennon 's memory, Yoko Ono, Lennon’s wife decided to create a memorial in his honor. She wanted to commemorate John Lennon as a rock legend and a peace activist, so Ono created the John Lennon memorial in Strawberry Fields, Central park. John Lennon’s memorial is an effective memorial because of its background, location, design, my individual experience, and people’s opinions. John Lennon is known as a world-famous musician, singer, songwriter, and peace activist. John Lennon was born in Liverpool, England on October 9, 1940 and was raised by his Aunt Mimi. In the 1960’s, John Lennon, Paul McCartney, …show more content…
Yoko decided to commemorate and honor his life, talents, and memory by creating a memorial in Strawberry Fields. Strawberry Fields was inspired by the song “Strawberry Fields Forever”, which Lennon wrote. John and Yoko believed in the ideals of peace and love, and hoped to spread these idea throughout the world. They wrote, “We understand that we, the city, the country are facing very hard times… still the sun is shining and we are here together, and there is love between us, our city, the country, the earth” (Garbarini 156,168,175). Strawberry Fields was named after a Salvation Army Orphanage in Liverpool, England where John grew up. Lennon spent some of his childhood there playing with his friends in the garden and looking forward to the garden parties there. His Aunt Mimi said, “As soon as we could hear the Salvation Army band starting, John would jump up and down shouting, ‘Mimi, come on. we’re going to be late’ ” ("Strawberry Fields …show more content…
The memorial is circular, with Neapolitan black and white marble and a circumference of 34 '3". The text “Imagine“ is written in the middle of the circle to remind us of the song Lennon wrote, imagine. On December 18, 1980, Council Member Henry J. Stern “designated this tear-shaped Central Park knoll, located on the west side of Central Park near 72nd Street, as Strawberry Fields” ("Central Park Monuments - Imagine" ). Strawberry Fields was originally a “peace garden”, but “Yoko Ono, joined with Mayor Ed Koch, Parks Commissioner Stern, and an array of musicians inaugurated Strawberry Fields as a permanent public memorial.” the area selected was a 2.5acre piece of land across the street from the Dakota building where Yoko and john lived. Strawberry Fields was “the Park’s first major landscape to be planned, designed, and constructed with Conservancy funding, and it was sponsored by the Conservancy’s first million dollar donor, Yoko Ono,” Blonsky