Memorial Dbq

When we consider memorializing an event or person in the form of a monument, no one would imagine it being gnawed away by rats. Certain shortfalls arise when contrasting these forgotten structures and, say, the often-visited monuments of the National Mall. We must mind these qualities if we wish to prevent its fall to obscurity. Foremost, whatever cause our memorial will commemorate, it must resound in the hearts of the people. Otherwise, it gets lost to the annals of history, as it did for H. Elroy Johnson, the subject of “The Maine Lobsterman.” Presented once in the 1939 New York World’s Fair, it moved from “museum to museum,” until it was ultimately left in a warehouse to degrade. (Source F) Its palpable insignificance makes this statue an ineffective monument. Similarly, a monument can hold significance in the past but loses its meaning over time. The Savannah Memorial Park, a graveyard from the 19th century, for example, now appears as an omen for …show more content…
For example, Maya Lin, designer of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, presents it in every facet of her design. In her article, “Making the Memorial,” she writes that she wanted to “cut into the earth,” signifying the violent first stage of the Vietnam War, and simply intended to write the names of every soldier lost, and this plain design would be the memorial. (Source G) Her intentions are not lost upon the monument’s visitors, just as our poring over every feature won’t be lost upon our monument’s visitors. However, we mustn’t be so ambitious in our designs either. The Commission of Fine Arts rejected Albert Abraham’s design of the controversial Holocaust Museum, claiming the design was larger than it humble intentions. As ferverous as we may be to our cause, to impose it upon our monument’s visitors would be as harmful as the most careless design. In general, we must take heed to the design of our monument, considering every little