Joseph Turner Slave Ship Analysis

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Throughout history, an infinite number of works of art have been created, and many have revealed different elements of their culture during specific time periods. In a sense, art works served as a connecter, giving modern viewers a taste of the past and enables the viewers to understand the values and emotions of those who have lived before. For example, the oil painting, The Slave Ship created by Joseph Mallard William Turner, places concern about the issue of slavery during 1840, and stresses about the cruel and disturbing side of human emotions. Such painting was inspirational because it expresses strongly of the selfishness and avarice in human beings in an inconspicuous manner. For instance, at first glance, one would be captured by the …show more content…
The painting conveys a powerful message and reveals that slaves are being excessively mistreated. In a sense, this painting served as a wake-up call to the rest of the world, and revealed that the system of slavery is not simply an exchange of labor for a living space as one has typically told; but rather, it is an one-sided labor gain for the slave owner. This matter was declared clearly and it is as though the painting boldly places a question in front of the rest of the world and asks if the system of slavery is acceptable. Hence, without a doubt, the painting traces back and shows that during the time period when this painting was created, people are gradually abolishing slavery. Furthermore, the short excerpt of the poem, Fallacies of Hope written by Joseph Turner: "The dead and dying — ne’er heed their chains. Hope, Hope, fallacious Hope! Where is thy market now?" (Perkins, J. Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes: Author Index and Index of Principal Subjects Vol. 1-37. Vol. 27. London: Warburg Institute, 1975. Print.) adds details to the depicted scene and this permits viewers to further understand the expressed emotions from the painting. In this painting, it is seen that the ship towards the left is the …show more content…
Similarly, both of the works stresses racism and states that Africans are treated unjustly and with cruelty. In To Kill a Mockingbird, a black man was accused wrongly of raping a white woman just because of his color, and he was prejudiced right from the start. Even though the protagonist 's father, Atticus was able to pull sufficient amount of evidence to prove that the black man, Tom Robinson was innocent, this was certainly not the case. At the end, Robinson was still found guilty in spite of the weak arguments from the opposing defender. Similar to the novel, the painting shows that Africans are without a doubt, lesser than a man as they were heavy mistreated and literally tossed into the sea due to their

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