Prof Batchelor
The Ant and the Boot
The photo of Tank Man, or the Unknown Rebel, is one of the most iconic images in
history. One of four photos, all by different photographers, this particular image features a young
man standing in front of a line of Chinese military tanks. The top-left corner is covered in
shadow and a burned bus sits in the background. Tank Man made his stand the day after the
Tiananmen Square Massacre, where thousands of civilians were fired upon by the Chinese
military following the seven week long Tiananmen Square protests of 1989, resulting in an
unknown amount of casualties that may reach the thousands. The protest consisted mostly of
students mourning the loss of the former Communist Party General Secretary, who promoted
economic and social reform of the communist government (Szczepanski 1). The students called
for government accountability, freedom of the press, freedom of speech, and the restoration of
workers' control over industry, all very democratic ideas in a strictly communist nation. Party
Elders declared martial law when the protest escalated to cities across the nation. Divisions of the
People’s Liberation Army were ordered into the square on foot and in tanks, firing tear gas into
the crowds and eventually firing artillery. By the morning of June fourth the square was cleared
of protestors. The following morning an unknown man stops a line of tanks and Tank Man is
born (Szczepanski 2-3). Tank Man represents a modern day David and Goliath; he is a symbol
for every average man and woman that they can be the ant that stops a boot.
The angle of the image can be used to show just how small Tank Man is. He is a mere
speck in the image, and at a glance he could be missed. In the nation like China with one of the
largest populations, an individual is just a grain of sand on a beach. Like sand, though, one grain
can completely stop a machine from running. As well as showing the minuteness of Tank Man,
the high angle gives the viewer a better understanding of the events that are unfolding. The
image would impart the same message if the angle were shot from level ground or at a height
such that only one tank or all the tanks were showing. If shot from ground level, one would be
able to see all of the panic happening behind the scenes. In this way, it could work to make Tank
Man seem more heroic. He would be one man walking into lions’ den, instead of walking away
from it. If shot from a higher angle, one would be able to see the full might that the People’s
Liberation Army brought to Tiananmen Square. Dozens of tanks line up in front of Tank Man,
while just as many wait in formation; troops can be seen in lines near the end of the rows. Any
angle that shows Tank man turns him into a solitary figure facing off against an army.
The line of tanks represents government strength and rigidness. These tanks are in a
perfect row, showing that the People’s Liberation Army is very rigid in its actions and that the
People’s Republic engrains obedience into the minds of its people. Even something as difficult
as maneuvering a multi-ton vehicle of destruction like a tank must be carried out with extreme
precision. There is no room for error and no room for difference in the People’s Liberation
Army. To add to the sense of rigidity, the tanks also happen to be following the traffic lines on
the street. It is almost as if, even when the tank operators have so much power at their fingertips,
they have no other choice but to follow the laws and regulations of the People’s Republic of
China. The tanks themselves are a representation of strength, as tanks were one of the most
powerful weapons a military could have. By sending in tanks to subdue the protesting masses,
the People’s Republic is saying: “Do not mess with us. We have tanks that can and will crush
you without prejudice. We are stronger than you will ever be.” This message was heard loud and
clear by all of the people who were occupying the square – all except Tank Man.
The burned bus in the background of the image is a physical representation of the
previous night’s conflict. Violence was handed out by both sides, and the square was left in
disaster. Doctors and everyday people rushed to the aid of the wounded, and left things like
buses burn. Aside from the literal interpretation, the bus is a symbol of Chinese citizens that are
burned out by a government and then pushed aside when they are completely defeated. In
contrast to the tanks, the bus is still clearly colored despite its burns. Both vehicles feature the
color red somewhere on their bodies. On the tanks, the red lies in the stars on their sides. Here
the stars symbolize communist China and the oppression that comes with it. The bus, on the
other hand, has a red roof which may symbolize the passion the citizens feel. The protestors were
desperate for reform and they were willing to protest against one of the most terrifying
governments of the time to get their reform. All of their fears, hopes, and emotions are
represented in that red. Even though it is burned, one can still see the bright red that used to be,
faded to a subdued shade by time and exposure, but there none-the-less, much like the emotions
of the protestors.
The shadow created by the trees in the upper-left corner is foreshadowing the uncertainty
of the future. It looms ominously over the image like a black hole about to devour everything in
its path. The shadow could also represent the black future Tank Man faces after his bold action,
and the black future of the state of the country. No one knows what happened to Tank Man after
he was forced away from the scene. He could have been imprisoned, sentenced to a life of labor
after his rebellious stand, he could have been let go to live a life of poverty and obscurity, or he
could have been killed as a message to others who would think to act like he did. There is almost
no way that Tank Man had a bright future; his was dark, like the shadow in the corner. The
shadow is mere feet away from the bus, which is a symbol of Chinese citizens. This intangible
force is soon going to engulf the bus in darkness, perhaps foreshadowing what could happen to
the people of the People’s Republic after they defied their government. The party elite could
choose to tighten their grip on their citizens, choking them and denying them any freedoms that
they so desperately demand and yearn for. In a more general sense, the shadow could represent
the uncertainty of actions. Tank Man shows his strength by his actions, defying his military and
his government despite the dark future looming in the corner. He does not know how his actions
will be interpreted or how they will be viewed, yet he continues to act.
The way that Tank Man is presented represents the enormity of his decision. From his
clothes to the shopping bags at his side, Tank Man looks like a man who just stopped in the
middle of his everyday life to stand up to the oppressors of his people. There is nothing
particularly special about the man himself. He is a stooping man, anywhere from twenty to forty.
He does not appear to be physically strong; he actually comes off as rather small and meek. His
clothing do not imply wealth or power, they are just black slacks and a white shirt – perhaps a
uniform from his job or school. Everything about his screams “average.”. But this average man
did something incredible. He faced an enemy that everyone else was terrified of. He became a
pillar of strength, unmoving, against the tanks before him. His shopping bags become anchors,
weighing him down against the tide of military might. His clothes become the uniform of the
people, showing that they are strong. His small stature laughs at the tanks, goading them about
their incompetence to stop him. This every day, average man became an immovable object
against an unstoppable force.
Tank Man’s anonymity turns him into more than a man; it turns him into a symbol. This
image does not focus on the fear on his face or any other identifying factors. In fact, the way that
the image is shot makes him seem unwavering against the row of tanks before him. In leaving
Tank Man’s identity unknown, he can be critiqued only for his actions in that moment. And in
that moment, he is facing down the might of China. He is your next door neighbor standing up
for you. He is your brother, your father, your best friend. He could be anyone, and because of
this he transcends the flaws that individuals have. He is only strength and courage. He is the
symbol of fearlessness when facing a giant. Because he has no face, any person can put their
own face on his actions. Anyone can look at this symbols and think, “I can do that. That can be
me.” He becomes a true symbol in this way, one that lasts for generations.
These images of Tank Man are so iconic because they can relate to any time and any
people being oppressed by an unfair government. Tank Man gives others the courage to stand up
for their beliefs and to do something when they are pushed to the edge. As recently as the
present, individuals throughout the Middle East are making a stand against giants, sparking
protests and leading revolutions. In 2010, a street vendor in Tunisia set himself on fire in protest
of the confiscation of his food cart and the humiliation and harassment he faced from the local
officials. His action was one of many that sparked the Tunisian Revolution (Abouzeidb 1). Tank
Man can be an inspiration for others to act in less dramatic ways than self-immolation and selfendangerment, simpler ways that can lead to reform rather than revolt. Whether it be a school
teacher standing up to their district when they feel that things are unjust, or a bystanders standing
up to a bully, each person is essentially following Tank Man’s lead.
Works Cited
Szczepanski, Kallie. "The Tiananmen Square Massacre, 1989." About.com Asian History.
About.com, n.d. Web. 11 Feb. 2013.
.
Abouzeid, Rania. "Bouazizi: The Man Who Set Himself and Tunisia on Fire." Time. Time, 21
Jan. 2011. Web. 11 Feb. 2013.
.
Iyer, Pico. "The Unknown Rebel." Time. Time, 13 Apr. 1998. Web. 11 Feb. 2013.
.
Symbolism in Frida Kahlo’s The Broken Column and The Wounded Deer
The artist of The Broken Column and The Wounded Deer, Frida Kahlo, was born in 1907
in Mexico City. At a young age, Kahlo encountered many tragedies that were mentally and
physically crippling. The Frida Kahlo Foundation website outlines that at age of five she was
diagnosed with polio, which left her with mobility disabilities. This was only the beginning to a
series of troubling events. In 1925, Kahlo was traveling on a bus which a streetcar had collided
into, causing serious injuries to her bones and organs (Frida). Her spine had been broken and
her reproductive organs were permanently damaged (Frida). She began to paint while in the
hospital and during bed rest, but never fully recovered. Kahlo had to endure numerous spinal
surgeries and had experienced multiple miscarriages because of the infertility brought on by the
nearly fatal bus accident. According to the Frida Kahlo Organization webpage titled “Frida
Kahlo and Her Paintings,” in 1929 she married Diego Rivera, a long lost lover. Their
relationship was exceedingly unhealthy and emotionally traumatic. Rivera proved to be
consistently unfaithful despite Kahlo’s unquenchable admiration of him (Frida Kahlo
Organization). Kahlo and Rivera divorced in 1940, but remarried with a predictably rough start,
leading to nothing but heartache for Frida Kahlo (Frida). Emotional pain can be as painful as
physical pain and sometimes we can illustrate that with symbols and physical matter much like
Frieda Kahlo did in her works of art. In The Broken Column and The Wounded Deer, the artist’s
physical and psychological struggles are demonstrated by distorting and mutilating her own body
and symbolic elements in her self-portraits.
The Broken Column is a painting of a partially nude woman, Frida Kahlo herself,
standing alone in a barren desert. She has russet colored skin with dark hair and high cheek
bones, mimicking her Mexican descent. Her face is emotionless, though she is staring directly
ahead. She has fat tears running down her cheeks. Kahlo is completely bare from the waist
upward, though she is wearing a brace that is wrapped around her torso and shoulders with a pale
lavender blanket around her waist. She has a substantial amount of nails protruding along the
flesh of her entire body. The largest nail appears to be lodged into her heart. Additionally, her
torso is torn open showing a broken column used to represent her spine that appears to be on the
brink of collapsing into rubble.
The background in The Broken Column provides space and emptiness in the self-portrait,
giving off the feelings of abandonment or loneliness. Our eyes are only drawn to her because the
landscape in the painting lacks any other life. Deserts are commonly known for having
extremely unfavorable climates, making it difficult for most life forms to thrive there. Kahlo
represents her infertility by painting herself in a desolated desert. Just like the earth, the female
body is supposed to be able to produce and sustain life; the landscape is symbolic for lifelessness
and the inability to produce life in this way. Moreover, according to Holland Cotter’s “The
People’s Artist, A Work of Art Herself,” Kahlo also painted this self-portrait while recovering
from surgery in the hospital (1). The loneliness and lack of any other life in the background
could give us the insight on how alone and abandoned she felt being by herself during this hard
time in her life.
Vulnerability and shame is expressed through Kahlo’s almost completely bareness in The
Broken Column. Being naked is stripping oneself of one’s second skin or protective image.
When one is stripped of their most comforting objects they feel exposed and violated. Kahlo
chooses to expose almost her entire self to her audience, showing us everything one takes
personally. Her bareness gives off an undeniable sense of vulnerability. We automatically have
a kind of power over her because we see everything that would otherwise have been hidden in on
an equal individual. In addition to her nakedness, her hair is carefully placed behind her ears so
that we are even gifted with her bare face, hiding no emotions from us. Also, the only clothing
on her body is a brace that is wrapping around her torso and shoulders, and the blanket around
her waist. After the bus accident and the spinal surgeries, Kahlo had to wear many braces to
stabilize herself (Cotter). In the painting, her body is torn open to expose her insides, so the
harness may also convey that, by being held together by a brace, not only physically but mentally
as well, she needs some assistance or she will break down and fall apart. Finally, the blanket she
is wearing only covers her waist, or more importantly, her reproductive organs. Along with
Kahlo’s loneliness, her infertility also caused her much shame. She is open about every other
part of her body, but she is ashamed of her female parts because they did not serve their purpose
any more. As a woman, that is an area of personal identification and pride that she wished to
keep to herself.
The inflicted wounds and injuries on Kahlo’s body in The Broken Column symbolize her
physical and psychological pain. Her torso is ripped open exposing a broken column about to
crumble that represents her spine. A column’s main purpose and function is to provide sturdy
and reliable support much like a spine. She uses the column to represent her spine’s initial
purpose but has it broken in various sections to symbolize the tragedy of the bus accident and her
multiple surgeries (Frida Kahlo Organization). It may also suggest that she feels spineless or
cowardly since she is in fact missing an actual spine. Besides her obvious attempts at indicating
pain with the tears running down her face, Kahlo painted herself with multiple metal nails
penetrating the flesh all over her body, representing the physical chronic pain she had to go
through every day. The nails cover her entire body, all but one leg. The protruding nails
indicate which leg was the one dealing with the trauma from polio. To add to the meaning
behind the nails, the largest nail stabs Kahlo directly over her heart. Because of her
unquenchable love for her husband Diego Rivera, the nail stabbing her heart indicates the ache
and betrayal she feels from his various affairs (Frida Kahlo Organization). In addition, one
might read the nails as a way of just expressing the chronic pin-and-needles pain Kahlo suffered
from.
Despite all the evidence of Kahlo presenting herself as vulnerable or weak, the angle and
framing of this painting conveys strength. She is not presented as if we are looking down at her,
where we would label her as submissive or vulnerable. On the contrary, she is on an equal level
to the viewers. Despite the wounds and pain inflicted on her, she still manages to stand upright
with a sturdy stature. Kahlo is also staring directly ahead, right towards us. This could mean
that she is challenging us to face her pain and suffering. As if she wants us to feel that where
there is suffering and helplessness, there is also strength.
In 1946, Frida Kahlo had an operation on her spine in an attempt to rid herself of the back
pain she had been experiencing since the accident (Frida). Like many of the operations, this one
failed to cure her problems and only lead her to express herself through her artwork. The
Wounded Deer expresses the disappointment from the surgery and her feeling of hopelessness
towards life.
In The Wounded Deer, Frida Kahlo painted her face on the body of a young deer in the
middle of a forest. Along with the body, she included long, strong antlers on top of her head.
There are wooden arrows gouging along the sides and throat of the deer body in no particular
pattern. Her tail is wedged between her legs in a curling fashion. She is surrounded by trees that
are gloomy and dead. Front and center lays the only branch with leaves or any signs of life,
broken. In the distance, there is light. Even though the distance seems bright and hopeful at
first, a lightning bolt is striking in front of dark clouds.
Unlike in The Broken Column, Kahlo is not fearlessly exposing her own body, but instead
her body is replaced with a body of a young deer with only her human face to identify her. She
is not hiding behind the identity of the deer; she is portraying herself as prey. Kahlo is indicating
that she felt hunted or harassed with little power. Her tail is curled between her legs, and this
body language is typical for an animal that is very afraid or submissive. In the food chain, deer
are only hunted. No matter how fast a deer runs, the predator always finds a way to capture its
prey. Several arrows convey that Kahlo has been defeated by a possible predator. Or, in another
sense, she has been powerless and taken advantage of by her wounded body. The arrows could
also just another indicator of her chronic pain from the accident, much like the needles could
have in The Broken Column.
Her body language also implies hope, where the location and circumstances indicate
helplessness. The deer’s body is not lying there limp or defeated; it appears to be in mid-stance,
fighting to escape, conveying possibly that Kahlo is longing to run free with no constraints. She
went through countless surgeries in hopes of leading a normal life. So, in The Wounded Deer,
she highlights that there is a light at the end of the tunnel. But, the arrows could symbolize the
burdens of life that are keeping her from being free. Her disabilities prevent her from reaching
her goals, much like the arrows are restraining the deer from the world beyond the dead forest.
Even if the deer would happen to reach the light, she would only be greeted with bad weather.
This way of thinking perhaps indicates that Kahlo felt that if she did overcome her misfortunes
that there still would have been nothing pleasant left for her. She was portraying what she
thought was her hopeless, inevitable fate.
In conclusion, both The Broken Column and The Wounded Deer illustrate Kahlo's
inability to overcome the effects brought about by her infertility and disabilities through the
painting’s symbolism. While The Broken Column focuses on her shame and embarrassment
regarding her nonfunctioning reproductive organs, The Wounded Deer illustrates feelings of
hopelessness regarding her inability to bear any children and continuing her family tree. The
broken branch in front of Kahlo’s body on the ground symbolizes her useless reproductive
organs. Trees are often symbols of family and life. Trees are beautiful and give off the feelings
of a prosperous living environment. Every year a tree goes through a lifeless stage but before
this happens they create more life and this is their sole purpose. Also, often times a family’s
ancestry is referred to as its family tree. This phrase indicates that trees symbolize family history
and the process of reproduction. The branch is broken, telling us that it can no longer give off
seedlings or create new life. It is the only branch in the whole painting that still has leaves
attached to it. That may indicate Kahlo’s lost hope for being able to create new life. Just like the
broken branch, her reproductive organs had the potential to create new life on earth but by some
tragedy had its opportunity and purpose ripped away from it.
Work Cited
Cotter, Holland. "The People’s Artist, Herself a Work of Art." Art & Design. The New York
Times Company, 29 Feb. 2008. Web. 24 Feb. 2015.
Frida Kahlo Foundation. Frida Kahlo: The Complete Works, 2002.
http://www.frida-kahlo-foundation.org/biography.html
Frida Kahlo Organization. Frida Kahlo and Her Paintings, 2011. http://www.fridakahlo.org/
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