Parody Drawings: American Gothic By Grant Wood | ipl.org
Categories Of Manifest Destiny
The image shows Manifest Destiny through use of saturation of colours, light and dark, detail, and symbolism. The painting was called American progress to show how the Americans had a god forsaken right to the land. This painting is displaying how the people are pushing with this idea of holiness, but are in the process moving the darkness, or the native people and creatures, out of their homes. The light seems to be spreading forward, and the darkness receding farther and farther away to demonstrate the “cleansing” of the land. The use of shading of the painting, along with sa was quite interesting because the half with the settlers was vibrant and colourful, and as it moved towards the right, the painting becomes darker, with less intensity. It’s most likely supposed to display good and evil, the light, happiness, and the dark, cold, depression. The native Americans are displayed as vile and dark, something that needs to be moved. We already knew that during the 1800s, the Native Americans were being moved to reservations. This painting shows them being moved farther and farther west, away from the settlements, in what was called the “Trail of Tears”. However, the painting seems to be creating an implication that the Natives simply disappeared, and that their action was justified and necessary to create a land of flawless perfection. It is likely that John
