The Problem We All Live With

The Problem We All Live With

The painting The Problem We All live with was painted by Norman Rockwell in November 14, 1960. It is shown with a 6-year-old African-American girl on the way to school, surrounded by four bodyguards. This is most likely taking place in the Deep South, as there are various details that represent the racism going on in the scene.

 On the top left side corner, KKK, the initials of a racist group Ku Klux Klan was written in a medium-sized font; and capital letters “nigger” written in a way that calls major attention, in the center of the wall. And a big stain of tomato juice is displayed beside the discriminating words; which explains why the African-American girl needs escorts on the way to school, to prevent racists to cause any harm to her.  

     This gives the viewer the impression of the segregation in the Deep South. It gives the viewer an idea of how prejudicial the society was against African-Americans. When I saw this painting at first, I didn’t notice the little details, and regarded it as a normal painting of Ruby Bridges walking to school with normal pedestrians walking with her. But after looking at it with a magnifying glass, I realized the effort that the artist put in it; the stains and the words on the walls were derogatory remarks that I couldn’t picture really happening. Imagining someone being treated like that since birth is unimaginable.

Norman Rockwell was an artist that paints the events that happen in everyday life in the United States. He painted this, aware of the situation that’s happening. I think that his painting focused on the African-American girl, because he wanted to show that she was the main character in this whole situation, and he by not showing a smile on her face, he wants to express how differently blacks felt during that time. Judging by the fact that Normal Rockwell cropped Ruby Bridges’ bodyguards faces of, I think it is because he wants people to concentrate on her, instead of the bodyguards; they are more like of an unimportant character, but he still draws them, and show the stripe they wear on their arms, so viewers could figure out that the racism was so bad that the federal government had to send bodyguards to protect her safety.

The faint color he used for the words “nigger” and the “KKK” also made me think that he did not draw it in a strong color, because although the Deep South was full of racist people, the world was beginning to change for the African-Americans. The government allowed blacks to do things they weren’t permitted to do before; the government was starting to desegregate the laws.