Art Response Journal

Introductory paragraph
    At the beginning of the 1950's, there were a lot of things happening. It was after WWII and from the 50's to the 70's, there were many social changes and movement in America. People of all sorts wanted rights and change in their country. Whether it be the civil rights movement or women's movement, people wanted change, and this sense of fighting for what you believed in dealt with looking to the future and not the past. But when you look at Rockwell's painting, those powerful, moving emotions aren't what you feel. Instead, you get the sense that they want the way things were: simple and easy. The people in his painting were satisfied with their lives and weren't fighting for change. Rockwell's "The Runaway" overlooks the fundamental rift that was rising in America throughout the 1950's- an emerging counter culture that was not concerned with how things were, but rather how they are.