Lincoln Memorial Dbq

The history of commemorating and celebrating lives or moments in history dates back to the Neolithic Period. Often the actual shrine will withstand the winds of time, but as society's perceptions of a person or event can shift from when the remembrance was first erected, the desire to keep the memorial of an infamous individual or the atrocity perpetrated in a war can lead the monument to become an unpleasant reminder. Although monuments embody a way to capture an understanding of an iconic personage, or occasion in history and cast it in marble, granite, and bronze, they are often controversial. So individuals need to research the subject intensively and carefully consider the location, the medium, and the design to be sure to depict an incorruptible

Indeed, America celebrates heroic people and just wars to commemorate their achievements and honor their deeds, so an exceptional and honorable monument generates an aura that stirs an emotional response. As an example, an iconic memorial that pays tribute to the 16th president is the Lincoln Memorial that gazes out over the Reflecting Pool and symbolizes the American doctrine of democracy. To honor the man who reunited the country, Congress “provided a commission to secure plans and designs for a monument or memorial to Abraham Lincoln” (Source F). In 1911, the “Arts and Progress Journal,” the author (name unknown) described the tremendous amount of money that had been apportioned: $2,000,000 for the erection of the monument. The writer explains that this constitutes the largest sum spent to date, due to the monuments combination of “grandeur and beauty” (Source F). As a result, Americans' witness how the creators built a “pure representation” that engenders in any visitor to sustain an “experience [that] marks it as extraordinary and authoritative” (Document A). With the use of marble as the material, the memorial was built with the viewer recognizing that this exceptional monument will endure the ravages of time. The sheer enormity of the tribute evokes feelings of awe and the

No one disputes that the fact that successive presidents embroiled the US in the Vietnam War does not reflect well on America. The proxy war ended with over one million people dead and about 5,700 Americans which doesn't include soldiers that are still missing. In spite of the enormous controversy over the United State's reasons and actions in the war, Americans believe it is of vital importance to honor our fallen soldiers. Therefore, the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund hosted a contest for a monument design. There were specific qualifications that included, “all the names of those missing and killed (57,000) must be a part of the memorial; the design must be apolitical, harmonious with the site, and conciliatory”(Document G). In a class at Yale, the professor had his students fulfill the requirements of the competition. A student Maya Lin received a “B” for her entry, yet she won first place because the jurors unanimously agreed that her design exactly matched every one of their visions of the monument. Moreover, the location of the piece was central to Lin's design. With great specificity, she placed the tandem walls, “[...] so that one pointed to the Lincoln Memorial and the other pointed to the Washington Monument. By linking these two strong symbols for the country, I wanted to create a unity between