6A – Summarize Henry Adams’s use of the dynamo as a symbol of the coming era. How does he contrast the symbol of the dynamo with the symbol of the virgin (meaning the Virgin Mary) in the chapter in his autobiography about his experience at the World’s Fair in Paris in 1900? What does he most seek to communicate about society at the turn of the century through the use of these symbols?
Bonus points for how Adams’s uses the two other male figures in that chapter, both friends of his who accompanying him (albeit separately) around the Hall of Dynamos at the World’s Fair, to support this symbolic distinction.
6B – While many people were moved by Jacob Riis’s photographs and his exhibition on How the Other Half Lives, other considered that kind of approach to photography “vulgar.”
Try to put yourself in the mindset of audiences c.1900. How could Riis’s documentary approach to photography be both lauded and criticized? Use at least one specific photograph to help support your point.
