I found my picture at, http://www.vnpersonalwar.blogspot.com/. It is a picture form Vietnam in 1968.
The first thing that I see when I look at the picture is a cart filled with mattress pads, rugs, pillows, and sheets. The older man, most likely the husband, is peddling as though the cart is a bike. Along side him is a woman and a younger boy pushing the cart. They are each caring more pillows. Behind the first family is more people walking and biking on the street. One man has no arm and is not carrying anything. On the other side of the first family is another cart being ridden by just one man. The things in the cart can’t be seen through the picture. In the background of the picture, there is a large truck with people in the bed of the truck along with what seems to be more household belongings. Just in front of the truck there are three more people walking and one riding a bike. They are looking at something out of the view of the picture. One of the young men is pointing and the other just watches as though it is eye catching.
The picture is showing the people from this specific area moving all of their belongings. This could be for safety reasons or because they were being forced to move. The picture does not show any soldiers watching the people move to make sure it happens. It seems like they can no longer live where they are located so as a group they are moving away. All of their faces seem to be focused on moving forward. As if they just want to get to their destination. Only the young boy in the front of the picture is looking at the photographer. He is either the only one who sees him taking pictures or the only one to actually look and acknowledge the photographers presence. Seeing this young boy looking at the photographer, gives off the feeling that you can actually make eye contact with this young boy. Feeling the eye contact makes me feel as though through his facial expression I can get an idea of what he is feeling and thinking.
The first thing I see through this young boy is his curiosity. His eyes have wandered from the task at hand to his surroundings. The surroundings being different from what they usually are, is reason enough for his curiosity. He also gives off a feeling of uncertainty. As if he knows he is moving, but he does not know if things will ever be the same. He is moving everything of importance to him and his family and knows nothing of how things will turn out. On this same web page, there are many pictures of areas just as there is in this photo. These areas are destroyed and no longer are livable. I feel that he had many reasons for his look of uncertainty. He knew what could happen to his old home and his new to be home, but he didn’t know if it would or when it would happen. `
This photograph makes me also wonder if there was a safe place to go or if these people were constantly on the move, trying to keep their family together and safe. Seeing the man with out an arm allows me to see that the people were at risk of injury even if they were not directly part of the war, fighting in the battles.
The main idea I got from looking at this photograph is that the Vietnamese people had a rough life during the war. The safety they needed to survive was scarce and required them to move from place to place. Leaving everything you know behind is one of the hardest things to do, especially if that is all you have ever known and know nothing about where you are going. There was always a sense of uncertainty, not knowing what to look forward to or knowing if life would ever be the same. I feel that with all that is going on in the picture and the look on the boys face the feelings can be seen.
