Julia Arena

            Growing up in Texas, I never got to experience the big trip to Washington D.C. where your parents or school introduces you to all the major American memorials and monuments. I have driven and walked through D.C. many times for art history field trips, allowing me to see the sites we visited from a distance. However, seeing the monuments up close and examining all the small details provided me with a completely different experience. I was able to pick up on the surroundings, other visitors, scale, and many other aspects of the sites. Because I could finally take my time and an analytical approach to the monuments and memorials, my connection felt deeper and heightened my emotions.

            The first monument, the Lincoln Memorial, is the one I am currently researching for my paper. Initially, I believed that I knew all of the small details of the monument really well for not having visited. Upon entering, I realized that in order to fully understand the memorial, it must be experienced in person. While sticking to simple, neo-classical architecture, the monument is still both awe-inspiring and colossal in scale. Even though I knew the size of the monument beforehand, I was not fully prepared for how small and almost powerless I felt when standing next to Lincoln. Pushing past this feeling, I proceeded to take immense amounts of photos because of all the details and ornamentation  not described in other sources. Actually being present at the memorial helped me make progress on my paper because I was able to narrow down the focus of my thesis based off of the observations I made.

            For me, the most significant part of the field trip was the relationship between actual people and the site. For instance, we passed a large group of veterans as we left the World War I Memorial. Many of the veterans wore hats or other sorts of adornments that indicated what war they fought in and their achievements. It was at this moment that I felt goose bumps all over my body because of the great deal of gratitude, respect, and other emotions that I gained from seeing these veterans in such close proximity to the memorials meant to thank and honor them.

            On our visit to Arlington National Cemetery, I was able to observe different sort of interaction between a person and a memorial. Throughout most of the day, I paid close attention the visitor’s reactions at each site. However, at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, I witnessed the changing of the guards, which is a tradition or ritual that is an active part of the memorial. These guards devote immense amounts of time and sacrifice a lot to be a part of this ceremony, but they show absolutely no emotion throughout the performance. There was no clue as to what the guards were feeling or thinking even though they have such a strong connection to the memorial. The meticulous nature of the performance allowed for long periods of silence, leaving audience members to reflect on both the changing of the guards and the memorial. At the end, I was left deep in thought about soldiers as individuals and the immense devotion to the memorial exhibited by the guards.