Midterm Paper

The October 10, 2011 cover of the New Yorker shows a grim looking picture of a city. What this cover really represents is a struggling economy, and a leader who is making it worse. It is not just an image of a city, but of a country that is polluted by big corporations and businesses that don’t care about people. This cover reflects on our country’s current situation by portraying the gloomy picture of what our country is headed to. By looking at recent articles and events that are happening in the country, it is easy to see that this cover is an allegory for our country’s leadership, economy, and middle class society.

When I first looked at this cover I immediately noticed that it is an overlook of a city, and that it has dominantly blue color scheme. Blue color schemes generally give the impression of depression and sadness, which is what gives this cover a somber feel. I also noticed that the buildings in the city are cluttered and close together and that you cannot see the ground or any people walking around, just an eerie green glow. There is smog and smoke rising from nearly all of the buildings, and staircases and ramps connect many of the buildings. There is a large bull shaped structure resembling a sphinx, which sits atop the two tallest and most massive buildings. Also, if you look closely, you can see what resembles the New York Stock Exchange building sitting just below the large bull, and a structure that looks like the Washington monument. The fact that all of these monuments and places are raised up so high is odd, and must mean that they are supposed to be out of reach in a sense.

I believe that the city portrayed in this cover represents our country as a whole. By sneaking in the Washington monument, the artist clearly made this cover less about just New York City and more about the entire country. The bull structure in this picture that resembles a sphinx really stuck out to me because the sphinx represents Egypt and the Middle East, which is a large epicenter for fossil fuels. This directly relates to our country’s current fuel crisis and the struggles we have with the Middle East in general. Apart from that, the bull could also represent President Obama in regards to our country’s current economic standpoint. Bulls are historically symbolic of power, strength, determination, and perseverance, which is what led me to this connection. As stated in a Seattle Times article, “Republicans blame Obama for the slump, saying he has issued a blizzard of regulations and promised future tax increases that have hurt business and consumer confidence.” This connects with the article because it is clear that Obama’s popularity has gone down as a result of some of his decisions, which is why he is being portrayed in this image as the leader of a crumbling and corrupt nation. The New York Stock Exchange building also struck me because of the recent protests on Wall Street. The protesters claimed that the recession was not over, and to quote the editorial from UFPPC, “On one level, the protesters, most of them young, are giving voice to a generation of lost opportunity.” By not putting any people in the image and only showing building, the image is saying that people don’t make a difference upon big businesses. This is also shown by how the Stock Exchange building is raised up high so people cannot reach it. The cover argues that the people who are not upper class are not given opportunities, and the smog being given off by the buildings symbolizes big businesses polluting society, and how the people are powerless to stop it.

All in all, it is safe to say that Erik Drooker was drawing on the recent protests on Wall Street as well as our current economic status. The high rise buildings and structures showed how the American people are not able to affect, or even reach our biggest issues on their own. It is also clear that this image has undertones of unrest about our country’s leadership. By showing a large powerful leader above a struggling nation, this cover is making a statement about Obama’s popularity, and how many are discontent with the way he runs things.