Source base questions - KMT-CCP rivalry Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Source base questions - KMT-CCP rivalry - Essay Example This was the classic method of raiding a village. Sometimes we killed and carried away little pigs weighing around thirty catties. We took corn, rice, potatoes, taro. Did we take money? No. There was no money to be had anyway. e.g. in Source A, the cartoon shows us that the KMT (Kuomintang or Nationalist Party) officers were totally on the side of the rich landlord demanding greater taxes. Exploitation of the peasants took various forms. Not only were heavy taxes levied, many of which were collected in advance, but also peasants were forced to provide carts, animals and farm produce. The source also shows one such officer in hostile action against a peasant and his family. Judging from their poor attire and the fact that the loss of the two bushels of food grain represented a great loss to them, we understand that this family is a very poor one. The officer is commanding the peasant to hand over grain to the landlord. The peasant is very angry at the unfair demand, which is evident by his clenched fists. It also shows his impotence to offer any stiffer resistance to the officer and the landlord due to the overall cloak of oppression that has smothered the populace during the domination by the KMT regime. The peasant’s wife is beseeching the landlord to have mercy as they need that food for their family, especially the crying child. In response, the obese landlord is pointing a jocular finger at the wailing child meaning that he does not care about the wellbeing of a brat like that. The cartoonist is telling us that despite the oppressive hardship and poverty of the peasants, the corrupted KMT government was still exploiting them unmercifully. Source A seems to drive the message that the communists were sympathetic about the hardship of the people and this is in stark contrast to the corrupt Nationalists. Source A is also a communist cartoon and thus may be a propaganda tool to incite the sense of anti-KMT feeling among the peasants and thereby

Symbols in Van Eyck's Portrait of Giovanni Arnolfini and His Wife Essay

Symbols in Van Eyck's Portrait of Giovanni Arnolfini and His Wife - Essay Example The placement of the subjects also reveals the rigid gender expectations of the fifteenth century. Whereas Arnolfini is standing next to the window, representing his role as the ambassador for the family, his wife is next to the bed. This symbol works on two levels: it reminds the viewer that she is restricted to home life, and also makes an implicit sexual suggestion – a suggestion which is made explicit when we consider her come hither eyes, and the fact that her appearance resembles that of a pregnant woman. The two pairs of cast-aside shoes in the centre background and left foreground of the picture further this idea of a sexual union. Removed shoes were symbolic of sex in Dutch art. The open, red curtains of the marital bed and the cherries on the tree just visible through the window are equally as suggestive, inducing the viewer to see this portrait as the fervent desire of the couple to procreate. However, it is believed that this portrait could have been commissioned by a man grieving his first wife. This is represented by the chandelier: above the mans head a candle is burning, but the candle above the woman has burnt out. Similarly, in the frame of the mirror, on the left hand side, closer to the man, there are images of Christs life, whereas the ones on the right portray Christs death. This could also explain the disparity between the season (early summer, according to the presence of the tree) and the subjects winter clothing, if the wife had died in the winter