The Problem We All Live With by Norman Rockwell is a painting from 1964, around the time negroes were segregated. His painting takes place down in the Southern part of the US. Specifically, a little girl walking down a sidewalk, on her way to William Frantz school. This is important because it has to do with the Brown VS Board case, and that day was the first time in history when a school was to have both whites and blacks.
The little girl is Ruby Bridges, at the time she was six-years-old, so young but yet made such an impact on history. Four bodyguards are escorting Bridges to school, at the same time she is being discriminated against. On the wall the word “nigger” is written in pale-gray ink, and a tomato is splashed on the wall. The bodyguards´ faces are not showing, most likely because they are not important or aren´t the focus of the painting. The bodyguards are simply there to show how much protection this little girl needs by them being from the government, we can tell by their bands and pins. They only show their white hands, and huge figures. Compared to Bridges, who is black and tiny, this gives the feeling and thought that the bodyguards are superior than her because they are white. Also about the bodyguards, they are dressed in pale and dark clothes, which doesn´t really grab much attention. Even the bright red tomato is placed at the bottom of the painting, so it doesn´t grab attention. The wall and concrete are a very boring and lifeless colors, plus the lighting is pretty crappy.
Ruby Bridges is actually the only thing that stands out. Even the color of her skin, she might be a blackish-brown, but her skin has this beautiful sheen that makes it POP. I also noticed that she is wearing a white dress, which stands out a lot considering all the dead colors. I thought of her white-black combination representing acceptance of both races, what the William Frantz school is going to look like now that she is there. I also considered her white dress representing innocence and purity since she is only a child.
The first thing that came to my mind when I saw this picture is how the same event can have different effects on different people. We can see how the whites consider Bridges being in the same school as them an insult, but obviously her race is proud of her. I also had the impression that this little girl had tons of courage. Just the way she holds her head up high, you can see she is walking forward and that all this discrimination doesn´t seem to bother her. It proves that we can all make a difference; we just need perseverance and courage.
I believe Norman Rockwell´s intention with The Problem We All Live With, is to prove the world´s ignorance and how much this affects the world. Like I said, the focal point is the little girl. Bridges couldn´t look more fantastic in her white dress, this is proving that black and white can got together, no problem. And again, the dress represents purity and innocence of a six-year-old child. A child with barely any knowledge, a child that probably doesn´t even know racism. Rockwell wanted the world to see how ignorant they were being to treat this little girl, who obviously could not do any harm, like a criminal. Like the title says, we all live with this case because racism happens everyday, and we are so ignorant that we treat other people badly because we are prejudiced.
