This photo is one of several in a series titled 'Migrant Mother.' I've seen this photo quite a few times before, as I'm sure many of you have, but I was recently re-introduced to it in my Writing and Modern Cultural Movements class. It was taken in 1936 during the Great Depression and depicts the corresponding struggles inflicted upon individuals during that time period.
The mother, who has a total of seven children and was found on an agricultural camp for workers, looks weathered in the face, ragged in dress, and uncertain as to what is going to happen to her and her children. The kids are portrayed as sad, distant, starved, and unkempt throughout the photographs. When looking at the image, I immediately wonder, where is the husband/father figure? This woman obviously has a lot of children to take care of and it is implied she's doing it all alone to the best of her ability. I also ask myself if she had a different job and lifestyle at one point prior to the Great Depression and the poverty it brought.
This image represents all three categories of bodies: raced, classed, and gendered. A white woman now occupying the lower class is something a lot less commonly represented for a person of this gender and race, but it does still exist. Although the mother seems to be in a deprived state, she still comes up on top more or less for her strength and devotion to her children, aside from the economic situation she and other Americans are forced to recover from. Overall, this picture exemplifies how even a mother and children, seen as the "weakest" bodies, can prevail without the guidance of a male figure.
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