We had to create a tableaux image of the four strong words in the poem; love, hate, war and peace. The first

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When I first walked into the stimulus room, I initially felt it was very much associated with time. There were the sound of clocks ticking in the background, there were also many pictures of clocks scattered on the floor. As I looked around the room I noticed it was clearly divided into three different sections.

In the right hand section of the room, divided off by police tape, there was a television playing a video showing a baby in a womb, children playing, and then a pair of eyes. The video then showed the children grow into adults.  This was followed by a sign being put up about adoption and fostering and then went back to show the image of the baby in the womb. The images were repeated continuously. Also in the section was a baby in a cot, nursery books, a hopscotch marking, several newspapers on the floor with the headlines about ‘Rape’, a mirror, empty wine bottles, a train ticket with the destination, ‘To meet my first born’ and also written on the floor was ‘ Dear Diary, Today I met up with some of my friends…’. 

I think the overall theme of this section of the room was the ‘past’. The baby, nursery books and hopscotch marking all represent childhood and growing up. I also think there were many more themes within the section; the hopscotch could also represent the journey through life or the stages of life. The train ticket with the destination ‘To Meet My First Born’ could represent life as a journey. The mirror could represent reflecting back on your past, similar to the ‘Dear Diary’, this could show how you reflect back on your past or your childhood through a diary you may have kept.

The newspapers, ignoring their headlines, could show how you can look back on the past, but not go back. The police tape dividing off that section of the room could also mean that there’s no going back, you cannot cross the police line back to the past. The baby and the nursery books, I think simply show the beginning of life, where it all began and highlighting the innocence of a young life. The empty wine bottles, I think show the stress of growing up, the bad times of your past. The newspapers with the headlines about ‘Rape’ also show the darker side of your past, something you may want to forget. The video playing a continuous loop shows the life cycle, the baby in the womb, the children playing, then growing into adults. The flash of a person’s eyes could mean the images on the video were being looked at through someone’s eyes; it was perhaps their memory of growing up.

The scene showing a sign about fostering and adoption could show perhaps that the baby in the cot was adopted, or that as you grow older you may not be able to have children. Often couples have to think about adopting or fostering a child. The whole section could represent one person’s life. Perhaps they are reflecting back on their life after realising they in fact were adopted. They may look back realising that most of their life was a lie, many parents who adopt wait until their child is eighteen before telling them they were adopted. This could show the child looking back at his or her life, adjusting to the fact he or she did not come from where they had been lead to believe they had. The empty wine bottles could show the stress of learning the truth about your past.

The mirror could show how they reflect back at their life, or that you are still the same person within throughout your life. Although your physical appearance changes, and that’s what the mirror shows, you still remain the same inside. The quote, “Give me the child until he is seven, and I will show you the man explains how you develop your characteristics by the age of seven and they remain with you for life.

As I continued to look around this section of the room, I started to think more about the newspaper headlines, ’Serial Rapist’. I started to see a pattern immerging, the headline about rape, the police tape, the empty wine bottles.  This could all show a story about someone getting raped, perhaps the baby in the cot was a result of this and then put up for adoption, the mother may have turned to alcohol to deal with the trauma of being raped. The mirror, as well as reflecting back on your past could represent simply looking at your reflection, feeling self-conscious. Perhaps as a result of rape, the girl could feel very insecure and unhappy with her own appearance.  The mental torment of being raped could lead her to believe that the image she sees in the mirror is worthless and damaged due to being raped.

In the centre section of the room, there were lots of paintings of melting clocks scattered on the floor, a globe, a large drawing on the floor of a clock without any hands, there was also a real clock on the floor. There was a large projection of the painting ‘Scream’ by Edvard Munch, a table set out for two people, there were lots of newspapers along the right hand side of this section and also newspapers with only a headline but no other text along the left side of this section.

I think the overall theme of this section was the ‘present’, but like in the past section I think there are many more themes within it. The paintings of melting clocks could show how time is running away, how fast life can go at times and that you should live each day to the full as you don’t know whether it’ll be your last.  The large drawing of a clock on the floor, with no hands could back up the idea that this section of the room is ‘present’ as there is no time in the present because when you have a fixed time, it is in the past. It could also represent ‘any time’, the fact that there are no hands could mean that you don’t know when anything will happen, you cannot predict the future.

The real clock on the floor shows the reality that time really is slipping away, seconds tick by all the time, everything you do will suddenly become the past and you cannot change that.

The ‘Scream’ painting shows a person standing on a bridge with their hands to their face, screaming. This could represent trauma and crisis in life, the person on the bridge is perhaps thinking of ending their life and jumping into the river below, or maybe just needed a place to escape to, to reflect back on his or her life. The fact that the person is screaming could mean they are going through a hard time or they are thinking back to a scarred childhood. Like the wine bottles in the past section it could just represent the unhappy times in someone’s life. Many other paintings by Edvard Munch include the same bridge or pier, maybe this is a reflection on Edvard Munch’s life, it could be a place he liked to go when life was getting on top of him, to look back at his own life.

The painting can represent many other things, for example the fear in people’s life, perhaps it represents death, or the fact many people are afraid of the idea of death although everyone has to face it. The newspapers bordering the past and present section means that whatever is printed in the newspapers is always in the past, you can look back at it by reading the newspapers but you cannot visit it.  Whereas the newspapers with only a headline and no other text represents the present and future, there’s nothing to write in the newspapers because you don’t know what is happening at this very moment or what is going to happen next, as soon as it has happened, when you read something in the newspaper, it is already the past.

The table for two, set out neatly with two plates, two sets of cutlery and two wine glasses I think represents the opposite of the ‘Scream’ painting, the happy times in life; love and friendship. It could represent a marriage, or even just two close friends. The globes could show the journey through life, or the fact that all over the world everyone is living at the same time, everyone has a past, and a present. Everyone has their own problems in life and however big and important yours are, somewhere across the world someone has their own to deal with and your problems are of no significance to them. I think this section could link into the storyline of the past section, the ‘Scream’ painting could represent the trauma the rape victim went through or even how the child felt after finding out it was adopted. The table set out for two could show the happier times in their life, maybe the reunited mother and child after many years apart or it could represent a life getting back on track after a terrible event, sharing times with friends and family. The melting clocks show how time was dripping away and how you can never get it back, years would have been wasted being depressed and recovering from the trauma of being raped.

In the left section of the room there is a table set out for one, a train ticket with a destination ‘To propose to Fiona’, a large question mark drawn on the floor, a coffin draped in a black cloth with a rose on top, a vase of flowers, a bundle in a black cloth next to the coffin with a rose on top, a gravestone with no name or date, the words ‘Dear Diary..’ written on the floor but with nothing following and on the floor, there was a white cloth.

The overall theme of this section of the room was the ‘future’. The table for one, is linked to the table set out for two in the present section of the room, this could show death of a partner or divorce or even friends falling out. The white cloth on the floor could show the blank future, nothing has been written on it yet. It could also represent heaven and peace when you die. The coffin represents death, the black cloth draped over it could show how many people fear death. The coffin had a rose placed upon it, this shows love and how when you are gone, there’s always someone still alive, missing you. The coffin could be linked to the table for one, it could explain that the partner or friend died. The black cloth next to the coffin could show something connected to the person in the coffin next to it, their soul or personality for instanced and how that is no longer there when a person dies. The rose upon this black cloth again can represent the love of someone you’ve left behind.

The large question mark drawn on the floor could represent many things, how the person died or the fact that its unknown as to what happens when we die, or that we don’t know what the future holds. The ‘Dear Diary...’ without any thing written after shows that we don’t know what is going to happen to us in the future. Our diaries are blank until we write in them; our future is blank until we live it. The train ticket again shows the journey through life. The destination is ‘To propose to Fiona’ , this could be linked to the table for one, maybe the man went to propose to Fiona but she didn’t feel the same, leaving him alone, represented by a table set out for one. The gravestone had nothing written on it apart from:

RIP

In loving memory of:

Born:

Died:

I think this shows that we don’t know when we are going to die, or who is going to die, when. This also shows that everyone will die, even though we don’t know how or when. The flowers represent the love for someone, when people lay flowers on a grave at a funeral it is because they want to show their respect and love for the person who died and how there will be a part of their life missing without them. This section of the room could also link into the storyline of the other two sections. The bundle of cloth next to the coffin could represent an abortion, perhaps the rape victim had chosen to have an abortion. There would be no coffin because the baby was unborn but the rose still shows how there was still love for the unborn baby. The gravestone again could represent an abortion, there would be no name, or birth date as it hadn’t been born. The large question mark could represent the unknown mother and father perhaps of the adopted child, it could have been an abandoned baby. It could also represent the unknown rapist and link to the past section with the police tape.

On the tables, at the side of the room, not in any of the sections were several poems; ‘Time after time’, ‘Funeral Blues’ and an extract from ‘Ecclesiastes’ in the bible. All of these tie into the three sections of the room and the overall theme of time. They also relate to the many other themes in the room, ‘Funeral Blues’ by W. H. Auden is obviously related to death. It shows the love for someone who died and how they will miss them now they are gone.

‘He was my North, my South, my East and West,

My working week and my Sunday rest’

It is from the point of view of someone left behind, someone now alone left to cope with the death of a partner. This could relate to the table for one, a partner dying and how the person will miss them.

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‘I thought that love would last forever: I was wrong.’

The extract from ‘Ecclesiastes’ in the Bible, links into the idea of past, present and future. It shows how in your life, there will come a time for everything,

‘a time to be born,

and a time to die’

It elaborates the idea that everyone will one day die, everyone has their time. Nobody should be afraid of death, it shouldn’t something to be scared of as one day everyone will face it. The poem also includes many opposites, love, hate, war and peace, and explains ...

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