ROLAND BARTH

When I think of a monument I think of it as a gateway to the past that has the history of the person who built, the place it has been incorporated into, and the people it represents. In the article "Eiffel Tower" by Roland Barthes, he depicts the earliest observation of the Effiel Tower by the people as not even being aesthectically pleasing, but today that has changed. The size and the placement of its structure makes it monumental interms of representation of a people. However, ironically to the people of Paris it had to grow to be embedded into the meaning of a people. Its purpose had to change, which is not typical of a monumental structure. It has no erganomic qualities and it is purely mathematical, yet overtime its image has changed a culture along with the world as one that has become synonomous with Paris and the French people. The effect that the Eiffel Tower has on human existance, in my opinion is rare, and this type of monument  attracts travelers from all over the world to embrace its appearance on a personal level. Although its purpose was never historical over time the Eiffel Tower has built history around it. In the same interest as the Golden Gate Bridge and the St. Louis Arch it brings tourist from fare and wide to marvel at the work of men. 


As a contrast to Barths article Paul Levine's article gives incite to what makes a monument monumental. I understand that a monument is put in place to commerate  something  or someone. Most monuments are commerative and subject to a time and place that should not be forgotten. In my opinion no matter how captivating a monument is and no matter how strong the implications embedded in its structure, unless its meaning is passed down through generations or as expressed as a shared human experience the the initual sting  or sense of pride that it once convied will forever be lost. We use books, folk tails, and monuments to tell our story through human history, but the success of the message depends largely on its convience through time and history. I agree with the quote about building a public record of public historical memory is a practice that has existed with in the United States since its inception in 1776” as a way to keep public record in a land so new and so profoundly built on false truths. In creating these records a new truth is thus created and the world will hold these truths to be self evident because the facts have been presented as unmovable, unchangable, and set in stone.