Mother Liberty and the Seducer - Liberty Leading the People
12:00 AM |
| Eugene Delacroix, Liberty Leading the People (July 28th 1830), 1830 |
Mother
Liberty and the Seducer
Curated by Alex McDonald
Curator's Note: This is the third installment in a series of blog posts where I have presented short fiction based off the paintings in my collection. If lost, please go read two prior posts. Thank you.
In her dream, the scrolls entitled Time, Truth, and History contained two words. Never again. The Girl nods and repeats, never again.
In her dream, the scrolls entitled Time, Truth, and History contained two words. Never again. The Girl nods and repeats, never again.
Years
pass and the Girl becomes a Woman, struggling against the Rococo Man’s society. Rich men bathe in excess, taking everything they want regardless of the harm
done to others. The poor are beaten and unrepresented.
The Woman walks the streets, finding evidence of social degradation. Men lose it. Women bleed. Children starve. The words never again come to mind.
Finally, when the masses have taken enough, they revolt. The woman realizes never again happened again… She picks up the flag and joins the fray for independence. The steel of a gun against her hand feels right. Soon she stands over the hapless forms of the dead on the front lines . Her bare feet brush against their dead membranes.
The Woman walks the streets, finding evidence of social degradation. Men lose it. Women bleed. Children starve. The words never again come to mind.
Finally, when the masses have taken enough, they revolt. The woman realizes never again happened again… She picks up the flag and joins the fray for independence. The steel of a gun against her hand feels right. Soon she stands over the hapless forms of the dead on the front lines . Her bare feet brush against their dead membranes.
This must be what standing in a womb feels like.
The woman’s breast strap has broken. Her chest exposed. The enemy troops stare at it with the eyes of the Rococo Man. She doesn’t care. Those close enough to see her breasts are close enough for her to see the life fade from their eyes.
She
turns to face her people. The abused rally behind her. One falls to her hands
and knees before the woman.
Oh Mother Liberty, how can I be as free as you?
The Woman smiles. Never again will she be the helpless. Never again will the Rococo Man or the Devil haunt her nightmares. Never again.
The woman’s image, captured by Eugene Delacroix in Liberty Leading the People, will spread and with it, so will her power and influence.Oh Mother Liberty, how can I be as free as you?
The Woman smiles. Never again will she be the helpless. Never again will the Rococo Man or the Devil haunt her nightmares. Never again.
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