American Monuments

Monuments in the U.S.A.

All over the United States there are monuments of all shapes and sizes representing everything from ideals such as liberty and freedom to events in history and individual people. Why are we so inclined towards stationary objects or places commemorating a person or thing? Perhaps it is for much the same reason that the characters in Paradise revere their oven. People need to be able to be visually reminded of their pasts and important events as a way to keep the memory alive. There are so many different kinds of monuments present in our society and many are not only for commemoration purposes.

Much like the oven in the book Paradise there are towns across America that have a monument that is their "claim to fame" or at least a central part of the town. For example, in Salem Massachusetts there are many monuments of witches scattered all around town. These sometimes scary bronze statues not only lend personality to the town but they also are a reminder of the witch trials that took place almost a century ago. There are various monuments around the country that don't commemorate an event or person but that serve as tourism points of interest and generate revenue for the town they are in. Some examples are the TupperwareTower in Florida, a hundred foot tower made of Tupperware supposedly made for the new millennium, or the town of Tryon, North Carolina has Morris the Giant Rocking horse that is considered the town's first resident and it's epicenter. Monuments can be made or elected for any variety of reasons.

When discussing monuments one must surely touch on the major monuments in American society. First of all the Statue of Liberty, one of the most recognized monument because of it's theme of liberty and freedom. The woman holding the torch to light the way for incoming immigrants is a beautiful image and the New York would surely not be the same without it. Similarly the Liberty Bell in Philadelphia and the Washington Memorial in D.C. are monuments that the country is famous for and that commemorate important American