NOTE: Read through the rest of the book for Wednesday's class, though don't worry if you can't quite finish. We'll spend more time with the book even though we're technically done with the questions. On Friday, we'll do some in-class writing and discuss the next paper assignment, and what I want you to do with this book going forward (stay tuned!).
Answer TWO of the following:
Q1: Hopper likes to paint different versions of the same basic scene or idea, even if they look quite different at first. Which painting in this part of the book seems to be a new version of an earlier one (Nighthawks, etc)? Why do you think so? What thematic links do we see from one picture to the other? Is it a similar character? Mood? Time of day? Story?
Q2: Schmied writes that Hopper's characters "are mobile and restless, yet statically tied to some location from which they will probably never escape" (84). This suggests that many of his subjects are running away--or running to something. Do you think he means this to be hopeful or pessimistic? Which painting shows someone "mobile but restless," and how do you read the situation of the subject?
Q3: Schmied also notes how many characters in his paintings are drawn to the light--like moths to the flame. Over and over again, we see character basking in the light or being exposed in it (New York Office, Sunlight on Brownstones, etc.). Why do you think this is a favorite subject for Hopper? What does the light mean in these paintings? Is it a spotlight? A prison? Something else??
Q4: In one of his strangest paintings, People in the Sun (p.104), Hopper paints a group portrait of people lounging in the sun together. What do you think is the mood or story of this picture? Does it feel 'warmer' or 'happier' because no one is alone in this painting? Or is it just as creeper and isolated as many of the paintings with only one or two people in it? Why do you think so?
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