Question

margaret bourke white is famous for her photographic essays of wwii. white took this photo (above) entitled, the living dead, of german men looking at a group of concentration camp prisoners (although we cannot see the prisoners) after the camp was liberated. when she was asked by a life magazine writer about the picture, she replied, \dead men will have indeed died in vain, if living men refuse to look at them.\ what did she mean?
a. if the living do not examine past mistakes, in particular with war and hatred, then the ones who died because of these things will have died for no reason.
b. people must be made to feel guilty for their involvement with hate, if things are ever to change in the world and people are ever going to live in harmony.
c. in order to understand death, people have to see it with their own eyes.
d. if the living men refuse to look at the dead, and the dead are only seen by the women who bury them, then the dead’s accomplishments cannot be remembered.

Explanation:

To determine the meaning of Margaret Bourke - White's quote, we analyze each option:

• Option a: The quote emphasizes that if the living do not confront (look at) the horrors of the past (like war and hatred, represented by the concentration camp victims), the deaths of those who suffered will be meaningless. This aligns with the idea that examining past mistakes (by looking at the victims) is necessary so that the dead did not die in vain.
• Option b: The quote is not about making people feel guilty but about learning from the past, so this is incorrect.
• Option c: The focus is on learning from past atrocities, not understanding death in a general sense, so this is incorrect.
• Option d: The quote has nothing to do with the gender of those who see the dead or remembering accomplishments, so this is incorrect.

Answer:

a. If the living do not examine past mistakes, in particular with war and hatred, then the ones who died because of these things will have died for no reason.