TOW #13 – Lunch atop a Skyscraper

Taken in September of 1932, this photograph depicts eleven construction workers sitting across a steel bar in the final stages of building 30 Rockefeller Plaza (“Lunch atop a Skyscraper”). Not yet three years after the start of the Great Depression, during which America faced exhaustion and instability, this photograph encouraged development as a community. The photographer juxtaposes the city’s background to the construction workers as an effective way to compare America’s developments to the blue-collar workers. Considering the significant issues that were present during the Great Depression, including job loss and financial instability, this photograph shows men casually sitting across a life-threatening bar that overlooks the city. This shows the desperation of the workers given the time period, but it is also relevant to the companionship that the eleven workers share. Furthermore, the photographer includes the city’s background to show that, while in the desperation of the financial crisis, America continues to advance and industrialize. With the workers juxtaposed to the enormous city in the background, an appeal to pathos is made that characterizes the time period; desperation to have work, but hope for national stability. While unable to solve any of the issues presented during this time, this image captures the intense amount of hard work that Americans put into their occupations, allowing the nation to move forward and to continue the construction of public and private institutions, like the 30 Rockefeller Plaza. Given the desperate atmosphere of the early 1930s, this image successfully juxtaposes the huge city of New York to the tired construction workers leisurely eating lunch on a steel bar, clearly commenting on the weakness of America at the time while also encouraging America to focus on community and development. Hence, the photographer’s juxtaposition of construction workers in the foreground to the large city in the background allows a tired America to see hope towards stability.

Lunch atop a Skyscraper (Unknown)

Works Cited

“Lunch atop a Skyscraper.” Wikipedia, New York City, 4 Dec. 2016, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lunch_atop_a_Skyscraper.