Graven Images by Saul Bellow

Graven Image: an object (such as a statue) that is worshipped as a god or in place of a god

Saul Bellow was an accredited writer who received numerous awards throughout his life. From a young age he took interest in English literature and writing. Having graduated from Northwestern University with a degree in anthropology, he took his talents to prestigious institutions such as Princeton University. Later, he won many awards for his writing. In Graven Images Saul Bellow criticizes photographers for exposing our amour propre, or privacy, that we have all spent time fortifying. He was inspired to share his thoughts after many times being photographed and not liking how he appeared. Bellow explains how we all, including him, have an image of ourselves that we wish to present. He writes that photographers deliberately aim to destroy our facades and uncover the real us. They believe that they are doing us a favor by granting us immortality with their skills. While, being raised in the Jewish faith, Bellow was taught by his grandfather it is a sin to have your photo taken. Understanding this, Bellow’s aim is to inform us that in the end, our facades don’t matter; our conceived images of who we want to be don’t matter. What’s remembered and immortalized is our reality, our surface, whether we choose to accept it or not.

Saul Bellow does achieve his purpose through the connotation of his words and the use of irony in his examples. In the beginning, speaking of being photographed, he writes, “One can only submit to the merciless cruelty of ‘pure objectivity’.” The connotation of the words merciless, cruelty, and others such as demonic, and sadistic that Bellow uses to describe photographs and photographers, gives the reader the impression that he wishes to outright get rid of photographs. However, he unveils his purpose towards the end when he describes how his mother had his grandfather photographed, towards the end of his life, in order to remember his face. He writes, “Perhaps the old man [Bellow’s grandfather] knew perfectly well that his picture was being taken.” Some form of objection to having his picture taken is expected from his grandfather, yet there was none. This exemplifies that we can’t fight how we are and should instead embrace it, no matter how much we dislike it.

A photo showing the paparazzi relentlessly taking photos. (From an article written by Nick Allen of The Telegraph)