Quickwrite- I do, I have, I am

On September 12th, my first period English class did a response to the picture below drawn by an artist by the name of Saul Steinberg. I think that in Steinberg’s picture, he is trying to explain to us how the different short sentences, I am, I have, and I do, have very different, meaningful standing positions in our lives. And here is what I had to say about it.


The first phrase, I am, is drawn as being sort of carved out of the earth or apart of it. Through this, I think Steinberg is trying to explain to us that I am is the rock or base of our lives because it is who you are as a person on the inside and what makes you you or unique from others.

Secondly, is the sentence I have. It appears to be made out of pieces of a fence that are nailed together, and a raggedy, flimsy, clothing line that looks as if the slightest amount of wind blew, it would be knocked over immediately. I am assuming that his point in drawing this is that the material things that we have in life don’t really matter or compare to who you are as a person and the actions you take that represent you. In other words, I have is not as nearly important as I do or I am.

And for the last short sentence, I do, it is drawn in the sky as almost resembling the sun, with very bright, beautiful colors surrounding it. To me this means that I do, or your actions, sometimes over shine who you are and what you have in life. But the clouds that are setting in the background also tell me that what you do can fade away very easily and be replaced by something else.

But overall, I think the meaning of this picture and what Steinberg was trying to say is that the material things in life come and go, what you do can easily fade away over time, but who you are is what makes you different and it can never be replaced by anything or forgotten by anyone. The end.