Compare and Contrast the Wartime Experiences of Three of the Eight Women “Who Came To the Front” In This Library of Congress Exhibition on Women in World War II.
Out of these eight women, the three women that have been selected to compare and contrast have all used the medium of photographs for telling their stories in order to make others aware of what was going on during the War. In this way, Toni Frissell, Therese Bonney and Esther Bubbley succeeded in touching the lives of millions of viewers with the images that were taken by them during the Second World War. However there is a difference between them although all three have used photographs for telling their story. Therefore, while most of the pictures taken by Therese Bonney showed the images of homeless children and adults who were wandering on the streets in Europe, the images shown by Toni Frissell mainly portrayed soldiers on the front-line, African-American airmen, nurses and orphaned children. In this way, the images captured by Toni Frissell showed how a nurse was performing her duties during the War. These images also showed the children who have been made instant orphans by the war, the actions of the soldiers during the war and also the daily struggle in which the people, particularly the African-Americans and women were engaged in, during the war. On the other hand, the images of Esther Bubbley mainly portrayed wartime subjects around the capital of the nation. The pictures taken by Bubbly portrayed the life of the war workers in the boarding houses of the city. For example, once Therese Bonney has said that "I go forth alone, try to get to the truth and bringing back." In this way, she made an effort so that others can also face the truth and at the same time, do something regarding it.
Therefore, it can be said that according to Bonney, the European civilization was threatened by the outbreak of war. In this way the images captured by Therese Bonney mainly dealt with the damage caused by the war on innocent adults and children who have been left homeless by the war and have to struggle for food and shelter. In this way, the mission of Therese Bonney was to reveal the truth to the other people while she hoped that her pictures and words will move others and they will see the reality of war from a personal perspective. As a result she made efforts to show to the people and also to make them realize the horrors of war and for this purpose, she used the photographs taken by her as she believed that people will do something to put it to an end. In comparison, it was the desire of Toni Frissell to move away from the "soft news" related with society pages in fashion and go towards the "hard news" that found the front pages of the newspapers. In this way, it was a desire to prove to her that she was capable of doing the "real reporting job" and with this purpose in mind; she undertook wartime assignments that were generally related with creating images for supporting the publicity objectives of our subjects.
On the other hand, the main focus of the photographs taken by Esther Bubbley was on the American home front while the country mobilized for war efforts. As a result, the average American was the preferred focus of Esther Bubbley and not only on the political and military events that took place overseas. However, all these three women were successful in capturing great images during the Second World War that provided a glimpse of what was going on really and how was the life of the people who were greatly affected by the war.
References
Mary Blume. "The First and Only Thérèse Bonney," International Herald Tribune, 29–30 December 1973
Europe's Children, 1939 - 1943, New York: Rhode Publishing, 1943 | Library of Congress D810.C4 B68 1944
