The Ills of Urbanization Page 4

Our main subject's conflict with prostitution is very clear. His head is turned from the prostitute as to signify he inability to confront his own reality. The presence of a prostitute is clearly not foreign to him, as he does not look shocked or appalled, but rather it looks as if he has a hint of shame and embarrassment. This shame might come from his own recognition of the depths that his life has dropped to and the embarrassment from the symbolic portrayal of his impotence. The unlit cigarette in his hand is clearly a Freudian reference to this man's impotence, which has likely been brought on by the complications that an urban society has presented to him.

Lastly, we have seen the conflict and controversy that urbanization has brought into his life and the only question that remains is what will eventually come of him. The noose looming just over his head represents that his struggle has led him to the brink of sanity and ultimately contemplating suicide. His vices are all laid out in front of him, yet he cannot escape them. At the end of the day, urbanization has conquered this man and led him to possibly surrendering his own life in order to attain the peace that escapes him.
Grosz shows how a man can be victimized by the vices that are brought on by urbanization. A familiar topic for many artists, it is nonetheless a very difficult topic to effectively critique; however, by way of composition, style, and content, Grosz is able to paint a bleak picture of the burgeoning complications of an urbanized society.

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