"The Runaway" Introduction

"The Runaway" is a painting of an ideal situation from the 1950's by Norman Rockwell. It illustrates a young boy, who one might interpret as the runaway, sitting next to a police officer at lunch. Over the counter, a worker converses with them. The colors of the painting set a light, happy mood. As one might imagine, this is not what one might actually see if one were able to travel back to the late 1950's when this painting was made, this was a time of troubles. The Korean War and Cold War were in effect, and everything was a mess in America. Rockwell does not illustrate this in "The Runaway" and these key elements of this time period are erased from the painting leaving only those ideal moments that one can only hope for. Rockwell's "The Runaway" overlooks the fundamental rift that was rising in America throughout the 1950's- an emerging counter culture that was not concerned with how things were in America but rather how they truly are.