Exploration 5: Gabrielle

Marta Becket & Tom Willett

     From the picture of Becket and Willett, we notice the background to be painted. The painted background has a gambling hall, a saloon, a mining company, and a hotel. From just the painted background we get a late 1800's feel. It has the out west, cowboy look. Also because of the painted background, we can tell that it is in a theater like place. Becket is dressed in a long skirt and funky hat. When we go to an amusement park and have the chance to dress up like the 1800's and take a picture in a saloon like place, we dress up in an outfit that is similar to Becket's outfit. Willett is sitting in an odd looking rocking chair, reading the newspaper that is titled "Cannon Toppers Go Separate Ways", and dressed in bow tie, vest, and sequin hat. From his outfit it is hard to conclude what he is supposed to be or why he is dressed the way he is. But from Beckets tall stance we can tell she is a very confident person, and from Willett sitting and reading we can tell he is a laid back, go with the flow kind of guy.
     Willett does not really represent the theme of creativity like Becket does. Becket created her Amargosa Opera House to put on shows for the community and visitors. We read that she painted the blank white walls into murals of people to give the feel of a large audience being present. We also read that Becket painted balconies and a Renaissance audience of gypsies, nobilities, clerics and kings and queens.She painted monks and nuns as well. This shows how creative Becket was. Her imagination was far out of reach and she had grand ideas that no one could stop her of achieving. A problem that mainly Becket faced was that she opened her opera house in the middle of nowhere. She put a lot of creativity and work into and did not receive the output she wanted but she was doing what she loved so she did not really care.
     I think Becket is more of a dreamer than anything else. She grew up dancing and dreamed of doing it her whole life. When she opened the opera house, it was apart of her dreams. She dreamed of performing for others and having people knowing her name. Even though the opera house was not a huge success, Becket did not care because she was doing what she loved and dreamed of.
     A passage that stuck out to me was, "All of a sudden I began to shake all over and I grabbed a piece of paper and started sketching something that I had no control over. It turned out to be a sketch of a dancer-a ballet dancer in repose. And in a very squeaky voice that didn't sound like me at all, I said to my mother, 'I've got to get back into dancing! I've got to dance again, no matter how hard it is!' Her voice sounded like it came down a long corridor, and she said, 'Oh, anything you want to do, dear, is all right with me.'" I really liked this passage because it shows that Becket was a dreamer. Not only did she have a moment, but her mom supported her. Support from our loved ones can boost our success to reaching our dreams because we have confidence. I like that Becket took her dream and made it come to life in a way that made her happy.