Walter Benjamin focuses on the past in relation to the present and how they incorporate memories in his piece “Philosophy of History”. Benjamin examines how happiness can transcend the past and the present. Building off of that notion, he discusses how a feeling such as happiness can link what happened in the past to what is occurring in the present. To put happiness into context with other feelings that happen in the past or the present, he states: “the past can be seized only as an image which flashes up at the instant when it can be recognized and is never seen again.” (Benjamin 255) Happiness is a fleeting feeling that comes and goes regularly, and Benjamin is comparing happiness to memories that exist within our minds. Just as happiness is a feeling that is brought up by a cute puppy or something that brings you joy, memories are fleeting in that they are brought up randomly, and disappear when you least expect it.
Benjamin continues to discuss the ever present connection between the past and the present. The present cannot be what it is today without recognition of the past, and that is history’s job to remind the present with the lessons and memories of the past. In order to fully understand history we must put it into context with the now. Benjamin argues that you cannot have one without the other, and he states: “history is the subject of a structure whose site is not homogeneous, empty time, but time filled by the presence of the now.” (261) Here Benjamin continuing his argument by uncovering the truth behind what history is really made up of-which are moments in the present.
In conjunction with Benjamin’s argument about the connection between the past and the present, Gastón Gordillo discusses how the ruins of ships from the past have become meaningful artifacts in the present. Ruins that become monuments carry both historical and social weight within their communities, and they can grow to represent something larger than themselves. In the town of Rivadavia, the remains of old steamships bring back memories from the past. They are the portals into a different time, a more prosperous time for the small town in Argentina. Gordillo discusses how these ruins can impact the collective memory of the people of Rivadavia, and how “the memories of prosperity are shaped by experiences of poverty and decline that people unambiguously trace back to the shift in the course of the Bermejo.” (Gordillo 152) These ruins bring back memories of a different time period in Rivadavia, and they represent the change that has occurred since the time of their existence.
After finishing both of these readings I was able to gain a better understanding of the Bethlehem Steel Stacks. I found the Steel Stacks to be interesting because they are not ruins, yet they bring us back to a completely different time. Another aspect I found interesting about the Steel Stacks is how it is a museum out of something that used to be so ordinary. When thinking about Benjamin and his argument I was able to think about the Steel Stacks and how it is now a structure that talks about the past while also incorporating the present. When I was at the Steel Stacks and walking along the Hoover Mason Trestle looking at all the old stacks I could not help but think about how the work that was done here affected our lives today.
I also thought about the ruins in Rivadavia and how the remains brought back memories of a different time. I think that the steel stacks here do just that. These structures are the epitome of industrialization and represent the height of Bethlehem’s prosperity and success. Although now they look old and beaten down, they still have the power to bring us back to a different time in America’s history.