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In the painting we see a contrast between light and dark backgrounds. The right is the west where it is more traditional, which shows the potential of the rest of the US, which is where they want to travel. The east represents the civilization that already exists.

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The light on the right side seems to symbolize what lands Americans have discovered and what lands are civilized. The dark seems to symbolize both the great unknown and the uncivilized lands/people

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The sun rising in the East seems to represent the civilization modernizing through the industrial, agricultural, and so many other revolutions.

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There are advanced forms of transportation such as railroads that head west, this can help interest Americans to move west

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I think the angel carrying the school book symbolized the importance of education and progress in education. It was also women's roles to educate the children in the household. The idea of separate spheres and stuff.

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The differences in light and dark symbolizing that as Americans travel west they are bringing "light" to the uncivilized western territories.

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I saw native americans towards the left. These native americans were shown helping to lead the settlers onwards, representing the natives as willing partners of American settlers.

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the west/left of the painting was portrayed as being wild and uncivilized with light, civilization, and order being brought over from the east/right

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There is a goddess and she is setting up electric poles. This symbolizes American industrialization.

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I saw wolves (or some animals) scavenging a corpse. I think this represents the savagery or lowliness of the west.

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I saw a bear in the lower left corner, that possibly represented the dangers that awaited settlers in the west.

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Its darker towards the West

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The angel was carrying a string to the west to represent the divine right to move west and gain more territory

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I saw railroads, ships, wagons, and other forms of transportation. It represented America's technological progress and also represented the spread of civilization.

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I think that Gast included the angel lady carrying the school book and telephone wires to demonstrate the importance of knowledge and communication and how it was advancing at what was an unprecedented rate.

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The trains in the background with rail lines extending into west, following the angel-like figure. It shows the desire for connectivity between the regions in America with technological innovations.

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There are different people, civilizations, trains, and animals in this picture. It depicts people who are moving West, while capturing the viewpoint of Americans during this transitional time period.

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there were railroads behind the angel and this shows the countries innovations helping the expansion west

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The sun rising in the east shining light towards the west symbolizing civilization in the east.

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The Bison skeletons with arrows. It represented the result of settler expansion on Native Americans and nature.

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Native Americans can be seen in the painting to show how Natives were forced to move as Americans settled westward to make space for American expansion. The native Americans seem to be moving away from the settlers in the painting.

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The contrast between the sky on the left of the painting vs the right. I think it represented the future with cities/boats/trains as being better than the past.