Caryatid Who Has Fallen under Her Stone

by Auguste Rodin

Here are a few different angles and verſions of my favourite ſculpture, Caryatid Who Has Fallen under Her Stone by Auguste Rodin. I even līkt þis one enough to write a poëm about her, but i’ll ſpare You. I’d like inſead to refer You to Jubal Harshaw’s commentary on þis ſculpture in Robert A Heinlein’s Stranger in a Strange Land.

“...Here we have an [...] emotional symbol - but wrought with exquisite artistry. [...For] three thousand years architects designed buildings with columns shaped as female figures. At last Rodin pointed out that this was work too heavy for a girl. He didn’t say, ‘Look, you jerks, if you must do this, make it a brawny male figure.’ No, he showed it. This poor little caryatid has fallen under the load. She’s a good girl - look at her face. Serious, unhappy at her failure, not blaming anyone, not even the gods... and still trying to shoulder her load, after she’s crumled under it.

“But she’s more than good art denouncing bad art; she’s a symbol for every woman who ever shouldered a load too heavy. But not alone women - this symbol means every man and woman who ever sweated out life in uncomplaining fortitude until they crumpled under their loads. It’s courage [...] and victory.

“Victory in defeat, there is none higher. She didn’t give up[...]; she’s still trying to lift that stone after it has crushed her. She’s a father working while cancer eats away his insides, to bring home one more pay check. She’s a twelve-year-old trying to mother her brothers and sisters because mama had to go to Heaven. She’s a switchboard operator sticking to her post while smoke chokes her and fire cuts off her escape. She’s all the unsung heroes who couldn’t make it but never quit.”