'Regarding the Pain of Others' responses

The first quote (p.76) "That a glory...not in real life.," I think Sontag is trying to get at the point that 'photographs tend to transform their subject as [if] it is not real life,' because artists take pictures of war as if they are beautiful, when they are only terrifying images of what is really there.

The second quote (p.76) "Transforming...like art.," Sontag, I believe, is explaining photographs that show images of war can not taken as a beautiful image, because that would make it 'too much like art.' Art is supposed to be beautiful, images of war are not beautiful, therefore pictures taken of war can not be shown as a beautiful image because there is nothing beautiful about the pictures of war, just pain.

The third quote (p.95) "One can...look at them.," Sontag is saying how people show feel 'obliged' to look at the photographs taken of war because artists did not have to take these images, but there are people who are interested in pictures of mutilated bodies.

The fourth quote (p.101) "Compassion...communicated.," I think Sontag is saying that because 'compassion is an unstable emotion,' it is an emotion that will never go away. What we can do with feelings that have been aroused and knowledge that have been communicated is stop showing so many things of terrifying images, pictures are supposed to be memories, and nobody wants to keep a memory of sad things.

The fifth quote (p.114) "To designate...with others.," I think Sontag is basically saying that without this images of war, we will not be able to experience the pain and emotions as the people involved. As she writes, 'enlarging one's sense of how much suffering caused by human wickedness there is,' we should know that it is happening in the world that we share with these people.

The sixth quote (p.115) "The image says...Don't forget.," Sontag is explaining that the images taken are to show that people volunteer to do these things, and that 'don't forget,' they are not forced.

The last and seventh quote (p.115) "Perhaps...thinking.," Sontag is saying that when people look at these pictures, do not try to just memorize what you see, but think about what is going on at that moment. "Remembering is an ethical act, has ethical value in and of itself. Memory is, achingly, the only relation we can have with the dead.," so if we just look at these horrifying images, we are just probably thinking how disgusting they are, we are not trying to think about what happened or how that person's family may feel knowing that they lost a loved one.