David and Goliath

The Israelites are facing the Philistines in the Valley of Elah. The boy David is bringing food to his older brothers who are with King Saul. He hears the Philistine giant Goliath challenging the Israelites to send their own champion to decide the outcome in single combat. David tells Saul he is prepared to face Goliath and Saul allows him to make the attempt. He is victorious, striking Goliath in the forehead with a stone from his sling, and the Philistines flee in terror. Saul sends to know the name of the young champion, and David tells him that he is the son of Jesse.

Davide con la testa di Golia, Caravaggio 1610

The physical fragility is represented by David in comparison to the gigantic Goliath.   But eventhough he is smaller, he is actually the winner of this scene.
Among the two of them, David personifies in a more correct maner the concept of a robust hero because he is strong of spirit and inteligent. Mean while Goliath belives to be superior than his adversary and he makes this judgement based only on his physical capacity. 

Gulliver's Travels

Gulliver's Travels (1726, amended 1735), officially Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World, in Four Parts. By Lemuel Gulliver, First a Surgeon, and then a Captain of several Ships, is a novel by Irish writer and clergyman Jonathan Swift that is both a satire on human nature and a parody of the "travellers' tales" literary sub-genre.

Part I: A voyage to Lilliput (4 May 1699 – 13 April 1702)

Gulliver’s adventure in Lilliput begins when he wakes after his shipwreck to find himself bound by innumerable tiny threads and addressed by tiny captors who are in awe of him but fiercely protective of their kingdom. They are not afraid to use violence against Gulliver, though their arrows are little more than pinpricks. But overall, they are hospitable, risking famine in their land by feeding Gulliver, who consumes more food than a thousand Lilliputians combined could. Gulliver is taken into the capital city by a vast wagon the Lilliputians have specially built. He is presented to the emperor, who is entertained by Gulliver, just as Gulliver is flattered by the attention of royalty. Eventually Gulliver becomes a national resource, used by the army in its war against the people of Blefuscu, whom the Lilliputians hate for doctrinal differences concerning the proper way to crack eggs. But things change when Gulliver is convicted of treason for putting out a fire in the royal palace with his urine and is condemned to be shot in the eyes and starved to death. Gulliver escapes to Blefuscu, where he is able to repair a boat he finds and set sail for England.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gulliver%27s_Travels


We have chosen this character because in two of his travels he represents both aspects of our words.  In one of his trips Gulliver is the fragile man that later becomes a robust gigant but because he is fragile of character he abuses of his power.
The character of Gulliver is a metaphor of those that make part of the occidental penal system, in particular the British system. 

Synonyms

FRAGILE 

brittle - care - delicate - flimsy - frail - handle - weak - weedy

ROBUST

able-bodied - brawny - cob - flourish - full - hardy - healthy - heavy-duty - robust - rugged - stalwart - stocky - stout - strapping - strong - sturdy - tough - upstanding 

Source: www.wordreference.com 

Charpy Impact Testing Machine

The Charpy impact test, also known as the Charpy v-notch test, is a standardized high strain-rate test which determines the amount of energy absorbed by a material during fracture. This absorbed energy is a measure of a given material's toughness and acts as a tool to study temperature-dependent brittle-ductile transition. It is widely applied in industry, since it is easy to prepare and conduct and results can be obtained quickly and cheaply. But a major disadvantage is that all results are only comparative.

The test was developed in 1905 by the French scientist Georges Charpy. It was pivotal in understanding the fracture problems of ships during the second World War. Today it is used in many industries for testing building and construction materials used in the construction of pressure vessels, bridges and to see how storms will affect materials used in building.

Quantitative Results: The quantitative result of the impact test—the energy needed to fracture a material—can be used to measure the toughness of the material and the yield strength. Also, the strain rate may be studied and analyzed for its effect on fracture.

The ductile-brittle transition temperature (DBTT) may be derived from the temperature where the energy needed to fracture the material drastically changes. However, in practice there is no sharp transition and so it is difficult to obtain a precise transition temperature. An exact DBTT may be empirically derived in many ways: a specific absorbed energy, change in aspect of fracture (such as 50% of the area is cleavage).

Qualitative Results: The qualitative results of the impact test can be used to determine the ductility of a material. If the material breaks on a flat plane, the fracture was brittle, and if the material breaks with jagged edges or shear lips, then the fracture was ductile. Usually a material does not break in just one way or the other, and thus comparing the jagged to flat surface areas of the fracture will give an estimate of the percentage of ductile and brittle fracture.

Kerbschlagbiegeversuch Maschine

The apparatus consists of a pendulum axe swinging at a notched sample of material. The energy transferred to the material can be inferred by comparing the difference in the height of the hammer before and after a big fracture. The notch in the sample affects the results of the impact test, hus it is necessary for the notch to be of a regular dimensions and geometry. The size of the sample can also affect results, since the dimensions determine whether or not the material is in plane strain. This difference can greatly affect conclusions made. he "Standard methods for Notched Bar Impact Testing of Metallic Materials" can be found in ASTM E23,  ISO 148-1,  or EN 10045-1, where all the aspects of the test and equipment used are described in detail.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charpy_impact_test 

Achille: Robust soldier, fragile man

In Greek mythology, Achilles (Ancient Greek: Ἀχιλλεύς, Achilleus) was a Greek hero of theTrojan War, the central character and the greatest warrior of Homer's Iliad.

Achilles also has the attributes of being the most handsome of the heroes assembled againstTroy.

Later legends (beginning with a poem by Statius in the first century AD) state that Achilles was invulnerable in all of his body except for his heel. 

According to the Achilleid, written by Statius in the first century AD, and to no surviving previous sources, when Achilles was born Thetis (his mother) tried to make him immortal by dipping him in the river Styx and making him invulnerable. However, he was left vulnerable at the part of the body by which she held him, his heel. 

Since he died due to a poisonous arrow shot into his heel, the term "Achilles' heel" has come to mean a person's principal weakness

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Achilles

Villa Reale, Milano

We have chosen the character Achilles to represent our pair of antonyms because we think that he represents both of them very well. With his muscular body and strength he represents ROBUST, but his heel shows his real weakness and how FRAGILE  he really is. 

Unbreakable: The discovery of a Superhero

Unbreakable is a 2000 American psychological thriller film written, produced, and directed by M. Night Shyamalan. The film stars Bruce Willis, Samuel L. Jackson, and Robin Wright Penn.Unbreakable tells the story of Philadelphia security guard, David Dunn, who slowly discovers that he is a superhero. The film is a study on the dimensions of comic books; it explores the analogies between the real world and the mythology of superheroes.

Elijah Price(Samuel L. Jackson) is born with Type I osteogenesis imperfecta, a rare disease in which bones break easily. Drawing on what he has read in comic books during his many hospital stays, Price theorizes that if he is frail at one extreme, then perhaps there is someone strong at the opposite extreme.

Years later, Security guard David Dunn(Bruce Willis) is also searching for meaning in his life. Returning from a job interview in New York, David is the sole survivor of a horrific train wreck that kills 131 passengers, sustaining no injuries himself. He is contacted by the adult Elijah, who proposes to a disbelieving David that he is a real instance of the kind of person after whom comic-book superheroes are modeled.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unbreakable_(film)

Source: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R_f1uCWKZQs 


This movie shows the confrontation of Good and Evil in the "superhero world". The superhero that represents "good"is strong and nothing can hurt him, in our case he portrays ROBUST.  The "evil" superhero instead is very weak and breaks easily, for us he portrays FRAGILE. 

Crumbling Giant

The Western Antarctic Peninsula is one of the fastest warming places on the planet

We have chosen as a Geographical image the Iceberg, because for us it rapresents the best way our concept. Infact, the iceberg is intself a huge body of ice, but its fragility is rapresented non only by its own materia but also becuase its natural life will take it to the complete melt. Moreover, sometimes the iceberg show only a little part of itself and often it mislead the shipping.

Popeye & Olivia: opposites attract

Popeye the Sailor is a fictional hero notable for appearing in comic strips and animated films as well as numerous television shows. He was created by Elzie Crisler Segar, and first appeared in the daily King Features comic strip Thimble Theatre on January 17, 1929. Olive Oyl is actually older than Popeye, she appeared in the comic strip Thimble Theatre since  1919. The strip was later renamed Popeye after the sailor character that became the most popular member of the cast; however Olive Oyl was a main character for 10 years before Popeye's 1929 appearance.

In the films and later television cartoons, Olive Oyl is Popeye's girlfriend, although she could be extremely fickle, depending on who could woo her the best or had the flashier possessions, and was prone to get angry over the tiniest things. She constantly gets kidnapped by Bluto(aka Brutus), who is Popeye's archrival for her affections, but Popeye always rescues her, winning her affection in the end.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Popeye

This particular couple exceptionally represents the fragility and the robustness, he is strong and brave and she is weak and always in distress. Physically they are also very different, he it short but muscular and she it tall and boney, but it their love for each other that keep this awkward couple together. 

Soft Statue

Jeff Koons (born January 21, 1955) is an American artist known for his reproductions of banal objects—such as balloon animals produced in stainless steel with mirror finish surfaces.

Koons' work has sold for substantial sums including at least one world record auction price for a work by a living artist. Critics are sharply divided in their views of Koons. Some view his work as pioneering and of major art-historical importance. Others dismiss his work as kitsch: crass and based on cynical self-merchandising. Koons has stated that there are no hidden meanings in his works. 

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeff_Koons#Puppy_1992

Balloon Dog (Magenta)

We have chosen this work of art  because although the sculpture is made out of steel  and it is 3 meters high, it represents a balloon animal which is actually very fragile and delicate. 

Proverbs

More ROBUST than the nose of a lion. (Arabic proverb)

Man is harder than iron, stronger than stone, and more FRAGILE than a rose. (Turkish Proverb)

http://www.special-dictionary.com/proverbs/keywords/robust/ 
http://www.special-dictionary.com/proverbs/keywords/fragile/ 

The Titans

In Greek mythology, the Titans (Ancient Greek: Τιτάν - Ti-tan; plural: Τιτᾶνες - Ti-tânes) were a race of powerful deities, descendants of Gaia and Uranus, that ruled during the legendary Golden Age. The role of the Titans as Elder Gods was overthrown by a race of younger gods, the Olympians, in the Titanomachy ("Battle with the Titans") which effected a mythological paradigm shift that the Greeks may have borrowed from the Ancient Near East.

In the first generation of twelve Titans, they are:

    * Coeus - The titan of wisdom.

    * Crius - The titan of strength and power.

    * Cronus - The king of the Titans.

    * Iapetus - The titan of mortality.

    * Oceanus - The titan of the rivers.

    * Hyperion - The titan of supervision and compliance.

    * Mnemosyne – The titanessa of memories

    * Phoebe – The titanessa of darkness .

    * Rhea – The queen of Titans.

    * Tethys - The titanessa of the rivers.

    * Theia - The titanessa of sight and light.

    * Themis - The titanessa of justice.

The second generation of Titans consisted of Hyperion's children Eos, Helios, and Selene; Coeus's daughters Leto and Asteria; Iapetus's sons Atlas, Prometheus, Epimetheus, and Menoetius; and Crius's sons Astraeus, Pallas, and Perses.

In particular in Greek mythology, Crius, Kreios or Krios (Ancient Greek: Κρεῖος, Κριός) was one of the Titans in the list given in Hesiod's Theogony, a son of Uranus and Gaia. The least individualized among them, he was overthrown in the Titanomachy. M.L. West has suggested how Hesiod filled out the complement of Titans from the core group— adding three figures from the archaic tradition of Delphi, Koios, Phoibe, whose name Apollo assumed with the oracle, and Themis. Among possible further interpolations among the Titans was Kreios, whose interest for Hesiod was as the father of Perses and grandfather of Hekate, for whom Hesiod was, according to West, an "enthusiastic evangelist".

Joined to fill out lists of Titans to form a total that made a match with the Twelve Olympians, Crius/Kreios was inexorably involved in the eleven-year-long war between the Olympian gods and Titans, the Titanomachy, however without any specific part to play. When the war was lost, Crius/Kreios was banished along with the others to the lower level of Hades called Tartarus. From his chthonic position in the Underworld, no classical association with Aries, the "Ram" of the zodiac, is ordinarily made.

House of Cards

In this image the "robustness" is portrayed by a house of cards, which is made of fragile pieces of paper (cards). The cartoon shows how together they can create a strong solid stucture, but that the same one can be easily destroyed due to it's weak fundations.

Despicable Me

 

Trailer retrived from: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4LuGnKmmDDw

This trailer shows how a plastic balloon, which is a fairly fragile object, can be robust at the same time when inflated with air. When the little boy hugs the balloon animal this one remains intact, but when the man touches it with a needle, this one pops.

Freezing Objects

Be believe that ice objects represent very well our two opposite concepts because although the ice can be very strong and resistant to be carved into objects such as this violin, an ice sculpture or even make a shelter, at the same time it may also be easily  shattered into many pieces or it can melt with the rise of temperature, which makes it very fragile.

A Robustious Periwig-pated Fellow

-Act III, scene 2-

Scene: A hall in the castle.

            Hamlet and the Player

Hamlet:

Speak the speech, I pray you, as I pronounced it to 

you, trippingly on the tongue: but if you mouth it,

as many of your players do, I had as lief the

town-crier spoke my lines. Nor do not saw the air

too much with your hand, thus, but use all gently;

for in the very torrent, tempest, and, as I may say,

the whirlwind of passion, you must acquire and beget

a temperance that may give it smoothness. O, it

offends me to the soul to hear a robustious

periwig-pated fellow tear a passion to tatters, to 

very rags, to split the ears of the groundlings, who

for the most part are capable of nothing but

inexplicable dumbshows and noise: I would have such

a fellow whipped for o'erdoing Termagant; it

out-herods Herod: pray you, avoid it.


First Player:
I warrant your honour. 

"Speak the speech" is a famous speech from Shakespeare's Hamlet (1601). In it, Hamlet offers directions and advice to a group of actors whom he has enlisted to play for the court of Denmark. We found very interesting the way the author uses this word in this speech and since Hamlet is one of the greatest works ever written by Shakespeare we wanted to share.

 

The egg: robust or fragile?

We have chosen the egg as the object to represent both Fragile and Robust because due to its physical proprerties it can be both. In nature the egg has to be robust enough to protect the baby chick from it suroundings, and the mother has to be able to sit on top of it and warm it without this one breaking. Meanwhile it also has to be fragile enough so that the baby chick with almost no strength can break through it with it weak beak. 

If you analyze the antomy of an egg you will discover that it sides are very weak and can be easily broken (thats why we crack the sides of an egg and not its top) while the top and the bottom are the stongest parts of the shell that can resist enormous amounts of weight and pressure. 

what is fragile?

Etymology: It comes from a Latin word "fragilis-e", it appears for the first time in 1510s as liable to sin, then in XV century as liable to break.

It's define as:

• easily broken or destroyed "a fragile vase" 
• constitutionally delicate : lacking in vigor "a fragile child"