This picture is one of several sculptures by Michelangelo known as "The Slaves."  There is every reason to believe that these particular statues are unfinished works of a master, left half-done at his death.  They were meant to be whole sculptures of slaves, for the tomb of a pope. 

  I find them both interesting and beautiful, however, in how fitting the name is to their current condition.  They stand half-encased in raw marble, unable to be free, yet seemingly in constant struggle to shake off their earthly origin to join their rightful place beside their perfect brethren.  I find this fitting, and poetic.  I realize that good art is always a conduit for the viewer's own interpretation of the world to be realized, but the universal themes captured in what some might call incomplete work are astounding.  In this simple, undone sculpture I see the spirit's struggle with the flesh, the heavens with the earth, the imagination with the body.  We in the human race are free creatures who are imprisoned, citizens who are slaves, bound, yet emerging.  A similar sculpture in theme exists in Washington D.C., known as "The Awakening."  (It's below.)

  The struggle for freedom, for change, for something other, is constant and imbedded within us.  I don't know what we'll do when we reach that place where struggle is no longer necessary…we all search for something so long, what do we do when we've found it?  Do we search out new struggles, both larger and smaller?  And what when those are satisfied?  Can a creature whose identity is formed in conflict and searching ever be satisfied in satisfaction?