Rockwell's "The Runaway"

Counter culture is going against what is currently accepted at the "normal" in a certain area. The the painting the little boy is talking to the police man, and has a nap-sack like he is running away. One would expect that the boy's parents would be worried and wouldn't expect to see the police officer to be talking to the little boy in such a friendly matter, but rather just take him home. Rockwell being born before the 1950's had an impaired judgement of what was currently going on in society. When he was a child it was not uncommon for a child to disappear for a few hours because there was little danger in small towns, and everyone knew everyone. Rockwell's "The Runaway" overlooks the fundamental rift that was rising in america throughout the 1950s- an emerging counter culture that was not concerned with how things were in America but rather how they are.