Graphic Organizer

Introduction: The media has produced a false image of ideal women and therefore, has led numerous teens to take extreme measures to achieve this ideal image.

Area of support 1: Media portrays this ideal image to enable companies to make a profit. Businesses have such items as weight loss pills, weight loss programs, beauty products, clothing, and aging products. These are all products sold to the public to “help” women achieve this ideal image and also helping businesses by making large profits from these sales.

Area support 2:  The ideal image leads women to suffer from emotional distress. Because they don’t feel like they are good enough, they find themselves feeling hopeless with los self esteem.

Area support 3:  Now children as young as 5 years old are affected by this media ideal.

Area support 4: Women take extreme measures to achieve this ideal image. These measures are plastic surgery and eating disorders.

Conclusion: Media plays a large role in the lives of the young which affects them throughout their lives. They try to make a large profit through the expense of women’s psychological development.

Nickel and Dimed by Barbara Ehrenreich

Barbara Ehrenreich’s Nickel and Dimed shined a light on the hardships encountered by the average low wage worker. I admire Enrenreich for giving up her comfortable life as a middle class citizen with a stable job, cozy home, and a car, to experience living as an unskilled low wage worker.

            I find it astonishing how people have the assumption that just by having a job, everything else will miraculously fall into place. In the passage Ehnrenreich writes, “… is that work will lift poor women out of poverty while simultaneously inflating their self esteem and hence their future value in the labor market”. This belief that dwells in the minds of many people, clearly portray their ignorance toward those who have to work one or more full time, minimum wage jobs, in an attempt make ends meet.

            In the passage, Ehrenreich tells about her experience during a “meeting” that the restaurant managers held. She spoke about how the managers, lacking respect, spoke distastefully. She also spoke of how it was just the managers that were talking. The staff was not given a chance to provide any sort of input. There was a point in time when Ehrenreich attempts to give some input, expecting the rest of the staff to support her. Unexpectedly, the staff stood silent. In the passage Ehrenreich writes, “… and I throw in my two bits about the vacuum cleaner. But I don’t see any backup coming from my fellow servers”. This showed her “middle class” thinking. In a middle class instance, employees would willingly speak up about issues that they have in terms of the workplace. However, these unskilled workers know how hard it is to find a job and therefore, would prefer to deal with their unpleasant working environment; rather than speak up and risk losing their job.

Visual Argument

I chose an environmental advertisement to be my visual argument. I found this advertisement very convincing and my primary reaction to this visual was “wow! That’s a problem!”  The use of black and white lettering and grayscale provides the picture with a sense of dreariness. The use of red lettering signifies a warning of the dangers of pollution. I found it very interesting how the "love" and "kill" are in red coloring because if you certainly loved something, you definitely would not kill it; which is what I feel the advertisement is trying to articulate. This environmental ad was very successful in conveying its message about the harmful effects of pollution.

The Veil by Marjane Satrapi

Similar to “Setting the Record Straight” by Scott McCloud, “The Veil”  written by Marjane Satrapi  combines the use  of visual art and dialogue to enlighten her readers with a story.  Through the use of comics, Satrapi is able to share her experience of being a young child during the Islamic Revolution through the perspective of a child rather than an adult. During that time, Satrapi and many others had a portion of their freedom taken from them when they were forced to wear a veil in school.

Through the use of depictive visuals and small vocabulary, Satrapi is able to portray her naivety and that of the other children towards the Islamic Revolution. For instance, Satrapi speaks of how no one really understood the reasoning to why they had to wear veils in school. To further signify the children’s lack of understanding, she shows a drawing of children using the veil to play jump rope and the use of the veil to play horseback riding. Because of the Revolution, boys and girls were separated and compelled to attend different schools.

            Satrapi truly demonstrated her naivety when she spoke of how she wanted to be a prophet. In the pursue of becoming a prophet, Satrapi had a Holy Book where she made rules. In the comic, she tells her grandmother of the rules in her Holy Book, “Rule number six: Everybody should have a car. Rule number seven: All maids should eat at the table with others. Rule number eight: No older person should have to suffer”. When her grandmother asks Satrapi how she plans to prevent the old people from suffering, she replies “it will simply be forbidden”. Due to the great influence of  religion and the Islamic leaders, Satrapi came to the assumption that her rule can be enacted by simply forbidding the existence of affliction.

Regarding the Pain of Others

War has always played a role in almost every country’s history. countries use all the resources they can acquire to build an army ready to defend its country whenever required to do so. Unfortunately, war is a violent solution to resolving disputes amongst countries. The outcome of warfare can be very tragic. Thousands and thousands of people die, buildings and homes are destroyed, and in the end, more problems are created.

In the passage “Regarding the pain of others”, Susan Sontag explains how those who are not on the frontline during times of war can view the disastrous effects through photography. Thus, people can gain a perspective and witness the pain of those who are experiencing the war firsthand. Photographers develop these pictures and present them to the public, hoping to open the eyes of people to the severity of war; As a result, motivate society to put an end to war and attempt at other means to solving disputes peacefully rather than violently.

Given that the photos can be quite explicit, the government made the decision to place a censorship on the kinds of photos that can be published and the number of photographers than can capture the battle through their camera lenses. Therefore, are able to filter out any pictures that can have an exaggerated emotional effect on the eyes of the public. In the essay Susan Sontag writes, “The first organized ban on press photography at the front came during the First World War; both the German and the French high commands allowed only a few selected military photographers near the fight”. This just goes to show how significant censorship was during times of war that even the commanders were instructed to stress this restriction. I feel that the censorship should be more lenient on the kinds of photos that can be published. Those who are not serving in combat have the right to witness war for what it really is; That is, a catastrophic approach to solving quarrels.   

Dispatches from Iraq

Reading “Dispatches from Iraq” brought a large sense of remorse for the courageous men and women who are in the Middle East fighting for the wellbeing of our nation. The experiences that these soldiers have documented remind me of the constant dangers they must endure on a daily basis. The location of these soldiers does not guarantee them a “safe zone” by any means. They constantly have to be aware of their surroundings and instantly react to any slight chance of possible danger. I can only imagine how difficult it must be living in constant awareness that there may not be a tomorrow. In the passage, Commander Edward W. Jewell writes “On deck is a different world. For safety we are on the “darken ship” status now. This means no external light, and all windows are covered to block transmission. The goal is to make the ship invisible or nearly so to evildoers trying to locate the ship in the dark” (326).  To insure their safety, the soldiers must always be a step ahead of the enemy.

            An additional element that completely bottled my mind was the fact that many of these soldiers have tolerated all these traumatic experiences for such a long period of time; they become accepting of their surroundings. Clinical psychologist Captain Lisa R, Blackman writes “It was as if they didn’t remember how hard and unusual it is to be at war. They’re used to the danger” (330). Funerals become part of the daily routine and the only way to cope with this ill-fated circumstance is to accept it. The soldiers do not only have to suffer from physical pain, but they also undergo psychological distress. As a result of war, the soldiers return home suffering from Depression and other war-related disorders. War redefines the meaning of a normal life. The significance of peace becomes nonexistent. 

Reading these documentations from the soldiers at war flooded me with guilt. We take so much for granted. For instance, although we are not guaranteed a tomorrow, unlike the soldiers, we expect that we will wake the next morning.   We have easy access to heat when the weather becomes cold and air conditioning when it becomes hot. If we want water, we can simply turn a knob and lo and behold, running water! We can walk out of the house without fearing that we will be attacked. All these luxuries go unnoticed. The simple fact that these soldiers put their lives in jeopardy in every way, shape and form for the greater good of the nation, is the flawless example of heroism.

Text Redesign

Personally, I feel that aural modality is not as effective as visual modality. With that being said, aural modality does not allow the audience to create a perspective. Thus, they must view the situation through the eyes of the author; therefore, the audience’s viewpoint becomes absent.  Through aural modality, the author would need much description in his writing to enable the reader to create a visual in his/her mind. On the contrary, a visual modality is the strongest element in conveying a message.  Rather than just seeing, the audience can also feel what the author is trying to portray. Taking the following into account, I have concluded that a comic strip would best represent my Wires Narrative. The strip does not only contain a visual but also some script, making the message being conveyed more effective.