In Part II of Lindsey Addario’s novel, It’s What I Do, a scene that really caught my attention and stood out to me was a rather hostile scene and encounter Addario had with the Pakistani men, while she was there taking photographs. In the scene, which is found on pages 73 to 74, Addario is dressed as a traditional Muslim woman but is still recognized to be a foreigner since she had a camera and was trespassing in a “man’s world” (Addario 73). She explains how the Pakistani men perceive foreign women based on what they saw in movies, which was easy and available for sex. This had a major effect on Addario and her work. The men grabbed her, groped her, and treated her like an object, and she had to try to ignore it the best she could to focus and get a good shot. Eventually, she could not handle it anymore, and she lashed out and hit a man with her camera. She then runs back to the car full of other photographers, whom were all men, recognizing the fact that they are completely oblivious to what she had just gone through to compose even one frame of a picture.

Addario used a variety of strategies to draw in her audience, but the main one I noticed was her use of very descriptive language and diction. The way she described the men touching her made me feel repulsed and aroused a strong sense of anger in me, as if I could have also hit one of the men with a camera. Addario states, “this time it wasn’t a subtle feel but an aggressive, wide-handed clutch, butt to crotch, back to front. I kept shooting” (74). Her vivid, honest, and non-filtered description of this event makes the situation really get the reader’s attention, out of pure disbelief and horror. It makes the reader really feel what she is feeling. This is Addario’s way of addressing the issue with how badly foreign women are treated in certain countries such as Pakistan. She wants others to understand the hardships she went through to keep pursuing her passion. Like she mentions at the end of this scene, she endured all this abuse just to try to get at least one decent picture. That proves how strongly Addario feels about photography.

I could adopt these strategies when I am writing my passion blog because I believe that strong descriptive language and diction is the best way to engage a reader in a piece of writing. Especially with my passion, which involves the topic of love, I want my readers to truly feel what I am feeling. I hope that the language in my writing really triggers the emotions of my readers in an invigorating way. By using strong descriptions of my experiences and my emotions, I hope I educate my readers and inspire them to become more open to love.

-CH