Image by nbcnews.com
This image was captured in the aftermath of a major humanitarian crisis that shook the world.
On April 21, 2014, 276 Nigerian schoolgirls were kidnapped by the Boko Haram terrorist organization. In response to the Nigerian government’s poor handling of the situation, protests erupted from parents and their communities. Their signs were painted with the words, “Bring back out girls”. News of the horrific event spread across the globe. Western celebrities began joining the conversation, begging their country’s government to intervene. NBC news arrived on the scene to record the uproar of events that followed and captured this image that shows the critical nature of the situation.
This photo is commanding the Nigerian government to take action and save the school girls that they have sworn to protect.
I am drawn to this image because I can sense the despair and desperation these women feel. These girls are their children. I feel there is so much historical context behind this photo. What has occurred is arguably one of the worst events in human history. Hundreds of lives are lost. Physically lost. These families do not know if their daughters are dead or alive. The image also poses questions. It makes accusations against those in control. How could a government fail its people like this? I expect to explore how this image is meant to impact more than just the Nigerian government. The women holding the signs will take any countries’ aid. They just want their daughters back.
This image has a strong comparison to the artifact I chose for my civic engagement speech. Both images deal with children, and the failure of a government to protect them. I feel I can expand upon the ideas I present in my speech to strengthen my argument for the essay. I plan to focus on the images failed appeal of ethos, and how they both present a call to action. My primary goal is to correctly analyze the nature of this photo and how it affected communities around the world.
This was an interesting post. I think you can expand on these ideas a lot more, but I’m not sure if you were limiting your brainstorming for the clarity of this blog post. On Monday, you seemed to have a wide range of ideas for your speech, and I wonder just where your thesis has grown to in these past couple of days. I can see from this post that you have a strong connection the use of kids as a pathetic appeal in civic artifacts. Because of that, I would suggest using children and their connections to these horrific events as a jumping off point for the rest of your essay. Further, you are focusing on the emotions a lot right now. At the end of this post you briefly mentioned a lack of ethos. Consider bolstering your essay with kairotic and logical appeals. I think this will help you relate the intended audience and the speaker with the image, and find a stronger comparison between the two images.
I definitely believe you have some strong ideas and will do awesome things with them! Think about what your speech thesis is and your essay thesis is. Maybe that will help you find a comparison between the two.
Great work.
This image conveys a very emotional message with very few words. The despair and grief expressed on the faces of the women clearly shows their thoughts and invokes similar feelings in the viewer. Although I have never seen this photograph, I think it is something that carries a deep ideological sense and can be deeply analyzed and compared to your first image. It may have been beneficial to include your first image that your speech is on so the reader could easily compare the two if they had not seen the original image. I also did not include my original image in my blog post so I could benefit from including it as well. I think the image is a good medium to compare and contrast and can provide substance for the claim you choose to make in your essay.
I feel like elaborating on the images’ failed ethos would bring it closer to being a solid essay. And yes, you can definitely expand on your ideas. Another thing that you can do is bring to light the pathos of the image as well, should you choose to do so, as I think that’s the strongest appeal in the image. You can see the emotions of these families, and you can write how they invoke a specific response in the viewer. You also pose a good question in this draft. Overall, great work!
This image is definitely powerful and there is a lot to analyze. From what I remember of your speech image, it rhetorically coincides plentifully with this one. When looking at this image it evokes a powerful emotional response, so the pathos appeal is something you certainly what you want to go in depth with for a main point. As you mentioned, the failure of ethos would also be an interesting part to cover, but also the lack of logos, and how well this image is able to compel us with such a lack of 2/3 of Aristotle’s ideas.