Month: September 2020
Rhetorical Analysis Essay
ToniAnn Servider 9/29/2020
RCL
Rhetorical Analysis Essay
How to Tame Women
Throughout the 1950s about only 33 percent of women were part of the labor force while the remainder of women took on the role of the housewife. This statistic should be no surprise as most advertisements that circulated newspapers, televisions, billboards and window displays depicted women fitting the role of the homemaker. Mr. Leggs advertisement is promoting their men’s dress slacks alluding to the ideology of a dominating patriarchy. It is evident to see in this advertisement that the man who is wearing the slacks has his foot on the head of his presumable wife, and her body is made up of an animal fur skin rug. The caption below the visual offers a summarizing description of what can be taken away from the ad telling the audience women can be captured as easily as buying a pair of pants. This advertisement knew it was not just selling a tangible item to men but was also selling the common place that women are inferior. An advertisement that helps develop Mr. Leggs kairotic moment is a World War Two propaganda poster encouraging women to apply in the U.S employment services. The propaganda poster exhibits a Rosie the Riveter type character, dressed in work clothes, holding a power drill focusing on the job at hand. Tools such as ethos and pathos are utilized strongly between these two advertisements in addition with Kairos. The Mr. Leggs advertisement and U.S employment service World War Two propaganda poster are key driving forces in the stagnant role of women in the house and not out in the labor force.
Knowing the context of these advertisements and the history enriched rhetorical situation is imperative to be able to fully grasp how Kairos played a successful role in persuading the audience with the commonplace. The U.S Employment Services advertisement evidently came out on the cusp of heightened tensions during World War Two. It was successful in attracting an immense number of women to take up factory jobs, ration food and other labor activities to help their economy and create a sense of unity within the national community. For the time being the existence of a trophy wife diminished and women were called to take the man’s job. From the visible aspect seen from this ad, we see the women worker focused down at her work and nothing else, women were selfless and did not look forward towards their future, only the country’s. Once the war was over, there was an enormous amount of pressure women felt, whether to stay in the labor force or return to their household and spousal duties. Unfortunately, there was a significant decline of women present in the workforce, as many men took back the jobs they left behind to participate in the war. The U.S Employment Services and many similar ads in that time frame were successful in achieving a present, short term victory. But as we can see in the Mr. Leggs slacks advertisement, there was the carryover of women still being suppressed to stay contained to the home environment. This ad also holds a successful kairotic moment as a mass number of women did not enter back into the workforce until the mid/late 1960s, thanks to the second wave of feminism. Again, Mr. Leggs was successful in pushing women down to the bottom of the chain and not letting them venture into the workforce for another 10-15 years. Both these advertisements illustrate strong use of Kairos to ensure the notion that weak women must conform to the needs of men before their own, especially in the realm of job opportunities.
The Mr. Leggs and U.S Employment services advertisements are similar in that they share a commonplace of women being inferior to men while boosting a man’s ego. It is easily noticeable to recognize that both these ads depict this commonplace, between the visual setup and captions that were utilized. Diving into the Mr. Leggs slacks advertisement, they persuade their audience with this commonplace by the physical positioning of the male and female. They only convey the bottom half of the male with his foot on top of his counterpart’s head, not even his whole body, but just that is enough to specify his dominance in the relationship. It is demeaning to be the women in this ad, being utilized and only seen as a household object, being placed so low to the ground, further and further away from shattering the glass ceiling. To also not even show the rest of the woman’s body and connect it to fur skin rug, informs the audience that before a woman is in a relationship, they are wild animals that must be hunted, tamed even, and taken home as a prize to be confined to only your living space. The caption in this ad even states, “Though she was a tiger lady, our hero didn’t have to fire a shot to floor her” , conveying to the audience that the strong, mighty male did this woman a favor by taking her off the street and giving her a proper housewife role; the man must take matters into his own hands. The U.S Employment Services ad displays a strikingly similar commonplace but more with their caption than physical placement. The caption states, “Do the job HE left behind”, once again bringing up that notion that men were the ones who always took matters into their own hands as if they did not have a choice and they have provided so much for their wives and children. This advertisement insinuates that women are only given the opportunity to join the workforce now because they are a second option, enforcing the ideology of men being above them in status and preference. This advertisement adds fuel to the fire by reinforcing a commonplace that will live on for the next 25 years. It is also important to recognize the timing of when these ads were releases to public gaze.
Starting with the Mr. Leggs slacks advertisement, the advertisement promptly exhibits an appeal to pathos. The audience targeted for this advertisement is mainly men, but also calls for women to look deeply into the context of this advertisement and recognize their role bounded to the home environment. The advertisement is trying to make men feel good about themselves. Physically by having the proper, form fitting exterior appearance to land that job or grab a lady to make their wife; mentally it calls to a need for men to constantly establish their dominance over women by putting them down. For women, it undeniably creates a feeling of frustration that the world is introduced to yet another ad that enforces the notion of suppressing women’s want to leave the role of housewife. The U.S Employment Service ad during the time of World War two also utilizes the tool of pathos to produce a need for unity as a country and to support the men who are fighting. As this advertisement does encourage women to join the labor force, it is not doing so in a positive outcome for women. This advertisement evokes a sense of empowerment more focused on men, making it seem like women need to take these jobs not to feel good about themselves, but to make their men proud. The use of pathos here is more amplified in the caption, as it states, “Do the job HE left behind” establishing a sense of guilt in women by requiring helping their husbands and families. Women gladly did the jobs, they were led on to believe that this was a permanent situation once the war was over, but they were just put back into a box.
Following the enraging emotions generated by the Mr. Leggs and U.S Employment Service ads we can analyze the use of ethos. Ethos plays just as a significant part in the message portrayed in these advertisements. First, it is imperative to acknowledge that the company Mr. Leggs is the speaker in the 1950s advertisement. They do acquire credibility to persuade men to purchase their slacks, as they are a pants company. But they do not hold the right credibility to affect the positions of men and women throughout all aspects in the world. Mr. Leggs does not have the right to enforce women to stay in the home and discourage them from venturing out of the housewife norm. Similarly, the U.S Employment Service advertisement does uphold more of an ethical standpoint than Mr. Leggs does but still does not provide a positive underlying message to women. As being a government employment service, they have credibility and the right to persuade a mass number of women to join the labor force. The advertisement is released in a time of need, they will take all the help they can get to keep the country on their feet and not slip into a financial brink. The U.S Employment service develops a relationship with women that they previously did not have before, trying to empower them, making them feel significantly needed, but guilt tripping them as well.
These advertisements are not as mainstream today as they were during their time period, but they left a strong impression on all parts of their audience in many ways. They both attained the attention of men and women in blatantly showing them their hierarchical statuses in the world. It is evident to see that Mr. Leggs and the U.S Employment Services sell the commonplace that women are inferior to men. To strengthen this commonplace, both advertisements utilize pathos and ethos to persuade their audiences to buy into their messages. The correct execution of Kairos also assisted these ads in deploying a long lasting stagnant, stale role of women present in the labor force.
Off to Italy!
To conclude my junior year Europe trip with my school the last country we traveled to was Italy, the one I’ve been waiting for. But before we arrived there we were able to take a surprise pit stop in Monte Carlo. To be honest I forgot this place existed but I’m glad I will always remember it now. We stopped in Monaco for a couple of hours and it had the most beautiful botanical gardens. After a bit of an uphill walk, we were at the edge of high up opening and got to see the whole shoreline and out to the sea and it was such a breath taking sight. I am so grateful we were fortunate enough to quickly stop there but take in a lifetime worth of views and memories. We hopped back onto the bus to get to Italy and the first city we stayed at there was Florence. I was so excited to be immersed into the Italian culture because that is were most of my ancestors are from and is a huge part of my ethnicity. We first walked through a flea market and immediately it provided me with a sense of home, the smell of the fresh salami and prosciutto, the leather handbags and jackets and the stunning ceramic pieces. After we arrived at the Florence Duomo and the architecture was stunning, I just wish we had time to go inside. Although Florence was not as scenic, the atmosphere provided by the food and people were enough to make me feel content.
After our stay in Florence, we ventured off to Venice. Venice was my favorite stop out of the entire trip; I felt like I was in another universe the landscape was indescribable. I was stunned to see the myriads of canals that just run straight through the city but they are absolutely beautiful. Of course, as any tourist would, I went on a gondola ride and it was not overrated in the slightest. The water was a strangely beautiful teal blue, I had never seen anything quite like it. I got to walk over so many bridges that highlighted the canals and the natural light that entered through them, the environment made me feel as if I was in movie, I never wanted to leave. Even though this does not connect to sight seeing and nature, I was glad I got to put my Italian speaking to work and used it as much as possible. I spoke Italian to natives when I asked for directions or was ordering at a restaurant and only spoke English when necessary, it was very invigorating. Some of the best pictures I have ever taken, are from Venice, and as usual I will share them with you all below. If you ever have the opportunity, definitely try to visit Venice, it is life changing.
Civic artifact speech draft
Men how would you like to have a leg up on women in every aspect as possible, sounds tempting right? Unfortunately this offer has expired almost 50 years ago. My artifact from the 1950s displays the unjust status men held over women in the home and outside environment. Surrounding this era, sexism was the norm, which excused mens behaviors and there were myriads of advertisements that put women down. There is a hierarchical placement depicted here inferring that women must be submissive to household needs. In this advertisement by Mr.Leggs, they are advertising a pair of men’s work slacks to be worn for work and daily activities. The advertisement evidently shows the bottom half of a man with his foot on top of a women’s head, but the rest of her body is replaced by an animal skin rug and the caption claiming “It’s nice to have a girl around the house”. This advertisement is prevalent in civic life and engagement because it is persuading both men to go to work and women to not engage in the labor force and fulfill household duties.
Although Mr. Leggs tried to convey to their audience that they were just selling a pair of pants, they were also selling the idea that women can be easily captured and placed right in the home as a worker and and object of display. The commonplace I analyzed from this advertisement the superiority men hold over women. The message Mr. Leggs was trying to pass onto their audience was that women are wild and must be tamed by men and placed in the cage of a home to be able to answer to any beckon and calls her husband has. The advertisement was successful in getting its message across but only benefitted one part of the audience. The message was strong enough to keep women out of the labor force and in the home for another 10-12 years before there was a rise in the number of women who participated in the labor force; this was a setback for women but a leg up for the men’s egos (no pun intended). Rhetorical tools were firmly utilized here such as ethos and pathos. From the ethos standpoint, a men’s slack company does not have the proper entitlement for conveying the masses of women that they are inferior to men. They do not hold the proper expertise or right to tell men to treat women as pieces of meat. From the pathos standpoint, it is evident that this advertisement can provoke a strong feeling of anger and frustration for women. They might feel they are stuck in their roles and there is no escape of this toxic environment. They will feel the complete opposite of what the woman is depicted as, with a grin slapped on her face.
As I mentioned before the message connected to this advertisement was successful but in a negative way. The advertisement was successful in achieving a kairotic moment, the timing of the release of this advertisement was impeccable. When this advertisement was presented to the public, it was roughly a little bit after the end of World War Two and during this historical event many women were active in the labor force to help the war effort and keep their families on their feet. But after the war women were faced with an immense pressure to either stay with their factory jobs or fully return to their roles of household and spousal duties. The advertisement achieved the goal of keeping majority of women stagnant, trapped in housewife roles because about 75% of women returned to these roles after the war. It was not til about 10-15 years later that women became more present in the labor force. This advertisement and many others released during this time were responsible for pressuring women to not go against gender roles and remain locked in their homes.
It is important to recognize the difference in treatment that women received back then and now, evaluating how much they have overcome. This Mr. Leggs advertisement would not be socially acceptable in present day civic life and if it was circulated through contemporary media, there certainly would be a massive outbreak led by women. Due to the second and third wave feminist waves, women have established a dominant roles for themselves in society, especially in labor and political settings. These two waves are responsible for breaking the norms of the minority of women allowed in the labor force and having a much louder voice in society. There are still many boundaries that need to be broken in order to create a totally equivalent society between males and females but they have most definitely come a long way. What I would like to leave my fellow peers with is, how does this advertisement for subtly advertising a brand of mens slacks turn so quickly to reinforce women’s position compared to mens?
Rhetorical Analysis Paper Introduction
“How to Tame Women”
Throughout the 1950s about only 33 percent of women were part of the labor force while the remainder of women took on the role of the housewife. This statistic should be no surprise as the majority of advertisements that circulated newspapers, televisions, billboards and window displays depicted women fitting the role of the homemaker. Mr. Leggs advertisement is promoting their men’s dress slacks alluding to the ideology of a dominating patriarchy. It is evident to see in this advertisement that the man who is wearing the slacks has his foot on the head of his presumable wife, and her body is made up of an animal fur skin rug. The caption below the visual offers a summarizing description of what can be taken away from the ad telling the audience women can be captured as easily as buying a pair of pants. This advertisement knew it was not just selling a tangible item to men, but was also selling the common place that women are inferior. advertisement that assist contradicting this one but also helps develop Mr. Leggs kairotic moment is a World War Two propaganda poster encouraging women to apply in the U.S employment services.Tools such as ethos and pathos are utilized very heavily between these two advertisements in addition with the help of kairos. The Mr. Leggs advertisement and this U.S employment service World War Two propaganda poster are key driving forces in the stagnant role of women in the house and not out in the labor force.
Onto the next…
Spain was such an amazing experience that really took my breathe away. I could not wait to get to our next destination. The hours in between leaving Barcelona and arriving in Provence were long and tiring. My school traveled on a tremendous coach bus to get from location to location and it was painful. On the bright side I was able to talk to my friends and we had a really energetic tour guide that always kept us on our feet. In addition I was glad I was able to see the countryside of these different countries, it was a huge difference between the city life we were going to be occupying. I loved when the driver would take a break and we got to go into the different rest stops because they were nothing like the ones in America, they definitely felt much cleaner. I did not have high hopes for France because I was not going to be immersed into the major cities I was familiar with. My predictions were true about Provence sadly, but different when we arrived in Nice (pronounced niece). The two cities varied from each other quite substantially but I was grateful to experience traveling to both of them.
Provence did not hold the big city energy I was looking for. It was more of a hidden location in a countryside setting and had a more antique presence to it. There were cobblestone castles when you first enter and it held a strong medieval times vibe. I felt very bored in this city sadly and just felt there was nothing to see or do. I had never heard of the city of Nice before so I did not know what to expect there either. Nice was more of a comfortable and familiar setting for me. The food there was exquisite and the scenery was stunning. The buildings were so brightly colored and the people present in the atmosphere were so kind. One sight that really stuck out to me here was the beach. Now this was not your conventional beach that you would be used to on the east or west coast. Instead of sand, they were rocks, which may lead you to believe it was not comfortable to lay on but honestly quite the opposite. The light gray rocks were so smooth and comforting to lay down on, the ocean was glistening a light blue, so aesthetically pleasing to look at. Standing on the edge of the ocean offered you a background of the city’s skyline and it was quite mesmerizing.
Outline for Civic Artifact
- Present my artifact
- The context surrounding this artifact that is originally supposed to be advertising for a brand of mens work slacks called Mr. Leggs. I would explain that it was common for advertisements similar to this one were very prevalent in this time period and were considered the norm. Also will be highlighting the subtle message depicted here as well.
- Secondly, I will explain the broader context of the layout of the advertisement, by touching upon the visual setup and the caption right below it. In addition I will possibly be comparing and contrasting here the contents of the caption and the action displayed above it.
2. The rhetorical situation and tools used.
- I will touch upon the commonplace that is presented by this artifact and how it gets its job done at persuading the audience at hand. I will talk about if I believe if it was successful in getting its message across to viewers and what that message may be.
- Next I will look at how rhetorical tools such as ethos, logos and pathos develop a relationship between the artifact and the viewers. All three can be applied in some way; for example, a pants company doesn’t have the expertise to talk about the status of women compared to men. For pathos, this cam evoke angry, powerful emotions in all women who lay their gaze onto this ad.
3. Communicate the strong use of Kairos and its connection to history
- Discuss the basis of Kairos and how it was used extremely successful here. This is a perfect example of executing Kairos to its full extent. But will also present the question of, even thought the execution of kairos was on point, does it present a negative or positive situation.
- Will also tie in the history of why kairos was used in a good setting here. Relating to the fact this advertisement came out in the 1950s, post World War Two. Around this time many women were faced with a tough decision and immense pressure of whether to continue holding their jobs in factories or returning back to previous household and spousal duties.
4. Wrap it up
- Bring it to present day progress of women and how far they have come and how an advertisement like this would certainly not see the light of day in today’s media.
- Tie in the ways of how the feminist waves have established a change for women post the publishing of this advertisement and various others like it.
The next stop
I have always been so accustomed to traveling within the United States. When I was younger I would constantly beg my parents to take us overseas or even to Hawaii, but it was just never within reach for us. I was grateful to drive all these lengths to see the different states but I still had a strong yearning to venture further. I did not have a specific place in mind, just anywhere that wasn’t home. I would become so envious of my friends who got to travel overseas every summer or school break. I would live vicariously through their lives and ask them to send me postcards/pictures and even bring me back a piece of their vacation. Looking back, I had obtained a sand collection as gifts from friends who went to tropical islands. For example I have glass bottles of sand from Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic, Cayman Islands and Riviera Maya. These small grains of sand give me the sensation that I was able to walk along those beaches and be apart of their atmospheres.
I started to become hopeless that I would never have the chance to travel outside the United States but finally that day had come. My junior year of high school, the language department was organizing a Europe trip for 10 days traveling across Spain, France and Italy. Reluctantly, my parents made it happen where I was able to go and I am forever grateful for that experience. The first new soil I encountered was Barcelona, Spain; even looking down at it from ten thousands of feet in the sky, I knew it would be a special place. Barcelona was such a diverse city, you are immersed within the loud nightlife but are able to walk 15 minutes away so elongated beach strip, nothing like New York City that’s for sure. I was astonished to see how crystal blue the ocean was and I wish I was able to swim in it but it was too cold out. The city offered such amazing natural light fixtures I loved walking through the farmers market on the antique cobblestone admiring all the handwork done by locals. One of more outstanding features I had come across during my short visit there was at the Park Guell. There was a land feature that was disproportional and slanted looking made out of limestone or some other type of mineral I believe, but it was truly like nothing I had ever seen before. Barcelona was truly an amazing place and it was only the first leg of the trip, I had high expectations for what was coming next
Cross Country Roadtrip
My topic that will run throughout this passion blog is the idea of nature I see while traveling to places near and far. A trip I would like to highlight on for this post is my cross country road trip with my family in 2015. We drove from Long Island, New York to Las Vegas, Nevada over the span of three days, then took an extended drive to California and on the way back stopped at the Four corners. I had no idea what routes we were taking, or what my eyes would fall upon through my car window but I was excited. Driving from New York through Pennsylvania did not excite me as much because I was already accustomed to those landscapes. Driving past that boundary made me very excited, By the second day I had started to realize I was seeing a lot of plains, mainly Iowa and Nebraska, but there was also a beauty to them as well. Driving through the never ending plain fields, they offered me some sort of comfort even though they were an unusual sight to me. The plains offer a description within itself, it was such a simple sight but with that simplicity came serenity. Even when I stepped out of my car for the first time in a while to feel the Nebraska soil, I appreciated the fresh quality of air I breathed in as well.
The sight that really stood out to me was when I was driving through the Rocky Mountains. This was the second best physical land feature I had ever laid my eyes on. The drive through them was very long but was very worth viewing that entire time. There are mountain ranges in New York, but there was nothing that could compare, I felt that I was in another universe. Seeing the snow capped mountains in the middle of April had me in awe. I wish I was able to step out of the car and get to see them at a closer view or maybe even stand on it but I’ll take what I can get. Just being able to see them once in my lifetime was enough, I will have that scenery implanted in my mind forever. The first best physical land feature I was enamored with was the Grand Canyon. It truly did live up to all the hype surrounding it and I had no doubts about that. It’s hard to believe how vast it is, even when you see it in person. Being surrounded by that beauty created such a deep appreciation for life and what nature has to offer. After I saw the Grand Canyon, that started the passion I had for viewing new places and taking in all the beauty that encompasses it.
Kairos powerfully affecting a Civic Artifact
Looking deeper into my civic artifact from last week’s assignment, the concept of Kairos was a powerful element in the rhetorical situation. To refresh, my civic artifact was an ad from the early 1950s that provoked the commonplace that women’s position were inferior to men and they must be submissive to them. About right after World War 2 ended and women were used to the roles they had in factory jobs, they felt an enormous amount of pressure to either continue working or quit to go back to household duties. The idea of the woman being at home became a cherished and self perpetuated core of contemporary American culture according to Betty Friedan in her book the Feminine Mystique. The time period this advertisement came out was in perfect Kairos effect. The advertisement, while putting women down, also persuaded them to remain in the home environment instead of acquiring jobs in factories or getting an education to have a professional job. The urgency that Kairos presented in this rhetorical situation was powerful and achieved its purpose of keeping women locked in the housewife atmosphere rather than making a living for themselves. It is even evident to see that the ability of kairos was powerful because it was not until the late 1960s that women’s labor force participation went up almost forty percent. The advertisement heavily resonated with the audience of both males and females, encouraging men to go back to work and for women to stay stagnant and maintain an orderly household. At the time, the only part that the use of Kairos was not successful in was acknowledging both sides of the arguments made available by the rhetorical situation. The audience did not realize the problem of putting women down in society and suppressing them for going out and earning money for themselves. Kairos is a powerful tool and was heavily utilized as a smart move with the release of this advertisement in its time period.
Commonplace
Throughout the course of history, it was known in all aspects of society that women were inferior to men. They are always a couple steps behind them due to implanted societal norms that have never been questioned for a long time. Although it has taken a while for women to obtain certain rights and privileges thankfully to three waves of the feminist movement, there is still much more to be accomplished. Taking a look at this 1950s advertisement, it is apparent to see the commonplace that women are always seen unequal to men. Women are automatically compared to being contained to the house and can even been seen as a household item in this advertisement. Back then women knew “their place” as tending to duties around the house and practically being their husbands’s maid. One side of the poster depicts the bottom half of a man stepping on the head of women who is connected to an animal skin rug. The wording under this picture states, “It’s nice to have a girl around the house” persuading the audience, of predominantly males, to hunt a girl, bring her home and have your house always looking spiffy. Having the women’s head connected to the rug displays two things; the first is that it alludes to the fact that women are vulnerable and easy to capture. The second is with the so-called husband placing his foot on top of his wife’s head implies a forceful connotation that simply men are superior to women and women must succumb to their male counterparts. It also creates the persuasion that women are wild beast in a way and men must take on the noble hero status and tame them. The commonplace of this poster complies with a number of stereotypes that women are lower to men on a hierarchal status and that a man must swoop in and provide them a life or they will continue to be wild and a nuisance to society on their own.