Child Abuse in the Home
Lindsey Saldanha
English 1312
Abstract
The purpose of this essay is to discuss the audience, purpose, rhetorical appeals, structure, style and language in two different genres that convey the same message. One genre is a photograph posted on the Tennyson Center for Children webpage, and the other is a music video of a song sung by Martina McBride and produced by Paul Worley and Martina McBride posted on Youtube. These two particular genres were selected because both of them convey just how close to home child abuse really is. Both the genres use pathos to channel the message they are trying to get across to the audience.
Child Abuse in the Home
For quite some time, child abuse was thought to be something that only occurred low socioeconomic areas, and that children were being abused by people that the family and child were unfamiliar with. As a result, many believed little could be done to prevent such occurrences. However, both genres depict child abuse occurring in the home in which the child resides, but both genres depict this information in different ways.
In the photograph the photographer intended to capture the audience with the emotion in the photograph. The photographer portrays the fear and anguish the child endures due to the obvious abuse she is suffering through at the hands of the male figure depicted in the photograph. The audience this picture is geared towards is adults who are looking for more information on child abuse. The purpose of this photograph is to illustrate to the audience what a child must endure in the face of abuse.
The second genre, the music video is a story about a young girl facing abuse from her mother. In the video the young girl goes to school where her teacher notices the bruises on her arm, but she ignores them. The young girl is befriended by a young boy, who is actually an angel. One night the young girl is talking to the little boy and her mother catches her and beats her. After her mother beats her, the video shows and ambulance and police cars at the house. The end of the video depicts the little girl’s grave, and a group of people at her funeral, including the little boy. The little girl becomes an angel and she and the little boy run off to go play with another group of young angel children, who were also abused and killed. The audience for this video consists of people who enjoy music by Martina McBride, as well as individuals looking for visual representations of child abuse. The purpose of this video is to illustrate the hardships a child must withstand with an abusive parent or caregiver.
The rhetorical appeal used in the first genre is pathos. The photographer uses the black and white to instill a sense of stillness to the photograph, and then the young girl cowering in the corner from her screaming father. The image pulls at a sensitive part inside a person. Seeing a scared, helpless child jerks at the emotional need to help them. By doing this the photographer brings these emotions to the surface, and thus causes individuals feel very strongly, at least temporarily, about what is occurring in the photograph.
The second genre also uses pathos as the rhetorical appeal. The video begins with a shot that pans from the mother’s room, where she is sitting on her bed smoking a cigarette, and then it shows the little girl leaving for school. The video goes on to show life the little girl lives. The video depicts the teacher noticing the bruises on the child’s arm, but she does nothing. This lack of action causes an emotional response from the viewers. Viewers cannot help but feel a sense of betrayal from the teacher, because as a teacher and an adult it is her responsibility to act when she notices a child in need, but she does not. In the end when the little girl dies the audience cannot help but feel that is could have been prevented if someone had spoken out.
The structure of the photograph is composed of a black and white image in which the little girl and the shadow are the main focus of the photograph. The use of just black and white in the photograph helps prevent the viewer from getting distracted by insignificant colors and other images, and keeps the focus on the child and the parent, which aids the rhetorical appeal pathos.
Unlike the photograph, which is comprised of just one image, the video is made up of several. The order of the scenes in the video help portray the life of the child. The fact that the video is in color gives it a more vivid and life like feel for the audience. The plainness of the video also makes it easier for the audience to believe and relate to.
The photograph lacks language, therefore there is no clear message that the image is sending. It is left to the interpretation of the audience. However, though the photograph lacks language, the image that is depicted is of a scared child, which does provoke the rhetorical appeal pathos.
Unlike the photograph, the video does not lack language. The video has lyrics to the song Martina McBride is singing while the video was playing. The lyrics in the song help direct the audience to interpret what the video is trying to portray.
Though both genres convey the same message, and both genres use pathos as the rhetorical appeal, the video is more effective at conveying the message as well as portraying pathos. The lack of language in the photograph leaves a lot of room for interpretation from the audience, but the video has a song playing in the background of the scenes, which helps guide the audience to the desired conclusion.
References
Crosby, Rob (Writer). (2002). Concrete Angel [Web]. Available from
[Untitled photograph of screaming parent]. Retrieved February 10, 2011, from:
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