Prete 1
Anthony Prete
Professor Stiffler
Comp 1503, CRN 860
10 September 2014
Discussing Imagery
Images and how they appear on a page have a way of controlling how people view them. In issue two of Understanding Rhetoric, the authors and illustrators explain how pictures or illustrations play a key role with the reader's imagination. The writers of this book used Frederick Douglass as an example throughout issue two because he was a key person on how people use imagination.
When portraits and early photographs were used it was usually for important or rich people. Frederick Douglass used and controlled the way he looked in an image, so people would analyze him in a certain way. For example, in pages 82 and 83 it shows two pictures of Frederick Douglass. On page 82 it shows Douglass how he wants to be portrayed with a mild expression, and features that showed his biracial heritage.
Retouched portrait of Frederick Douglass taken in ...
Frederick Douglass with his second wife Helen Pitt...
The gravestone of Frederick Douglass located at Mo...On page 83 Douglass ridiculed an illustrator for illustrating himself in a much more kindly and amiable expression. This was important to him because he was a former slave. A happy portrait doesn't portray or characterize a former slave.
When the authors and illustrators include images they have to be careful. When they used quotes from Fredrick Douglas' book they had to be cautious on what the image expressed. For example, when Frederick Douglass was explaining that the slave owners were kidnappers and beasts, the illustrators had to create an image of the slave owners being beasts waiting for their prey.
For many years illustrators have drawn images and have controlled how people view them. Certain images are thought out carefully when they are used because it affects how people analyze the image and how it goes with words. Understanding Rhetoric shows great examples of...