The photo I chose was taken in the year 1940 by Marion Wolcott, it is titled Boys fishing in a bayou, Schriever, La. Cajun children in a bayou near the school. It depicts two young boys, fishing in a bayou near a school yard. The 1940’s propaganda ran wild. The American people were told to believe that they needed to support the war and that the enemy where complete animals. Sometimes the enemy would even be depicted as inhuman characters. It was like the American people were not able to think from themselves, and they told that they should put most of their effort and lives into the war. (Wikipedia: United States home front during World War II). I think this picture is a statement, that the children have choice to think for themselves, and do not have to follow the propaganda. This becomes apparent when you look through a rhetoric lens and use the brightness, hue, saturation, chirping, and vectors of attention techniques.
The vectors of attention are depicted by Compose Design Advocate as a way to direct your attention to a certain spot by the way the people-or objects-are arranged in the photograph. In this particular photograph the two boys have their attention on the bayou. This arrangement directs the viewer’s attention to that of the bayou. This example of logos in the photograph inspires ethos and pathos in the viewer. The boys looking at the bayou brings up a mysterious even scary feeling to the bayou. It is like the bayou is the propaganda that the boys are supposed to follow. It is like the boys are looking at the bayou and wondering to themselves if they should conform to this way of thinking.
When you look at this picture with a historical context, the statement of hope, freedom, and peace become extremely apparent in this situation. During this time and age, Louisiana and the rest of the world was trying to cope with World War II. They were forced to ration their food and electricity, so that it could go to the war efforts. Many people left Louisiana to pursue jobs that were abundant in many other areas to once again help support the war. Many Americans where fighting overseas in the Second World War. These people where fighting other human beings just like themselves, I don’t really think it’s fair for one to be depicted and treated in such a human way. 
If you also look at the historical context of the picture, you will notice the boys are not necessarily dressed to impress. This tells you a little bit about the boy’s financial situation at the time. During that time, overalls and sun hats would have been a very popular dress for young boys. This reminds of the story of Huckleberry Fin because of this style of dress. In the book Huck Fin, the main character is depicted wearing a sun hat, overalls, and no shoes. They are sitting on a tire for some sort of car, which makes me question if they can afford a nice chair to sit on at the bayou. The boys’ cloths do not look that well off and this brings up another point someone could make. The boys could be fishing in the bayou, representing propaganda, looking for some aspect of truth. One could see this bayou being the vast unknown that the boys need to venture into. They have given most of their money and effort to the war, and they want to find something that they themselves can take from it. There is also that element of the old tree that looks almost dead. This element can represent the older people in America that have given all they can in war effort, and are now burnt out.
The style of this photograph brings up a sense of peace and tranquility emotionally. If you look at the picture overall and do some cropping you will see that there is nothing in the photograph that will make one believe anything bad is going to happen in the photograph. The process of cropping is to take each of the elements in the photograph and look at them individually. When I do this I notice the peace and the tranquility of every element except the bayou. First of all take the boys who are sitting near the edge of the bayou. They both have their back turned and one is sitting down. The other has his hands on the fishing pole just relaxing and fishing. Looking at the boy’s clothes and posture there doesn’t seem to be any wind or negative weather that would ruin their fun.
Another element would have to be the bayou. When I crop the bayou and take under closer examination, I notice how calm it is. It actually looks like that of glass and barely has a ripple. The bayou is like the propaganda, solidifies my main theme. First of the all the brightness of the photograph really adds to the logos and the visual higharcy. Because of the light being in the position that it was in, it drew my attention to the two boys first as opposed to anything else. If you look at the photograph, everywhere is pretty much in the shadows except for the two boys. The shadows are the propaganda that has taken over America. The light also plays into that mystery surrounding the bayou
They bayou itself is in some extreme shadows. This brings me back to my point that it is the propaganda that the boys must have to face some day. The brightness also plays a big part with the hue and the peacefulness of the photograph. If you look at the colors of the boys clothes, they are very vivid and bright. The sunhats that they are wearing really stand out in the light that is shone from the sun. If you also look up at the tree, there is also a lot of light and an abundance of color with the leaves in the tree. This makes me feel an inspiration of hope. It is almost like they are being shown upon from a higher power. This inspires that feeling of hope, and peace. Given the darkness and unknown of the bayou it almost like the darkness and hatred that is going on in America. The boys are representing the hope that America has to think for themselves.
In the end it is clear that this photograph embodies the purpose of peace, hope, and freedom during a tough time. It uses the unique arrangement in inspire a great sense of pathos. It also uses many different rhetoric terms to solidly its argument and states its purpose. It usage of brightness and hue also play a huge part in the overall ethos and logos of the photograph. Its key elements solidify its argument, and it is argument of being able to think for one’s self, in a time of propaganda.
Works cited:
http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/huckfinn/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_home_front_during_World_War_II
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