Imagine (visual TOW#12)

Lego is becoming an increasingly popular and globally recognized children product in modern society. People, children and parent alike, find it fascinating how the tiny squared shape pieces can produce such an abundance of varieties, ranging from sky-reaching towers to baby toy trucks. The Lego Company, from the instant they released their product, knew the essence of their product’s success lies in the infinite possibilities it can produce, and more importantly, the consumers’ imaginations.

Targeting primarily children but also adults, the Lego Company decides to produce an advertisement emphasizing the magic of creativity to appeal to even more potential customers. The advertisement looks simple, and it is designed to be so. A yellow piece of Lego standing conspicuously in a light green background, the first impression of the audience centers immediately on the eye-catching Lego; yet, the picture does not look intrusive or blunt. The Lego Company ingeniously chose the light green background to give both the children and adult a subtle hint of lightness, of calmness, of, at the most basic level of human interpretation, peace. “Lego is appropriately fun” is the essence of the message. The Yellow Lego is the center of attention and an attraction to many as the product is already so popular, and the calming light-green background is the brilliant supplement asserting to little children and their parents that the fun of Lego is peaceful and friendly.

   The emphasis and the money-making contrast in the advertisement, however, are not between the background and the focus, but between the focus and the imagination. First glance, a yellow Lego stands out in a light-green background. Second glance and most people will see the shadow of the yellow Lego is casting a shape like a dinosaur. Upon scrutiny, the audience will soon realize that the shape of the yellow Lego is like that of a dinosaur. Of course, the Lego Company does not endorse dinosaurs, nor does it believe dinosaurs will earn them more customers. The shadow is meant as a symbolism to imagination, and the shape of the Lego is meant to be seen as the infinite possibilities a Lego set can produce. The Lego Company knows their product’s success depends on its appeal to imagination, so they explicitly showed their audience, who will likely become their customers, of the possibilities awaiting them.

“To infinity and beyond”

The Diary of a Napoleonic Foot Soldier ( IRB TOW#11)

       “Desperation, grueling, and apathy”---- Jakob Walter, a German soldier who served in the Napoleonic army from 1806 to 1813, had personally experienced the hellish meanings behind these words. Born in a Middle Class family, Walter was at first attracted to the glories of a seemingly undefeatable giant at his time, Napoleon. However, war, as he becomes gradually intimately familiar with, was far from what he expected, and his diary, the only known diary from a regular soldier in Napoleon’s army, reflected a gradual loss of innocence.

       Walter, of course, was little aware of the historical significance of his diary as he wrote it. The diary to him was more for his family and himself. His narration from the relatively light Prussia campaign to the all-out terrifying Russian disaster reflected more of him trying to lighten his heart than anything else. Yet, unintentionally, Walter’s diary also manifested itself as a compelling argument against warfare and brought revelation to the real war-time experience of a normal soldier.

       Walter seemed to be especially talented at using imageries and tone to convey his thoughts and mood. He started with playful imageries in describing his Prussia campaign, how “Soldier Hummel wanted to frighten people for fun, so he took his rifle, cocked the Hummel and shot; soldiers were running wild at the time”(Walter 4). From there, the imageries gradually became increasingly depressing, finally reaching the zenith during the Russian campaign when “the banks on both sides of the bridge were filled with dead piled three and four deep”(Walter 54). The deliberate use of increasingly despondent imageries perfectly described the increasing pressure he is feeling for his life. As for the contemporary readers, the imageries blatantly portrayed the inevitable process of losing innocence.

       Assisting the rich yet gruesome imageries in Walter’s diary is his change of tone. Walter’s tone portrayed his thoughts and character. His initial respect toward “Emperor Napoleon” when he “was given good quarter and food everywhere”(Walter 1) turned into bitterness and depression toward “Napoleon” when he “run away from the Russian enemy like gypsies” and constantly “expected the utmost famine”(Walter 39). From “Emperor” to just “Napoleon,” from “good” to “famine,” Walter is slowly collapsing due to the terrifying campaigns. His change of tone portrayed his escalating depression, and to the contemporary readers, portrayed the inhumanness of war.

       Rest well, Walter.

Graven Images by Saul Bellow (Text TOW#10)

   Immortality, power, and fame are what many people pursue in life and why, according to Saul Bellow, photograph is so powerful. Published in 1997 in the “News from Republic of Letters”, “Graven Images”, one of Bellow’s later essays, contemplates on the increasing role of digital photography in human society and its relationship with human ambition and privacy. As a winner of the literature Nobel Prize and numerous other literary awards, Saul Bellow continues to amaze the literary society with a brilliant essay

       Though the essay is open to everyone, the primary audience is mainly the literary citizens in advanced societies, such as in Europe and the United States. Bellow is clearly assuming that his audience knows the photograph phenomena he is describing, and will have the ability to reflect upon his own contemplation of digital photography and human nature, which, in Bellow’s eyes, is both fragile and grandiose.

       In discussing the nature of photography and human, Bellow most prominently used imageries and an intimate diction to both condense his reasoning into a concrete and seeable form and encompass the audience into his essay. As he described the fragility of human privacy and the power of exposure of photography, he used an image, saying “photographs will meaninglessly enlarge the pores of my skin and the huge paisley-shaped bruises under your eyes” (Oates 565). When Bellow portrayed the power of photographs to bring immortality, he detailed a photograph of his grandfather, “his beard is spread over his upper body; his elbow rests on the top of his walking stick and his hand supports his head”(Oates 568). The images Bellow describes are powerful as they show, not tell, the nature of photographs and human.

       The intimate tone Bellow uses consistently throughout the essay simply adds on to his brilliancy as a writer. As he discusses human desire for approval, he states “Amour prompre, with all its hypocritical tricks, is the product of your bourgeois outlook.” (Oates 565). When he turns the topic to photography and humanness, he wrote “photograph reduces us to two dimensions.”(Oates 567). The use of an intimate diction encourages the readers to connect with the text and impose their own reflections on the topic, not only from Bellow’s point of view but their own.

       Photography is new, but the humanity it portrayed, as Bellow successfully asserts, did not change.

Coatesville by John Jay Chapman (text TOW #9)

A black man was tortured and put to death on August of 1911 in Coatesville, Pennsylvania. Dozens of American citizens committed the heinous act, hundreds of American citizens stood idly witnessing the event happen, and one man, after reading the tragedy through news, was enraged and depressed. The man is called John Jay Chapman, and he was a then a mildly known lecturer and literature critic. The speech he delivered in Coatesville the following year, however, went beyond the boundaries of either academic discussion or literature analysis. Chapman articulately condemned humanity’s tendency of inaction and questioned humanity’s belief in educational progress At first, only two people attended to his commemoration of the black man and heard his speech, but many more gradually became aware of his address, even to the extent that the speech was recognized in “Memories and Milestones”.

       Chapman’s speech did not become great because it compelled listeners to reflect upon their unconcern The speech became great because of itself, because of how Chapman crated it. Chapman deliberately opened his speech with heart-touching imageries to emphasize on his views of humanity’s natural sinfulness. He described how “a few desperate, fiend-minded man had been permitted to torture and burn a Black man(Oates 71), he emphasized on how “hundreds of well-dressed American citizens, idly watching, made no attempt to stay the wickedness”(Oates 71), and he then remarked “I seemed to be looking at the heart of a criminal” (Oates 72). The American people, the educated and well-dressed people, were permitting evil to happen. Chapman saw the education but not the heart.

       Chapman, after overwhelming his listeners with disturbing imageries, then brilliantly connected the imageries to his listeners and even the American public through the emphasize on “we”. He anticipated a possible rejection to his argument, saying “some may argue we cannot act” and gave a forceful answer “we can, we are involved, and we are still looking on” (Oates 73). “we” to Chapman represents the nation, it represents humanity, and Chapman’s speech, as himself stated, represents the “truth that touches all age and affects all souls in the world”(Oates 74).

       The truth, as Chapman asserted, is still with us today.

 

IRB Introduction- The Diary of a Napoleonic Foot Soldier

Napoleon is forever remembered as a military genious, and his army, a fearsome war machine. However, humans are more than just what they had accomplished, and to show the world that Napoleon is a man, that his army are composed of people made with flesh and blood and soul, Jakob Walter, a common foot soldier in the Napoleonic army, wrote the first and the last collection of memories about his general and about himself. Spending over 6 years in the famed Napoleonic army, Walter's memoirs span from the initial Prussia campaign Napoleon used to secure his ditatorship to the infamous Russia campaign that caused Napoleon's downfall. The book catched my attention while I was searching for a good non-fiction primarily because of author seemed to emphasize more on the cruelties of war than glories. Walter not only describes the fallacies of the great general but also his own gradual lost of innocence and the pain of many others. So many people say great things about Napoleon, it will be interesting to see the contrary. Hopefully, a fuller depiction of Napoleon and his man will  be presented to me.

Atomic fear (TOW #8Visual Text)

       World War II was a time period characterized by ambiguity and depression, and the overarching fear of humanity’s destructive potential was, ironically, manifested at its height during the end of the gruesome war, characterized most prominently by the devastating power of atomic bombs on Japanese land. Responding to the fearsome atomic bombs, on August 8 of 1945 an American newspaper, The Anderson Independent, published the political cartoon “We have come to stay” and straightforwardly and effectively questioned the future of humanity under such precarious foundations.

       Both the newspaper’s influence and the cartoon’s simple manifestation helped readers to instantly grasp the core idea of uncertainty in an atomic age yet to come. The newspaper was popular and widely read throughout the United States, especially in the South, and in turn the political cartoon targeted all Americans in the United States, literate and illiterate, with a strong certainty that it will receive many readers. In addition, the simple outlines with dark and white contrast also made the whole message of the cartoon explicit to the readers. The two gigantic monsters, shaped like the common perceived representation of death, in the picture each carried a suitcase that together became “atomic bomb”, directly referencing the horrible and possible long-lasting effects of atomic power. On the other end, the human is portrayed as defenseless and weak, with only an umbrella to protect himself. The image instantly allows the reader to contrast the mere strength between atomic bombs and humanity, and forces the readers to consider about the huge destructive potential of atomic bombs and the uncertain outcomes of the future if these bombs continue to exist.

       What made the implications of the political cartoon seem even more convincing was its use of historical reference. When the cartoon was released, the news of Japan being nuked was widespread around the world, and most, if not all, of the American people were probably aware of the fact. In the cartoon, the human wearing Japanese traditional clothes, shoes, and umbrella is definitely an representation of Japan. The atomic bombs had already visited Japan, the readers knew it and the author knew it. Yet, what neither the author nor the readers knew, and what the author was driving toward, was if the United States, if humanity, would follow the same fate as Japan in the future.

       The answer was and still is uncertain.