Paper 1 Textual Analysis Corrections: Section B

Transcription

1 Flavia Perusini 11th IB English 1 A Language & Literature HL Ms. Gelso May 2013 Paper 1 Textual Analysis Corrections: Section B There is no gain if there is no pain. Life is always about being tough and about fighting for one s ideals. These two texts both appeal to this message of encouragement and rebellion to achieve their main purpose. Text 1 is clearly more recent that the second text: It consists of an advertisement by Levi s which is a very popular clothing brand nowadays in the 21st century. On the other hand, text 2 is a poem extracted from Walt Whitman s anthology in the second half of the 1800s. As mentioned before, these two texts make use of the message they transmit in order to fulfill their main goals: one of selling its product and the other one of encouraging the American pioneers and transmitting them power. Clearly, the completely different backgrounds, apart from their presentation, reveal the diversity of audience s that these two texts might be addressed to. Through the analysis of language, structure, presentation and stylistic features, these two texts will be compared and contrasted specifically in their audiences, messages and purposes. The Levi s advertisement, being text one, is clearly addressed to a young audience. To have a clearer idea on this text s demographic profile it could be said that the majority of the people to whom this advertisement is addressed consists of teenafers living in the US belonging to both genders. However, when it comes to looking at the psychographic profile, the audience narrows down: this poster mainly appeals to teenagers interested in fashion and clothing; there is also a high probability that these teenagers are very proud of their country and of being American. All of these characteristics are supported by the clustering of words, the image and the logo. The average age of the audience is mainly revealed by the image, since it depicts a young guy who is

2 probably not older than 20. The word New American as well as new world, America, tomorrow and suits make reference to the future, suggesting the youth of the audience and their interests. Levi s logo and the picture then prove the fact that this advertisement is specifically addressed to fashion lovers and people willing to fight the same way the young guy depicted did. Finally the advertisement itself and the logo prove the fact that its audience cannot belong to a period of time before the 20th century, since the use of fashion advertising and Levi s itself had not began before that time. Overall this advertisement has the capability to engage the target audience by inserting words and characteristics belonging to their area of interest and pertinent to their age. In the case of text B, the audience to whom it is addressed is known to belong to a period of time prior to the one of the advertisement, and it is proven by the fact that it was published in There is a direct reference to the type of social class to which this text is referred, stated by the use of words such as workmen, seamen and landsmen. However it can be said that this text s audience has a lot in common with text A s, since it appeals to children, western youths and youthful races, therefore a young American audience. The psychographics of this audience is also very similar to the one from text 1: pride and friendship highlight the ideals valued in this poem, which definitely supports the viewer s patriotism and motivated ideology. The audience of this poem, even though belonging to the 1800s, has very similar interests and other characteristics to that of the Levi s advertisement. These two texts have very similar messages, too. Text 1 demonstrates that one must fight for better times, and this should be done by buying and wearing Levi s. This aspect is again supported by the clustering of the words, image and logo. Words such as bruises and death are connected to better tomorrow and better times which means that one must suffer in order

3 to achieve his or her goals of happiness. Moreover the word pioneer is a common factor that this text has in common with the poem, it has the power of increasing the pathos in both and giving more strength and clarity to the message that is meant to be sent. The word pioneer present in this text communicates the pride and courage hidden in the young man depicted in the advertisement. The second part of the message, referring to the fact of having to buy Levi s, is supported by the presence of the logo itself. In order to fight and go forth, as stated at the end of the text, one must purchase and wear Levi s. This advertisement shows how a general message that appeals to strength and pride can be connected to a message more pertinent to the world of marketing, fashion and business. Text two again, is in some ways corresponds and looks like text one. This is because the message of this text encourages the audience to keep fighting for a better America. The reference to pistols, axes, army and weapons give a violent idea on how one must fight for their ideals, and shows how maybe the only way to achieve a dream is through the use of weapons and physical pain: the reference to this factor is, again, also present in the Levi s advertisement.the repetition of o and the word pioneers, which as mentioned before is also found in text 1, highlight the motivation and bravery that flows through and is valued in the poem. For these reasons, the messages of these two poems are very similar; however, their different contexts and final purposes differ from each other. This poem appeals to the pathos of the audience, especially by using violent words followed by others representing glory such as seize, march, love and beat, and this really shows how there is a willingness to send a positive message full of hope and strength. This theory is also supported by the ethos established in the text, this is seen in the provision of various examples on the reasons why a change is needed: pioneers in prisons, silent lovers and : all the sorrowing such words suggest how the type of people to which this poem is addressing to are full of anger, suffering

4 and sadness and are willing to fight for a better future and their own happiness and freedom. This aspect of the poem, offers a further suggestion on what the context of this text might be: a period of rebellion in the United States, where there probably was an attempt of expansion towards the Western (as mentioned in the poem itself). This aspect is easily connected to the time period in which the poem was published: 1865.Overall it can be said that this text, having only one message, is more direct and really focuses only on the idea of patriotism and rebellion, while the other text is also indirectly trying to sell a product. Text one, being an advertisement, obviously has the main purpose of selling a product. But how can this be achieved? As it can be seen in the message, there is not a direct or clear allusion to the selling of the product; however, throughout the use of several rhetorical features and devices the creators of this advertisement fulfill their purpose of engaging and persuading the target audience. First of all, one should notice a clear reference to the clothing in the text: no one built this country in suits. This factor really affects the reader, since the producers of this poster used a strategy in which, by saying that no one built the country in suits, they encourage the audience to buy the opposite (such as jeans or a more fashionable clothing offered by the Levi s brand). Therefore, by proving a statement wrong, the opposite meaning automatically becomes right. People need to dress well in order to build the country. Again, the logo Levi s obviously plays a huge role in the purpose of the poster since it establishes ethos and provides information on how or where to find the product being sold. Furthermore, one can see how the producers of the advertisement achieve their goals mainly by fully relying on the audience s interests: once they know that they are patriotic, young people seeking for change and fashion followers there is only need to cluster those interests together through words and pictures. Finally the enlarged writing on the picture saying though as your spirit, gives an additional help into making the viewer feel directly involved and included in the advertising since the words your is clearly

5 including him/her. This advertisement clearly shows how anyone willing to sell a product, use the interests of their audience to grab their attention and prove how their wishes can be connected by a single object: the one being sold. On the other hand, text two aims at encouraging, entertaining and motivating its audience. The author here relies on the structure and the use of punctuation, following the clustering strategy by also strongly appealing to pathos. The structure of the poem makes it look like a list, which gives the audience several reasons and occasions to keep fighting for America. Another factor that cannot be ignored is also the insertion of multiple exclamatory punctuations!, which really affect the tone of the poem and attracts the audience. The use of punctuation and its importance can be found in every stanza. Finally, the poet really arouses the audience s emotions especially through the repetition of the word pioneers (which itself has the connotation related to someone who fights, is brave and fearless) and the word we that again in this case directly involves whis is hearing or reading the text. Overall, this being a poem has to completely rely on language and structure in order to fulfill its purpose. To conclude one could state that these two texts have many aspects in common, especially in their audiences and messages. Additionally, it is important to notice how both texts belong to periods of change since the advertisement, which is more recent, is found right in the middle of a very strong economic crisis, while the poem was released as the Civil War was coming to its end. Therefore the contexts are very similar in some aspects too. However, what makes these two texts different is their purposes. This is proven by the analysis on their diverse languages, presentations and rhetorical devices.