An image of a suffering child never fails to catch one's attention. The baby pictured in a post secret submission is screaming and crying in some form of obvious pain. The heart-wrenching image supports the secret keeper's argument. “My biggest fear is that if I have a daughter, she will inherit my eating disorder.”
The saddened mother of this potential sick child is making an explicit claim but in a visual manner. Her argument's claim states that mothering a child is something she has reason to fear. Her reason, which is displayed through the image of the baby, is that her daughter would suffer the pain of an eating disorder. The secret keeper does not want to pass the misery she has suffered on to her offspring. The secret mother could be anyone, any woman in our country, considering 7 million women suffer from a eating disorder in the United States. The audience is anyone who can answer the mother's cry for help that is also an argument.
The textual support appeals to the audience's pathos. They are able to sympathize with the woman's fear due to her word choice. She is revealing her most personal fear, and the audience automatically feels her torments. Also, she directly states her reason for her fear, citing her reason in the second half of the text. This simple visual and textual argument in the form of a postcard appeals to the audience's pathos and logos. Although the audience's eyes may only lay on the image of the child's tears for a few seconds, the argument will make a lasting impression on their hearts.
"Eating Disorder Statistics." DMH. South Carolina Department of Mental Health, 2006. Web. 28 Sept. 2011. <http://www.state.sc.us/dmh/anorexia/statistics.htm>.
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