Observation of the Canons of Rhetoric

George L. Hughes

English 103: Accelerated Composition – Observation

Daniel Richards

August 27, 2008

Todd Heisler’s Reno, Nevada Image and the Canons of Rhetoric

The main point of persuasiveness and poignancy that one can always rely upon about photographs is that they derive – usually – from mere glimpses of untainted reality. The triumphant key to this pristine significance is that the picture always inadvertently portrays some sort of inherent symbolism, which uniquely serves to a more meaningful level of intelligent design, since the only viable inventive rhetorical strategy fruitions from no other evident being than arguably God Himself. In short, this intelligent design resonates more on the order of divine intervention. In other words, invention plays into the picture communicatively only from one direction, specifically, from the window of the interpreter, or simply, the audience at hand, whatever the mode it may be.

As for the photographer’s part, the rhetorical element of invention is only permissible as confined to his creativity with the camera to capture God’s own narrative on the grounds of human terms. As such, the only possible angle or strategy for a photographer’s effectiveness would be the rhetorical canon of arrangement, which must be limited in this specialized vocation to where the camera might be placed to the best interests of dramatic effect. Style also plays an interchangeable role with this concept. For instance, whether to choose hi-def color instead of lo-def black and white for the rendering makes a solid difference.

Memory – as regards the rhetorical definition of atonement to a particularly recent or weighty event or prospect – is not a factor to an image because the power behind a photograph lies within the sheer rawness and purity of its portrayal. Thus, this quality lends credence to its

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service as the only identifiable innocence to rhetoric, considering how the viewer is obligated to interpret it as none other than unbiased and unambiguous. The photographer, however, does indeed have leeway with regards to strategic angles, a vestige of interpretation all to itself. Specifically, the technique in question adheres to the rhetorical approach of delivery. Nonetheless, if the component of memory were indeed fundamental to any rhetorical display of solely the visible type, then it can only apply to photographs from the perspective of the viewer, who must utilize the rudimentary cognitive abilities of the memory to piece together the kairos – or timely significance – of the image.

Shot in Reno, Nevada, Todd Heisler’s particular image invokes a symbolism one might actually acknowledge pertaining to the historical context – or kairos – of current events. Regarding specifically the war in Iraq and its meanwhile corresponding side – the everyday lives of the average American citizenry of civilians – both windows are diametrically opposed in a strictly otherworldly manner. Additionally, in this image’s case, they are also disparate even to a literal degree, concerning the fine, patriotically streamed line between the airplane’s cargo hold of dead soldiers and the passenger hold of clueless civilians on the second floor of the plane. According to this intrinsic message, it is only the fellow comrades who are still living who can fully understand and appreciate the ultimate sacrifice such glorious, life-worthy men had willingly opted to pay in light of their nation’s freedom.

It is truly both a cynical and a political statement that this nation’s very best countrymen are not dying for their civilian relatives, on account of our lack of care and direct appreciation. The United States of today has become so censored and safety-pinned that even the disappointing and wasteful statistic of its killed in action must not only be obscured, but also

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sometimes even hidden from immediate public view. After all, it is disturbing to watch the downside of a nation with a peaking economy; it is disgraceful and shameful to disclose the futile truth behind the bulk of the people’s tax revenues, which no better make Iraq a democracy than keep our youth out of their graves just yet.

Those red-white-and-blue-draped caskets daily glean from airplane bowels not for the American people, but for everything that is not certain – not real – like politics. The only tangible thing that those brave guys can take a bullet for nowadays is his buddy right beside him, or a brother in a tight spot, just as it had been the case back in ‘Nam.