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Jenny Smith English 1010 Christie Bogle

Verbal Abuse is Still Abuse

Child abuse is a rising epidemic in our country. There are more than 3 million child abuse cases reported in America every year, this abuse comes in many forms such as physical, mental and verbal and each form is just as destructive as the next. Verbal abuse toward children comes in many different shapes and sizes it can be in the form of degrading, name-calling, threatening, belittling, criticizing, nagging, and using racial slurs or inappropriate language. Parents that are overcritical of their children may engage in verbal abuse, as well as parents with substance abuse issues. Children may also encounter verbal abuse from siblings or other children at school. In this heart wrenching photograph taken by Jill Greenberg , a controversial photographer and active feminist wants to draw our attention to the seriousness of verbal abuse and the devastation it has on our Countries children, this influential photograph demands we take notice and strive to put an end to this senseless form of abuse. Greenberg shows us a young boy with tear filled eyes looking upward towards which you would assume is his attacker while a transparent hand that is marked with degrading text is holding the boy by his neck. Jill Greenbergs whose works have been featured in Time, News

Week, Wired and Entertainment Weekly is widely known for her controversial photographs. Her most talked about photographs are called the End Times Collection where she shot a series of children crying, she was quoted saying nothing is more pure than the anguish of a child. Greenberg wanted it understood that verbal abuse is still abuse and that verbal abuse still hurts. Because abuse is a major issue in our ever growing society this pictures intended audience is not for only child activists but directed to all of us. The strategies used by Greenberg were very deliberate she knew that this picture was powerful even without text. She made sure it would appeal to Pathos, Logos, and Ethos. She appeals to Pathos by invoking sympathy for the abused child, anyone with a heart, morals, or emotions cannot view this picture without getting tearful. Greenberg was clever when appealing to Logos by showing the audience a real boy not a cartoon character, the photo was taken up close so that the viewer could see the pain in his eyes, her cunning use of the transparent hand around the neck of the young boy and the derogatory text that is used to imply that words really do hurt this shows you his vulnerability and deep pain that he had suffered giving the photograph more credibility. And finally it appeals to Ethos as Greenbergs credibility is largely attributed to her active feminism which she incorporates into her photography, her style is to take everyday issues that tend to be ignored and show them in a bold way that you cannot ignore. Her work was said to be distinct and innovated by the president of NBC entertainment marketing and has won many awards for her controversial works ranging from 1997 up until 2010. I found Jill Greenbergs message to be very effective. When we hear the word abuse we automatically think of physical abuse, we often forget that our words can be used as weapons

and can cause just as much damage as a fist to the face. She wanted to rouse our country in hopes that we begin to spread awareness so that we could help stop this abuse. After viewing this photo it gave a whole new meaning to the phrase Sticks and stone can break my bones but names can never hurt me but they can.

Works Cited Greenberg, Jill. Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, n.d. Web. 13 Oct. 2013. http://www.ehow.com/info_7933675_verbal-abuse-toward-children.html#ixzz2hebSrUuw