‘The Great White Fleet’ is a newspaper
advertisement written by a steamship company in the early 1920s, coinciding
with the peak of the age of Colonialism, attempting to sway wealthy American
readers to take an exotic trip to the Caribbean islands. On the other hand,
‘Squatter Take on Developers’ is a newspaper article in the Miami Herald
written in 2007, a more contemporary text, discussing the injustice in
speculators’ exploitation of islanders to occupy their rightful properties.
Both texts discuss vacationing in the Caribbean islands and target the same
audience; however, Text 2 has an awareness of the atrocious events that
resulted from colonialism and draws a parallel from present issues to those of
the 1920s, the context of Text 1. Text 1 entices readers to take a striking and
glamorous trip, and arguably glorifies such an excursion for economic purposes,
while Text 2 brings to light the injustices natives face as a result of
developers placing economic cost of gaining Oceanside residences over the human
cost of exploiting poor, urban communities. Stylistically, the advertisement
relied on mostly pictorial elements while the article utilized the rhetorical
devices of ethos, pathos, logos. Ultimately through employing various devices
and discussing contrasting aspects of Caribbean vacationing in order to target two
different audiences.
Both
texts address the same target audience to receive their claims. They both
address an audience of wealthy and social elite from America or Europe who
could be prospective vacationers in the Caribbean. However, the purposes of the
texts vastly differ. Given that Text 1 is an advertisement, its main purpose is
to encourage summer trips to people of high class. The area appears extravagant
and exotic in order to entice readers to invest in a summer vacation in the
islands. Additionally, this text was written in the 1920s, the peak time of US
colonialism. Conversely, Text 2 reveals the plights of the islanders and evoke
a sense of sympathy for the seeming colonialism occurring in the area since the
author wrote the text in 2002 and has an awareness of the injustices wrought on
natives during the period of US imperialism and acquisition of undeveloped
lands.
The title
of “The Great White Fleet”
refers to a navy battle fleet. Using this name sells to the audience and makes
the fleet sound reputable; it also appeals to the audience’s sense of
nationalism and pride. Overall, Text 1 sets out to convey a very luxurious and
enjoyable premise. On the other hand, Text 2 has a title of ‘Squatters Take on
Developers’ which already sets the theme of competition between two groups of
people, one pitted against the other. It describes the current conflict and
casts a biased opinion on present events of property dispute through drawing a
parallel with past, deplorable time period of US colonialism.
The
tone and mood of the two texts also vastly differ in order to express two different
messages. Text 1 has a very exclusive tone throughout the advertising, clearly
only speaking to the target audience which belongs to a wealthy or elite social
class. Because the tone is exclusive, it gives others who may not be of the
same economic status a sense of desperation or craving for a high life like
theirs. The advertisement references several foreign countries such as Cuba, Jamaica
and Panama, which adds to the grandeur and allure to the text. Thus, it elicits
a happy and encouraging mood. On the other hand, Text 2 utilizes two different
tones according to the population it discusses. When it regards to the “squatters”
the tone becomes indignant of the situation and their poor, urban state, provoking
a mood of pity. However, when in regards to the companies of developers and
real estate agents, there is a tone of annoyance at their money grubbing
actions that have displaced and harmed so many less fortunate. This, in turn,
creates a mood of rage from the audience. Ultimately, it is only logical that
an advertisement that attempts to sell a product has a goal of making the audience
feel pleasant and attracted to the product being sold. The article is a biased
review that attempts to sway readers to be persuaded by the author’s
perspective which largely relies on playing with the audience’s heart strings.
In
order to accomplish their intended purposes, several stylistic features are
used. Furthermore, the different modes of writing results in one pictorial
message and another thoroughly detailed account of the plight of an
underrepresented minority in light of US propaganda and media companies. In
Text 1, it is logical that an advertisement is pictorial and visually based. It
draws reader’s attention using minimal words and attractive images. The title
is enlarged, centered, and its color provides a contrast with the background to
direct readers’ eyes.
The title “The Great White Fleet” is the
name of the cruise ship. It uses ethos as it is named after a popular US Navy
Battle Fleet. Sense of patriotism. It emphasizes the word “White” by making the
word itself in white, in contrast to the black background. White could also be
suggestive of the predominant skin color of those that are able to afford such
trips and enjoy prerogatives. The image itself only contains white skinned
individuals. The image at the bottom displays women and men who are put across
very elegant with the women wearing fashionable hats and arched necks. The main
intention - so audience can visualize themselves in that position. Although it
primarily focuses on wealthy consumers, ‘reduced rates for summer cruises’ is
in an eye-catching bold meant to be a marketing technique to appeal to the
common consumer. The advertisement highlights the accessibility of the cruise
ships. They also use glittering generalities when claiming their superiority
over other vacation packages. Additionally, another propaganda technique of the
vagueness of the language in describing “extra large staterooms” which appeal
to the audience as a luxury provider. No exact measurements are given, just a
mood of a spacious, extravagant room. The advertisement closes with the name of
the company, the United Fruit Company, which adds a sense of ethos given it is
a very famous and reliable company. On the other hand, in Text 2, the style and
structure follow that of a newspaper. It uses the following to manipulate the
viewpoint of the reader: Testimonial, Plain Folk, Card Stacking, Source
manipulation, and Glittering Generalities. Literature devices include: imagery,
weighted diction, alliteration, hyperbole. These devices are employed largely
to sway the reader to adopt the liberal viewpoint the article takes in the
issue of the repeated colonialism occurring on the Caribbean islands. The
article begins with general background information about the conflict which
heavily relies on negative diction such as “shacks” “scavenged” “rough”
“cracks”; diction is utilized to convey imagery of the poor, urban setting. The
passage then goes on to describe a particular case study, of Jimenez, once
again emphasizing the fact that he earned specifically a measly amount of $1 an
hour, a despicable minimum wage; furthers the overall feeling of poverty
especially with the alliteration that highlights “Panamas poorest residents”; the
strong p sound is not light on the ears and adds intensity to the piece. The
newspaper article then gives a testimony which appeals to the audience’s sense
of pathos as it elicits empathy for a man who seems to deserve rightful
ownership of his property. Overall, the article creates an overwhelming sense
that the story is being perceived from a post colonial perspective; multiple
indicators of this are in the diction “occupy these once-isolated isles”,
“threaten to displace hundreds of low-income residents”, “charges of colonialism”,
“homes have been burned and been torn to the ground”. The statistic of $1
billion dollars the developers have of disposable money for vacation homes
greatly contrasts the $1 wage of the native cited earlier in the passage. The
last sentence “speculators will use any means necessary to get land” creates a
Machiavellian sense of the “ends justify the means” and the “ends” mostly
consist of profit.
Text
1 and Text 2 share the same audience; however, due to the difference in purpose,
text type, and context, the passages contrasted greatly in the tone and mood
conveyed and stylistic structures used to communicate their ultimate messages.
