Paper 1 Essay

     ‘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.