1. Genre Analysis of An article
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Genre Analysis of An article
Jesus Chavez.
University Of Texas at El Paso
2. Genre Analysis of An article
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The Punishment Side of the American Prison System.
The American prison system is a particular one because it is generally infused with a soft
rhetoric; in fact, the United States is the country with the most prison population but, not the
first country on population terms (the BBC). It is also particular due to the fact that prisons
America exponentially spend more on punishment, than on rehabilitation; moreover, in some
European countries the punishment/rehab-spending ratio is almost inversely proportional to that
of the United States (James)(Ridway). The punishment side of the system can be scary and
uncalled for; for instance, inmates have to survive in a three by 3 by 4 feet cage for hours and 3
by 7 for days (Ridway). In 2012, MSNBC took a look the punishment side of a prison in San
Quentin and the parent NBC made a photographic report (Nicholson) of the state jail. The next
year, the nation published an article regarding the neglect inmates endure. The photo that tops
the NBC report and the article are going to be thoroughly analyzed due to the fact that both try to
inform the audience in regards to the inhuman, impractical or inefficient ways the punishment
side of the American prison system can be.
Audience and Purpose .
MSNBC and NBC are mainstream media corporations (one parent of the other) where
the editorial line still remains that of the status quo but sometimes, they do present an editorial
that is a little skewed to the left, especially in uncontroversial issues (Shannon). The audience of
MSNBC therefore, tends to be a liberal one from liberal states; moreover, it is not really a liberal
one if we use the strict term (American and European definition) but a Democratic audience. An
audience that is likely to be more progressive on social issues because that is what used to define
the Democratic Party and in the present defines the mood of the democratic mandate. Finally the
purpose of the report was to show the conditions inside the prison in San Quentin to an audience
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the usually cares about progressive and social issues; conditions that do tend to reflect a
punishment focus, rather than a rehabilitation one. On the other side, the audience of the Atlantic
is not a regular one as well The Atlantic is read by more than a handful of intellectuals; an
audience that is very likely to understand and care for the issue. The article is a persuasive one.
The thesis tries to persuade; although, every paragraph only tries to support the thesis presenting
information about cases related to the thesis. It is a very lengthy article, with a lot of details and
information, the picture only has bits of information and it only looks at one angle, the article
looks at 5 hence it presents 5 cases.
Rhetorical Style Analysis.
On the surface, the image is straightforward to the extent that it only conveys what the
photographer sees, and not what the photographer might have felt or intended to convey. It is a
true picture and no modifications are visible which makes it a valid logos approach. Also the
image is taken by MSNBC, a corporation that built a name on journalism for decades, which
validates the ethos as well. Next, on the ethos part the viewer can have an emotional reaction in
an expressivist fashion to the cages, rustiness, inmates and background, but overall the image is
not implicitly subordinated to pathos; in other words, the image is not subjective but objective
and it doesn’t look to provoke a particular feeling.
Andrew Cohen’s thesis is that if citizens of this country have allowed American prisons
to dehumanize our criminals, probably our real focus is to dehumanize them(Cohen 2013). The
author tries to prove the point by detailing a set of cases in the American state and prison
systems. The pathos is really extensive; moreover, there is a plethora of emotional instances in
the article. For instance, Mr. Coher writes:
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The federal report describes a prison in which mentally ill prisoners are locked way so
thoroughly that what few mental health professionals are available are unlikely to see the
very inmates who need the most care. And what are such rare visits like when they
occur? (Cohen, 2013).
But on the logos side of the argument, the author fails, unfortunately. A series of federal cases
does not prove the assumption that our country has allowed our prison conditions to fail. Even if
there is in fact extensive research on the matter that would prove the point, the author failed to
point it out. Originally published by the Atlantic, the article has from birth an established pathos.
It is balanced, the author does try to quote sources like judges and officials, but a perfect pathos
shrinks in the argument validity scale when compared to a flawed logos argument.
Structure.
The image uses the rule of three, and a line using the cages pointing to the back of the
room in an inclined direction. As discussed in the past section the image is inherently objective,
as many that are shown in journalistic papers. The image presents a set of cages with a set of
inmates inside an illuminated white room. Each cage looks to be small; there was a congressional
hearing where Charles Samuels the director of Federal Bureau of Prisons (Ridway) was
questioned about the size and responded: “7 feet by 10 feet”. And each cage also looks grim.
Although the image does serve its purpose, because it was an informative report, the image it
does not have to be subjective but rather objective.
The way the information is structured, is a regular thesis-essay implementation, with each
paragraph supporting the main thesis. Each paragraph is a federal case that the author used to
prove his point as discussed before. At the end it concludes with solutions and how to move
forward, according to Mr. Cohen (Cohen, 2013). In regards to the language used by the Author,
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it is a language that one would expect from an important news publisher; formal and organized;
moreover, Mr Cohen does not explicitly use specialized language; for instance, doctor symbols.
Finally, the purpose of the image is to inform and the article to persuade and both do so
in different ways. The image will appeal to the visual reasoning of the viewer while the article
appeals to verbal comprehension. The image will report the actual conditions of San Quentin,
while the article uses the information to persuade and, not to communicate as the picture does.
Synthesis.
At the beginning of the essay the premise was that the image presented can inform the
audience of the conditions the prison system is on as of today. The rhetorical analysis indicates
that the image tries to portray an objective message, that of the conditions inside San Quentin.
The audience, especially being a progressive one will probably look at the image and realize the
aspect described in the premise of the essay. Punishment is bad in San Quentin, but San Quentin
is just the median. Overall there are a lot of issues in the American prison system especially the
punishment side of it and, San Quentin does forge what the general picture might be if San
Quentin is just the median.
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References:
Nicholson, Lucy. “A rare look inside San Quentin state prison”. NBC news. N.d. N.p. web. July
11, 2012. 17 Sept. 2014.
http://photoblog.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/07/11/12679930-a-rare-look- inside-san-quentin-
state-prison?lite
Ridway, James, Jean Casella, and Sal Rodriguez. "Senators Finally Ponder the Question: Is
Solitary Confinement Wrong?" Mother Jones. N.p.. 19 Jan. 2012. Web. 17 Sept. 2014
http://www.motherjones.com/mojo/2012/06/congress-looks-solitary-confinement
James, Erwin. "The Norwegian Prison Where Inmates Are Treated like People." The
Guardian. N.p., 24 Feb. 2013. Web. 17 Sept. 2014.
http://www.theguardian.com/society/2013/feb/25/norwegian-prison-inmates-treated-
like-people
The BBC, “World Prison Population”, BBC news. N.p. N.d.. Web. 17 Sept. 2014
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/shared/spl/hi/uk/06/prisons/html/nn2page1.stm
Andrew Cohen. “One of the Darkest Periods in the History of American Prisons “, The
Atantic. N.P. 06/09/2013. Web. September 25, 2014.
http://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2013/06/one-of-the-darkest-periods-
in-the-history-of-american-prisons/276684/2/
Jeff Shannon. “The marketing plan for war “. Np. January 11, 2008. Web. September 25,
2014.
http://seattletimes.com/html/movies/2004118752_war11.html
