It is estimated that an area of forest the size of twenty football fields is lost to deforestation every minute. (Deforestation) Since the dawn of humanity, We (humans) have used our world and its resources with complete disregard of our actions. The above piece is a illustration by Ken Sprague. It is entitled "Weeping Leaf" and it illustrates a black mark on the history of man. Weeping Leaf is a call for change as it points out the arrogant actions of humanity through the destruction of the very place we live... Earth.
Ken Sprague was born in 1927 and lived until 2004. He was socialist political cartoonist and a journalist. Sprague was also an activist in trade unions, civil rights, and peace movements. He always tried to empower the common people through his art by making a
call for change. An ethical appeal can be found in all of his works. "In essence the leitmotif of his work is about power and the abuse of power as well as the resilience of ordinary people to that abuse. He depicted the world as changeable and imbued his work with unfashionable optimism; it was a world where ethics and values had relevance." (Green) Sprague commonly illustrated the abuse of power on the people but Weeping Leaf shows the abuse of power by the people.
The focal point of the piece is appropriately the weeping leaf. An objective viewer can see that there is something different between the leaf and its surroundings; this brings me to the first rhetorical strategy of the illustration. Comparison-Contrasts is obviously employed within the illustration. The artists is comparing the differences between the man and the leaf by drawing them in contrasting styles. To understand these contrasting styles the man and leaf must first be fully analyzed.
The man is simple and plain. He is wearing a flannel jacket and cap. The
man could be described as a lumberjack or woodsmen. The man has an axe in his possession which he has used to fell a "tree". He carries little emotion on his face but there is the sense of a slight smile of accomplishment as the man looks up at the falling tree. Artistically, the man has been drawn with little detail and looks like any other figure found in the comedic strips of the funny pages. The man is also very small in scale to the tree.
The "tree" or leaf is a near artistic opposite of the man. The leaf is rich in details and displays vivid use of shading and texture. The leaf has been anthropomorphized with a mouth, nose, and eye. The eye sheds a single tear. The leaf is very large in scale to the man, so much so that the man sees the leaf as a tree.
There are a variety of argumentative points that arise from the comparison-contrast in the illustration. The main argument that the drawing is addressing is that man is arrogantly wasting the Earth and its resources which in turn will cause detrimental effects. The use of detail is a great starting platform. As the focal point, the leaf is drawn with great detail to show that there is something inherently natural and beautiful about it. This is an appeal to a viewers pathos. There is a nostalgic calling to nature through the detail of the leaf. The leaf also causes an emotional response by showing emotion while the man causes no em
otion. The anthropomorphized leaf shows sadness in its tears, anguish in its mouth and shock in its eyes. "Pathos" itself means "suffering" or "feeling" in Greek and the leaf, unlike the man, is obviously demonstrating Pathos.
The comparison of scale is crucial to the artist's argument. The man sees the leaf as a tree because it is so large or is the man very small? This paradox reveals a few more points to the main argument. The man is small in comparison to the leaf because man as a species has acted pretentiously by overbearing on nature with little forethought of our actions. Man only sees the value of the timber and resources of the tree and not the value of the tree itself. Nature has a priceless value and gives the world life. The man is drawn small because he can't grasp the repercussions of his actions. The leaf is meant to be a leaf that is why it is drawn as a leaf and that is why the piece is titled, "Weeping Leaf". This is important to clarify because the simple fact that it is a leaf is very important. By drawing a leaf and not a tree the artist is making a statement about the value of nature. If this one single leaf has to suffer that much, what would the man do to the Earth if he cut down a whole tree? With respect to the scaling of the illustration, a whole tree to the man could include entire ecosystems or more. This comparison of scale and size is a hybrid rhetorical appeal of pathos/logos. The audience must first logically realize the gravity of the illustration before they can have that deeper emotional drop that is caused by realizing that it is not only the leaf that will suffer but also ourselves.
Cause and effect is implemented within the artist's illustration to strengthen his argument. The man chops at the leaf with an axe causing it to fall. The effect of the chopping is the emotional response of the leaf which is symbolic to the downward spiral of the environment. This is undoubtedly a logos driven rhetorical appeal that is calling the audience to use its logic and realize the tragedies of man's acts against the Earth.
The absence of color within the piece is an interesting rhetorical strategy. By leaving color out, the artist is allowing the audience a more direct view of his argument. The audience does not dwell on the picture itself but on the picture's meaning. This
makes the picture more accessible to deeper thought and all of the rhetorical appeals especially ethos. Ethos can also be found in the modern cultural contexts of the piece as environmental issues such as climate change are on the rise.
"Weeping Leaf" is an eye-opening piece of work. It is a call to arms against the abuse of the environment. Sprague believed in a world that is changeable. Weeping Leaf is a testament to that belief and through the various strategies and appeals Sprague has made his
argument.
Work Cited
"Deforestation." Botany: UWC. 1 Feb, 2001. 19 Nov, 2008.
http://www.botany.uwc.ac.za/envFacts/facts/deforestation.html
Green, John. "The Guardian." Ken Sprague Fund. 2004. 20 Nov, 2008.
http://www.kenspraguefund.org/about_guardian.html
"Ken Sprague." Wikipedia. 21 Nov, 2008. 21 Nov, 2008.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ken_Sprague
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