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Dapo Ogunfeitimi
Professor Jimenez
Rhetoric 1302
7/17/13
Breaking the Cycle: The Time is Now
The vividly graphic image created by the organization Save the Children
depicts the cycle of child abuse. Save the Children is the leading independent
organization creating lasting change in the lives of children in need in the United
States (About Us). Save the Children strives to create a lasting change in the
children who were abused and to put a halt to the cycle of child abuse. When you
look at the image it is clear that there is a cycle taking course. The image
demonstrates fear as well as aggression, attesting to the ongoing cycle of abuse.
The target audience of this image is to adults of whom have been abused in the
past. The illustration uses logos by displaying the cycle of abuse in a cyclical order
with specific phases. The organization also makes this image effective by using
pathos. The author uses pathos and logos to effectively capture the attention of
adults who were abused as children and motivate them to get help to stop the cycle
of child abuse.
The artist makes a large appeal to pathos in this image. The targeted
audience is first drawn in by the five male figures shown in the image. Each one of
these figures speak to the stages of the effects of child abuse of which the target
audience is familiar with. By looking at this illustration the target audience recalls
memories of abuse in his childhood which evoke emotions such as sorrow or

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bitterness. The cycle depicts how easily innocence can turn into violence. The first
male in the cycle is just a young boy who is clearly about to be struck by a male
figure in his life, likely his father. The message in this is that abuse starts off young,
not as an adult, not as a teen, but as a child, the most pure stage of a humans life.
Once this innocence is lost, it takes a toll on the child engraving the acts of abuse in
the childs memory. This brings me to the next phase. The second figure, a few
years older, obviously does not look happy. Taking a closer look you can see that
this second figure is looking back towards the first figure who is screaming in fear.
This shows that the acts of violence are still engrained in the childs head and in fact
actually cannot stop looking back upon the incidents of abuse. These effects messes
with the childs psyche permanently damaging him emotionally. By the facial
expression of the third phase you can see the character looks a bit confused or
maybe even angry. What is happening here is that the seed that the father planted
by abusing him is beginning sprout. Anger is starting to show in the teens
countenance and its only a matter of time or being provoked before he blows. The
fourth figure shows how furious the young man is. What was just a seed is now a
fully sprouted tree. The mans face shows glimpses of wrath and is just a ticking
time bomb waiting to explode. The man looks as if he is looking for something or
someone he can take his built up frustration and anger out on. The cycle comes to
full swing with the image of the fifth figure. The man is shown about to strike his
child to take out the anger and frustration that built up in him all these years since
he was in the same position about to get struck. By including this cycle in the ad,
the Save the Children organization is trying to target those who have been abused
in the past by appealing to their emotions. They are trying to reach out to them to
stop the cycle of violence the victims of abuse. By giving the background of where

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this abuse comes from in which it is formulated in a cycle, the image allows the
reader to reflect upon themselves and ask themselves if this is what their future
holds. The victims of this violence may not even know that the abuse is a cycle, but
that is what the organization is trying to make evident so that they can stop the
abuse right in its tracks. The appeal to pathos is what would make the audience
want to reach out for help!
The illustrator uses an appeal to logos. The cycle of abuse began at an early
age as depicted in the picture. When you first look at the picture your eyes are
quickly drawn to the young child. As you take a closer look at the image you begin
other details. One of the details being the milk which has been spilled on the floor.
The general audience is able to make a logical deduction that the spilled milk is the
reason why the young boy is being reprimanded. This goes to show the rage in the
adult figure which began as boy, traveled through his adolescence, ignited as an
adult. The audience is also drawn into the facial expressions of the boy and how the
boys face begins as a sign of help then cycles to a face of rage. We can deduce that
this is likely because he didnt receive that help. Another detail in the picture is the
signs of neglect beginning with the examination of the refrigerator. It is regular for a
house hold with a small child in it to have pictures, drawings, or even spelling test
posted on the refrigerator to show pride in their child. In this particular instance
there is nothing on the refrigerator besides a few magnets. One can also make
another logical inference that this boy is being neglected. The general audience
can make the same inference when recognizing that the boy is sitting at a table
designed for four people all by his self. It is not normal for a child of such a young
age to be sitting all alone at the dinner table without any parents. These are evident

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signs of neglect and in most abuse cases it is clear that there is an apparent lack of
supervision or neglect of a child (Child Abuse).
By showing a young boy in the same situation the targeted audience was
once in, the artist persuades the survivor of child abuse to go and seek help to put
an end to the cycle. The illustrator effectively incorporates the uses of pathos and
logos to help the audience relate. The illustration draws the audience in using the
fear of the child. The feeling of the audience turns from sympathetic to curiosity,
leaving the audience to wonder what the child could have done to provoke that
much rage. The cycle of child abuse is evident and the creator of this artwork had a
message to portray. The obvious message was there is a cycle that needs to be
broken.

Work Cited

About Us. SavetheChildren. May 2013. Web. 17 July 2013

<http://www.savethechildren.org/site/c.8rKLIXMGIpI4E/b.6146405/k.C7E9/Abo
ut_Us.htm>
Atherton, Rick. Save the Children: Break the Cycle
Illustration. 22 Jun 2012. Save the Children: Break the Cycle
The Different Brain. 16 Jun 2013.

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< http://thedifferentbrain.com/2012/06/save-children-break-cycle/>
Child Abuse. MayoClinic. 23 Oct 2012. Web. 17 July 2013
<http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/childabuse/DS01099/DSECTION=symptoms>