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Horst Faas- Photographer

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Claudia Appiah

Professor Wilson
English 180 Comp 2
Sept 9, 2016
Rhetorical Analysis About Civilians During The Vietnam War
In the mid 1900s, there was a war between north Vietnam and South Vietnam. The United
States helped South Vietnam, since they were allies and the US did not want South Vietnam to
become communist.
The photograph was taken by Horst Faas, a famous photographer
known for war photography. He was famous for taking photographs during
the Vietnam War. He died in 2012, at Munich. The photo was taken on
January 01 1966 at Bao Trai, Vietnam. (Oracle) This event was the Vietnam
War, where women and children were stooped in a muddy canal while there
was a fire at Bao Tai. The subject of this photo is the women and children.
This image was published on September 25, 2012. (Oracle) The image was
published with the following caption:
Women and children crouch in a muddy canal as they take cover from
intense Viet Cong fire at Bao Trai, about 20 miles west of Saigon, Jan. 1, 1966.
Paratroopers, background, of the U.S. 173rd Airborne Brigade escorted the South
Vietnamese civilians through a series of firefights during the U.S. assault on a
Viet Cong stronghold. (Vitello)
The caption persuades the viewer to read the image in a different light. Since I have a
background information, it makes me think about a war that causes the women and children to be
in a mud canal trying to hide so that they do not get hurt or killed. The caption is helpful and
detailed because it is self explanatory and the vocabulary is easy to understand. The intended
audience for this image is the United States and the world, since no one knew what was going on
in South Vietnam with the war. This made it clear for the the people of the United States to do
whatever they could to save people and their properties. The power of this photograph is

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conveyed through how close the photographer put himself into danger just to capture the women
and children.
The image depicts how the soldiers helped some of the people to the trench so they would
not get killed or hurt. The image conveys the idea that there was nothing happening in their
immediate proximity yet they have their heads up, staring at what is going on. Meanwhile the
women and children are in the muddy trench with their heads bent down. This photograph is
powerful because of the children and women are struggling just to survive.
The tone of the image is horrific, depressing, worrying, and sad. I can tell the tone of the
the image from the facial expression of the first woman in the canal. In addition, where the
women and children are is not convenient because they are hiding in a trench which is almost
completely full of water and mud. They can get infected with different diseases. The photo
illustrate how the women and children are in frightened situation, where it looks like they have
lost all their hope. It also look like the woman is dying or losing her breath. The girl next to her
is in panic and looks horrified.

My eyes goes to the first woman in the photograph since it

looks like she losing her breath. The next place my eyes goes is the
girl that is looking towards the directions of the gunshots being fired
but still holding onto the older woman, even though she is in panic.
The next vector of attention is the baby with the hat who do not know
what's happening and staring at the photographer. The baby leads me
to the woman who is holding tight onto the baby, but at the same time her attention and focus is
on the sounds of gunshots. The woman leads my eyes to the soldiers which is main point where
the vector of attention meets. The focal point is the soldiers and their war bag because that is
where the daylight and the sun reflecting on the water and the women and children meets. The
photographer is purposely guiding my eyes around the frame because of the position the picture
was taken. There are points of tension in the composition because the people in the trench look
anxious, strained, and pressured. The points of tension depict how they are uncomfortable but

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they have no other option than to stay where they are if they do not want to be killed or harmed.
There are contrasts in the composition, because the contrast shows how the females and the baby
differ from the people with the loaded bag. The people with bag have their head out the trench
meaning they strong and ready to fight while the females and the baby is hiding so that they will
not be seen. One woman looks weak and the rest look frightened, except for the baby, who does
not know what is happening. The subject is organized within the frame by putting the females in
the middle; the one who is dying is down, the next person is up, and the other one is down. The
effects the organization has on the viewer is make the viewer feel more empathy on the one in
the middle since she looks like a kid, while effects the other females in front and behind her
makes the viewer feel awful towards the picture.
The photographer in the relation to the subject or situation is pretty close because it
shows how the photographer is next to them when he photographed the image. The effects of the
distance the photo has on the audience is it tells how the photographer had a personal
relationship with the people in the photo. The camera angle of the photo looks like it was taken
at a 45 degree angle. The effect of the angle conveys the idea that the photographer wanted to
get the faces of the women and where they are and the people behind them with the bags for the
audience to understand the situation. The image depicts how the photographer put his life in
danger just to photograph the people from the canal and let the world know what was happening
to offer helping hand to them. The way the image was captured illustrate how the photographer
was in the canal, trying so hard to get the picture clear and well. The image is framed in a way
where you can see the grass behind the females which is helping them to hide and not be seen
from the muddy Canal.
The compositional and contextual analyses which was made at the beginning of the
inquiry is so close. The image was detailed and clear which makes you see what is going on in
the picture well. The persuasive power of my chosen image is the women and children in the
muddy canal trying to survive. The old woman in the photograph looks she is losing her breath
but out of fear and panic her daughter is still with her keeping her company. The woman with the
child is holding the baby tight even though she is still watching out for any danger. The picture
strongly depict how supportive they are towards each other.

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Works cited

Oracle, The. "TELL THE STORY OF THE VIETNAM WAR." THE PROP ROOM:. N.p., 01
Jan. 1970. Web. 28 Sept. 2016.
"Parting Glance: Horst Faas." The New York Times. The New York Times, 10 May 2012. Web.
27 Sept. 2016.
"Vietnam War Civilians." AP Images. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Sept. 2016.
Vitello, Paul. "Horst Faas, Photographer Who Showed Horrors of War, Dies at 79." The
New York Times. The New York Times, 12 May 2012. Web. 27 Sept. 2016.