LITERARY TEXT: WAR PHOTOGRAPHER BY CAROL ANN DUFFY

NON LITERARY TEXT: JAVIER MANZANO PHOTO

GLOBAL ISSUE: The disastrous impact of war on Children.
INTRO:
Today for my individual oral I will be looking at the disastrous impact of war on children particularly
looking at the less economically developed middle eastern countries in Carol Ann Duffy’s War
Photographer and Javier Manzanos prize winning photograph on the Syrian war in October 2012.
Duffy explores the internal conflict between the heart and mind of a war photographer and further
portrays the tragic scenes a photographer captures through his lens whereas Manzano decides to
showcase a thought- provoking moment on the negative impact war has left on victims and families.
DUFFY
First, I will dive into Duffy’s poem ‘War photographer’ which is one of her best literary works in her
published book ‘Standing Female Nude’. Inspired by her war photographer friend Don McCullin, she
dives into the tragic aftermath of war by broadcasting the struggle a photographer faces between his
job and his morals as a means to criticize the general public for their negligence and lack of
compassion during such harsh times. Through the use of allusion, metaphors and hyperbole, Duffy
successfully highlights the disastrous impact of war on innocent children invoking guilt in the reader
compelling them to take action.
This poem is directed to the general public as she condemns the reader for moving on with his life
after reading such traumatic news using the collective pronoun ‘they’ in the final stanza, ‘they do not
care’. Moreover, she develops a sardonic tone by mocking the readers’ ignorant response when they
read about it on the ‘Sunday’s Supplement’ where their ‘eyeballs will prick with tears between the
bath and pre-lunch beers” She further addresses political leaders and activists who have the power to
enforce a positive change and maybe eradicate war altogether as she stresses on the fact that the most
a normal man can do is ‘stare impassively’ and watch war take over.
She begins with depicting war as something that has stolen every ounce of happiness and sense of
normalcy in children leaving them in a disturbed mental state. The line “running children in a
nightmare heat” alludes to the prize-winning photograph of the Napalm girl taken by Nick Ut. in
1972. The picture shows children with fear painted on their faces running for their lives. The use of
children appeals to the readers emotions as children are presumed to be innocent and have no role in
war yet they are the ones being punished for it. With this, the reader sympathizes with the helpless
children in the photo and will be more inclined to take action and raise awareness.
Duffy also brings in the aspect of students giving up their dreams to serve their country which results
in them living a life filled with regret or no life at all. “A stranger’s features faintly start to twist
before his eyes, a half-formed ghost” is a metaphorical reference to the maturity of the soldiers
shedding blood on the field who were in the midst of discovering themselves. This portrays the
uncompromising decisions the youth is forced to make in the name of their country which brings them
neither glory nor fame, rather death. Education is a right that is valued by majority of the population
in developed countries and by exposing the living standards during war, readers from those countries
will be tempted to make a difference and enforce change.
Duffy then emphasizes on the distress and misery war has mercilessly left on the children of the state.
Sibilance in “spools of suffering” is used to establish the intensity and pain the victims endure
throughout the never-ending war. Additionally, the metaphorical phrase portrays the incredible
number of photos the photographer captured through his lens where each one tells the reader a
different tragedy. This opens the readers eye to how many people are affected by war; particularly
how many children have lost their parents and guardians and even their lives to pay for a crime they
haven’t committed. Readers have a softer spot for children as they aren’t capable of taking care of
themselves therefore, they are compelled to raise awareness and enforce change.
Subsequently, Duffy questions the morality and beliefs of the public who lack the ability to
understand and act against the disastrous war. In stanza 3 ‘Sunday’s Supplement’, she makes a
religious reference to Christianity as Sunday is an auspicious day for Christians to visit church. Every
religion rejects the idea of war and bloodshed making the reader feel sinful as his blind eye has led to
him becoming an accomplice in a crime he was never present in. Additionally, children are depicted
as angels in almost every holy book as they are pure and have no anger or hatred in this cruel world so
by watching their lives perish, the religious readers will feel obligated to make war stop.
MANZIANO
Manzano captured a heart-wrenching moment on October 2012 regarding the Syrian war and the
impact it has on the people. This photo is a prime example of the horrific aftermath of war and
connects with the readers in the aspect of thanatophobia. He uses salience, body language, colour and
symbolism to successfully broadcast the unbearable suffering children undergo in order to trigger
guilt in the reader urging them to take action.
Manzano explores the most tragic moment during war. Death. A father is seen carrying his child’s
lifeless body coated with blood suggesting that war is the cause of his misery. No one and nothing can
fathom the pain one feels when they lose a loved one. It is ironical that the one person that brought joy
into his life is the same person that makes him shed the most tears. Moreover, the father is expressing
such intense melancholic emotions which prove how much value a child adds to his life. The use of
salience allows the viewer to directly witness this vulnerable moment between a father and son urging
the audience to do something that can make the pain less for the sufferers as he soon imagines himself
in the father’s shoes hence invoking fear in the aspect of thanatophobia.
He uses a middle shot to capture the death of the child as well as the surroundings which consists of
scraps of apartments and workshops after being broken down due to bombings. At the side of the
picture there is a man standing observing the moment doing nothing to help which mocks the viewer
as he is standing by watching a child’s life perish in front of his eyes without helping. However only
the mans’ leg is shown to prove that he is unimportant in the picture just like the viewers are as they
are not doing anything to help. By displaying setting and scene, the photographer mocks the viewers
actions in saving a Childs’ life and this invokes guilt which makes them want to take action and add
value to someone else’s life.
The picture is coloured which makes it more vivid and realistic as the viewer can clearly see the
fathers’ agonistical emotions and the severity of the childs’ wound. It also indicates that the times are
present as black and white photography was usually used in the olden times. This makes the viewer
feel obligated to do something about it as it can be stopped and the longer, they hold back, the more
children die. Manzano appeals to the viewers emotions by portraying the innocence of a child who is
helpless in such a situation and the pain they endure for political decisions they had no say in.
The child is wearing ripped jeans and is barefoot which symbolize the poor financial situation of the
family because the war destroyed everything they worked for and had. A child died and had a rough
traumatizing childhood filled with blood, screams and gunshots while he was alive. Syrians are
Muslims and they believe in paradise and hell however children can only enter heaven because their
innocence hasn’t been snatched by the world. This shows that the childs death is better than living
through hell while they are alive in this cruel world urging the readers to take action and prevent other
children from living this traumatizing life.
The boy is facing away from the camera to give privacy to the grieving families as no one would want
pictures of their deceased child all over the press. The body language of the father is a key aspect
when analysing the message of the photo. The fact that he is carrying his child shows the strong bond
between the two subjects and juxtaposes the weight of the child to be the heaviest he has carried. He
squats instead of standing as the burden is too great to be considered a blessing in disguise and he
cannot hold his emotions any longer. Men are stereotyped to be able to suppress their emotions
exceptionally well so this incident must have been extremely upsetting if he risked his image to cry in
public.
In conclusion, Duffy and Manzano both broadcast the terrors of war on children in different manners
which urge the audience in specific the general public and activists to take appropriate actions and
stop this living nightmare.