Ben Bethers

IB English
Moosman Period 2
December 21, 2022

Time Covers by Tim O’Brien

October 23, 1989:

It is immediately clear that this cover is meant to create a response in the audience. O’Brien uses
the most famous founding fathers and the beloved first president of the United States, George
Washington, to create the notion that some politicians are offending the memory of the original
founding fathers and the country that they fought and labored so hard to create. It is very clear
that O’Brien has a political bias against some politicians, however it is unclear without knowing
the context of the piece. This could be a deliberate choice on the part of the author in order to
draw in the attention of all people, who all have their own biases, without offending the certain
group of people right away. This is a deceptive, yet smart, trick which draws in the audience
which otherwise would have been offended to create the chance that they will read the article and
change their mind or at least sway them.
January 31, 2022:

This cover is rather confusing at first, however, with some thought and analysis, it can be
determined with some level of certainty that this piece is in favor of Biden at least in the way of
pitying him. I think that the environment and timing of publication are the tell alls behind the
meaning of this piece. I think that the signature view of the oval office signifies Biden’s office as
president. The setting helps us see that the cover is commenting on his presidency and knowing
the time of publication of this magazine, when he first took office, we can see that this is a
magazine commenting on the rainy circumstances under which Biden took office. On his desk,
there are many binders on his desk with bolded letters explaining all of the problems he was
handed once he took office. Immediately behind him are huge boxes of COVID-19 vaccinations,
signifying the whole pandemic that put the world on hold for years and created a very
challenging task for all politicians to handle. Overall, it is clear that the magazine is telling its
audience to have some sympathy for the global issues that Biden had to handle when he took
office. To a smaller extent, it also makes a comprehensive list of the biggest global issues of the
time including the pandemic, relations with Russia, inflation, gas prices, and more.
November 10, 2008:

This cover is very well constructed. To start off, the size of these two political figures of the time,
McMain and Obama, draws the audience’s eye immediately. In the midst of the presidential
election, one of the most involved times in a span of four years, these two figures will
immediately catch the eye of nearly all adults and teenages. To help this image, O’Brien uses the
two different colors to signify the two different political parties which each candidate stood for.
Furthermore, O’Brien put all of the different relevant articles in a fairly large font right above the
Time title. This placement draws the reader’s eye immediately after they read the large Time
word, interesting them in all that is found in the magazine itself. I also see no blatant political
bias in this particular cover, O’Brien simply creates an interesting match up between two
characters. If there were a political bias, I would say that it is for the republican party due to the
fact that the majority of the text he uses, the border, and the Time cover itself are red and the
only blue component is Obama’s tie. However, I do not think that this is a bias, instead I think
that this is more trying to match Time’s signature red theme. This neutrality seems to be
supported by the simple white background of the cover signifying no bias.