Sanmiguel Rivera 1

Lorelee Sanmiguel Rivera

Dr. Cynthia Aradillas

ENGL 1301-205

5 May 2023

Coloring The Box

Immanuel Kant, a German ethical philosopher,

once said, “Innocence, once lost, can never be

regained. Darkness, once gazed upon, can never be

lost.” Adults have lost their motivation about their

aspirations and society; unlike children who still have

hope for their dreams. Children themselves aren’t

always aware of what is going on around them or the

people close to them. Adults do not realize that

younger children mimic everything they do by

repeating the sounds and actions that they hear and see and are more likely to pick up the bad

habits of adults. Children shouldn’t be exposed to dangerous, harmful chemicals at a young age

when they should be exposed to responsible and understanding individuals that have their best

interest at heart. Children still have time to learn that the world isn’t all bad, it still has a great

amount of color outside the box. Adults should concern themselves with the wellbeing of the

future generations by providing guidance, a stable environment, and acknowledgement of their

actions. The picture illustrates the potential future children can fall into and holds adults

accountable for exposing their young, colorful minds to the dangers of self-destructive

tendencies.
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Firstly, the creator uses only about a few vivid colors that contrast black and white in the

advertisement. The black and white tends to represent: depression, sadness, pessimism, boring,

cold, empty, and distant as adults may experience in their troubled lives. One interpretation can

be the world of a chronic smoker who understands their habits are unhealthy and addicting. It

can also be a person who has lost their innocence either within themselves or about humanity.

The blue crayon represents confidence, peace, honesty, and reliability. Children often have

qualities of honesty, for example, returning a misplaced item to its rightful owner. Are often

confidence in themselves and in others by engaging in new subjects. The orange crayon

represents the youth, creativity, warmth, positivity, optimism, enthusiasm that a lot of children

have every day. Kids enthusiastically participate in games and socialize easily with others. The

pink crayon represents compassion, love, playfulness, kindness, and warmth that a lot of children

have. Children have a lot of love for their parents and friends with a playfulness attitude. The

purple crayon represents imagination, wisdom, creativity, compassion, and fantasy. Children

often love to be creative about personal projects, such as painting, writing, reading. The green

crayon represents harmony, safety, growth, health, generosity, hope, prosperity, and luck.

Children have the best in mind when it comes to their future and don’t worry much about the

tomorrow only about the today. The red crayon represents action, strength, passion, courage, and

confidence. Children have so much to learn about the world and what type of people they can be

giving them the courage to explore themselves and the world around them.

Although the colors may vary it’s the image that speaks louder than words can describe.

A lot can be said about a colorful outlook as children are still understanding the difference

between good and bad, right, or wrong. No child truly understands their actions until they find

out for themselves, or an adult guides them to correct behaviors. However, an adult almost
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always seems to know what they do and don’t always realize the consequences of their self-

destructive actions until too late. Adults often rely on drugs, alcohol, and other chemicals to try

and help deal with a lot of stress, depression, or just pain. Adults don’t realize the impact on

children who aren’t aware the consequences of substance abuse and their unhealthy coping

habits. This leads to children growing not fully knowing how to deal with physical and emotional

problems. Children should learn to use their hands for coloring, playing, making a mess, and

having fun, they shouldn’t have to see adults, peers, and heroes throwing away their lives to

drugs, alcohol, and chemicals. All in all, children shouldn’t have to see adults making a choice

between 5 minutes with a cigarette or 5 minutes spent with them playing and laughing.

In a similar way to what you do see, its often what you don’t see that becomes a key

factor of what you never expected. The ad itself is talking about smoking and children, but what

it doesn’t talk about is different characteristics that affect children’s trajectory or shows prospect.

Adults don’t see how the image itself is talking about the future of themselves, and of the

children who are the future. Children are often talked about as the future leaders, politicians,

advocates, teachers, etc. but what can we teach children if we ourselves don’t show any respect

to ourselves and in our own futures? The future for the past was our present, and now our present

is going to become our past. By continuing our bad habits, we are showing children the

possibility of continuing the cycle of self-harm. How can we look at a generation of people and

tell them, “I did everything I could for a better future,” while doing harmful substances and

wasting away. No one should ever talk about creating a better future if you aren’t going to be a

part of the solution. “If we could change ourselves, the tendencies in the world would also

change,” as Mahatma Gandhi once said.

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In conclusion, children aren’t the ones who should not have their innocence tainted at

such a young age. Adults should not taint the world because they’ve been hurt by society. Rather

to view the world with color, it is a world where there is still hope for the future and for their

dreams. No child should have to watch their colorful world slowly fade into black and white.

Children not should lose the innocence of laughter, joy, and happiness. Instead let them lose the

tainted world that adults created and motivate children to rely on unhealthy habits.
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Work Cited

Gaiman, Neil. The Sandman: Book one. DC Comics, April 2022, Burbank, CA.

WordPress, 31 Oct. 2016, https://sydsblogsblog.wordpress.com/2016/10/31/visual-text-analysis/.

Accessed 17 Feb. 2023.

Gandhi, Mahatma. Quote.