Julia Dinger
Dr. Lamb
Visual Analysis Essay
English 102
1 October 2018
Shadowed Futures
$400,000. The amount you have in your retirement fund? The amount you earn after 5 years with a doctorate degree? No, this is how much 65 year-old Colette Simone has in student debt! (Nova) She was just like any college student: smart, driven, with big dreams, and a bright future! Sadly, Colette is only one person out of many American alumni whose future is being swallowed by debt. This is partly due to the fact that tuition for higher education has skyrocketed over time while wages have stagnated. “On average, Americans now spend $30,000 per student a year!” (Nova) If you do the math, that’s about $120,000 for a bachelor's degree, granted that you only took 4 years! No wonder families can’t afford to send their children to college without applying for loans! Thus, in order to get higher education for a so called “brighter future” students end up taking out loans. Consequently, the “average debt at graduation is currently around $30,000, up from the $10,000 in the early 1990s” (Nova) Acquiring a small amount of debt after graduation wouldn't be as huge of a problem if you could get a job in the field you got a degree in and had a decent enough salary to be able to pay back your loans quickly enough. Students are drowning in their educational loans as they struggle to secure a job while, interest rates are spiking. This is causing alumni to default on their loans thus making it look like it is nearly impossible to pay back. This results in their credit scores dropping utterly low making it impossible or extremely difficult to buy a house, a car, rent an apartment, or start a business. Bob Englehart, a cartoonist and author has observed this situation and what it means for the economy as a whole. In response he wrote an article and illustrated a cartoon for the Hartford Courant and titled it “Graduation Daze”. His cartoon was an effective visual argument as it clearly shows that student debt is huge problem and is blocking bright futures.
Bob Englehart conveys in his cartoon, a young male in a cap and gown holding a sheet of paper standing in front of a podium and microphone. In front of him sits an enormous, white bag fastened with a sting with the words, “STUDENT DEBT” written on it. The S of the “STUDENT” has two lines slashed through it. Portroding from the man is a speech bubble with the words “As I look to the future…”. Behind the big bag is a colorful scene with big, green, tree tops, a bright, blue sky, two puffy clouds, and the top of a tower.
This image is definitely compelling! The first thing you see is the giant money bag, as it catches your eye and is bright white! Because it is so big and covers most of the image, the image creates frustration, stress, and anxiety for the viewer because the scene behind the ghostly bag is blocked. I find myself trying to look beyond it or crane my neck around it.
I believe this was intentionally done by Bob Englehart. He created a traditional graduation scene by including enough details such as to make it recognizable and relatable. The traditional and symbolic, graduation robe and cap, a podium with a speaker turned toward what should be a crowd, and the tower and greenery in the background, are all details Englehart used to depict a graduation setting in his image. In fact, his details portray a specific kind of graduation. The black cap and gown and the historic tower in the background gives the graduation scene a college feel, as traditionally, college graduates graduate in black graduation attire and not a color like highschool and have campuses with old historic buildings with character. Now that Englehart has created a scene that is relatable, the huge debt bag has context.
Because the individual is standing in front of the podium toward what should be a crowd at a college graduation and saying with a speech bubble, “As I look to the future”, we can assume he is giving a speech and more specifically, a student commencement speech as the phrase in the speech bubble is also a common phrase used in commencement speeches. Valedictorians or one of the top students of the class are the ones that traditionally give the commencement speech at graduation, so the graduate in the cartoon must succeed academically.
With these observations, we can see that the cartoon is a snapshot of reflection for this young graduate: looking off to the distance at the campus he is so familiar with, remembering all the memories made, the friendships built, the courses taken, the freshman fifteen and then some from eating ramen, and all the debt required to pay for all those lovely classes and experiences. Wait! The DEBT! As he looks to the future as indicated by his speech bubble, all those memories and experiences are gone and all he can think about or see is the huge amount of debt! The moment the graduate transitions in his speech from his reflection and thank yous to his dreams, future plans and goals, a shadow is cast! Englehart uses the enormous debt bag to show this and the enormous weight and pressure that the graduate feels as he graduates and faces those student loans. The day that is supposed to be so happy and bright like the bright colors in the background is cast with a shadow. Debt is stealing and blocking his mommnet and his future! If you look close enough, you can see that the graduate’s shadow on the huge debt bag is looking back at him, as if to indicate all the choices and decisions he’s made in the past and the outline of the person looking back at him is the only person who is responsible or can help him.
Overall, cartoonist Bob Englehart illustrated a strong visual argument! He utilized many techniques to draw attention to the major student debt issue, warn and even persuade students to not take on debt. Accordingly, the cartoonist’s target viewers are wide range of people including students, alumni, future students and even government officials! To make his argument effective, Englehart utilized a variety of techniques. Some of these are imagery and pathos as his directed audience sympathizes with the graduate with their own experiences and feels the weight with the skillful imagery of the debt. Because it is a cartoon, Englehart employs some humor with cartoonist features that are recognizable, but not purely realistic. The unrealistic cartoon elements can both add and take away from the argument, but in this case I think Englehart’s use of humor benefits him, as it makes light of a heavy and depressing topic making it easier to address. As with any cartoon though, the image isn’t serious and not literal, such as the big bag of debt, and could potentially affect his credibility. Overall though, his techniques balance out and drive home the uncomfortable truth that student debt is crushing bright futures. What about you? Are those few years of experiences worth a life of hardship, burden, sleepless nights, and banished dreams? The choice is up to you. Will debt attend your graduation?
Works Cited
Nova, Annie. “Despite the Economic Recovery, Student Debtors' 'Monster in the Closet' Has Only Worsened.” CNBC, CNBC, 22 Sept. 2018, 9:02am, www.cnbc.com/2018/09/21/the-student-loan-bubble.html.