February 23, 1945. On this exact day, Joe Rosenthal snapped a remarkable picture that demonstrated strength, passion, and the pure motivation of the American soldiers. As time went on the picture seemed to bring people together, as society connected through a time of war. This simple black and white photo expresses a story of the real world, while forcing the American people to understand the incredible courage of the land of the free.  Within the picture, the visual rhetoric of gaze, focus and cropping allow for a deeper meaning of the picture. The American people go to bed every night hoping that the sacrifices throughout the day were worth it; hoping that their best was good enough. With this in mind, all the rhetoric’s were used to relay the message of rising to the top even when the ground is smothered in deep red blood.  

The first visual rhetoric used within this picture was gaze. The soldiers within this picture are completely focused on raising the American Flag for all to see. This complete and absolute focus shows the audience the passion and love the soldiers have for their country. In addition, while uplifting the flag, they were completely unaware of the photographer taking their picture. The disregard for the camera expresses to the audience that the soldiers were not demonstrating an act, but instead, true feeling. Although they were within a war zone, their passion pushed them through the hardship, and gave them the drive to raise the American flag for their country. The audience can see the intense concentration solely on the flag, and not on the world around them. The fact that the soldiers are not looking around at anything else demonstrates true passion for the flag. Within that moment the audience is able to see that nothing else mattered to the soldiers. Not the gunfire, the enemy, or the actual war itself. The passion of the United States drove these men, and gave them the internal strength to uplift the flag.

Another visual rhetoric that is present within this picture is focus. The main mission of having the visual rhetoric of focus within a picture is to help to draw the audience into specific aspects of the image. Within the picture, the foreground is that of the soldiers raising the American Flag. By having the main point of the image directly in the front, it automatically draws the audience to focus their attention on the soldiers. Not only are the soldiers and flag present, but also that of debris. The fact that the audience’s attention is drawn to the soldiers raising a flag amongst the debris, and also during a war gives the audience a feeling strength. The audience can see the struggle of putting up the heavy flag, due to the fact that it is taking six men to raise it upright. They can also see the multitude of debris across the ground, showing the struggle the Americans went through to get that position. The persistence to raise the flag amongst the hardship shows the audience the level of strength that the soldiers of our country have. It is a soldier’s best quality to show strength through weakness. Although the audience can infer that many may have suffered and died in order to obtain that position on the hill top. The strength shown through the image, showed the audience that although the situation may have been difficult. The soldiers were willing to put it all out on the line in order to accomplish their mission, showing true strength.

Another visual rhetoric that is present in this picture is cropping. By cropping out the outside detail and solely showing the detail within, can cause the audience to miss the additional information of the scene that can add to the overall importance of the picture. However, it also allows for the audience to see more specifically the smaller portion of the image and gives the ability to analyze a smaller part rather than the whole picture itself. Within the picture of Iwo Jima there is close to no background or outside view at all. It is specifically focusing on the soldiers, meaning there is no outside information for the audience to use to analyze the picture. This forces the audience to only use what they see to gather their emotions. Although the picture of the Americans raising a flag amongst debris is a very powerful image, it could have impacted the audience more if the audience was able to gather info based on the material outside of the image. Iwo Jima was a war zone, and the Americans had to fight their way to the top of the mountain in order to establish that as base. As real and as devastating as it was, outside of this image there were most likely dead soldiers, bomb craters, and even more debris. If the audience were to see these outside factors it would have taken away the feeling of pure strength from the original image, and replaced it with pure motivation. They would have seen it more as raising the flag for their lost comrades, as a symbol of although they have past they will never be forgotten. By showing the audience the outside aspect of the image it would have brought on a feeling of motivation, as the soldiers fought to avenge their fallen brothers through taking the checkpoint.

Visual rhetoric allows for a picture to communicate with the people. As well as, allow the world to view this particular captivating scene. Although people see the atrocities of war, they can never fully experience it. Through the visual rhetoric’s of gaze, focus, and cropping the expression of these six soldier’s strength, passion, and motivation was delivered. Society is persuaded to view and think a certain way based on what they see and how others act. However, with this in mind the picture taken on February 23, 1945 was taken without account as to what it would signify.
