
On October 4th, Hurricane Matthew made landfall in Cuba as a category four hurricane. This type of hurricane can have winds around 150 miles per hour, can cause serious damage to homes, and can cause long-term power outages. After the hurricane made its way to Haiti and through the rest of the Caribbean, it continued up to hit the eastern side of Florida and continued up the coast causing major flooding and destruction. Many lost their cars, their homes, and their lives. This image from Cuba uses focus to draw the attention to the people hugging, the tiles on the wall, and the dog in order to argue that this hurricane, despite being so destructive, it is the key to the people affected starting over to lead happier lives. 

This image was taken after Hurricane Matthew left its mark. There is a lot of debris in the picture and it appears to be a house that was destroyed. The focus of the picture is on the center, where there most notably see two people hugging. On the demolished wall next to the hugging people, there are remnants of what was a blue and red tiled wall. This tile was probably in someone’s bathroom or kitchen. There is also the brick that held their house together, a pot from their kitchen, a chair in the back that was at their dinner table, a fan behind that that kept them cool on the hot days. It was a place where a family made their lives, shared their happy news with each other or broke down and cried about a sad time. There is also a woman in the back looking in despair and shock at everything around her. She is in the middle of a large pile of debris where her house may have been. There is what looks like a broken table behind her, and that may have been the place where she came to relax at the end of the day and now it is just gone. It was a part of their home. This entire picture is the remains of someone’s home. The sky as well, it is cloudy and grey, with no blue sky or sunshine. This leaves the scene more somber. Grey skies are associated with sadness, and they are often shown in pictures and movies when something sad. Like a funeral is taking place given that many did lose their lives as a result of the storm so it makes sense for the sky to be the way it is. This together evokes emotion. It is sad to see all this and see that these people’s lives are completely ruined. Not only do they have to clean up the debris but they also have to completely start over and rebuild their lives. 

Below the hugging people, there is a dog. It is not doing anything particularly interesting; it is just standing there yawning. This dog evokes an emotion all its own: happiness. Dogs are associated with happiness. A dog is a person’s best friend who greets their owner when they come home from work and sits with their owner when their sick. They are with their owner through thick and thin. The dog in the image is the ray of hope amidst all the destruction. This dog also gives the feeling that everything is going to be okay. It is extremely difficult to be sad when a dog is around, and this one in the picture is there to break up the sadness. It is also there to remind those that were affected that they are extremely lucky to be alive and okay. Their homes may be destroyed but their will to continue is not shattered. It also shows those there and those who will look at the picture to look to the future, to imagine a time where everything will be fixed and happy again.

This image was posted before the hurricane hit the coast of Florida, and the damage it did in Cuba is extremely apparent. One consistent theme in the reports predicting what Hurricane Matthew would do to the south eastern coast of America is that people were not evacuating and not taking the destructive nature of this storm seriously. These people that lived on the coasts of Florida thought that there had been worse storms and that this one would not be as bad as the experts were predicting. This image also serves the purpose to warn people of the incredible damage this storm is capable of, and especially those in the path of Matthew. These people needed to actually see what the hurricane was capable of and the kind of damage it could do to their lives. The image captures that perfectly, not only the extremely apparent destruction but just the shock on the people in the pictures face. Specifically the woman in the background of the picture, she looks to be taken back and purely in shock from what she is seeing. 

Hurricane Matthew ripped through the Caribbean leaving a mess of destruction and a death toll that is still rising as the days go on and as the damage is sorted through. As the storm moved through the United States, it did the same type of damage and it flooded many communities along the coast. The focus of the picture is on the two people hugging, but the details are what makes it hit home. While the people hugging in despair is sad, what is in the debris behind them is almost worse. They are destroyed items that are found in every home around the world, and not just in the United States. This is what puts it into perspective for the people that see this photo. With the debris everywhere, and the looks on the people’s faces in the picture, the image shows the complete devastation that these places in Cuba and Haiti were feeling and that there was a tough challenge in store for the people living there. They have to literally sort and pick the pieces of their lives up and make them whole again. The storm itself was a horrible thing, but putting the pieces back together is almost worse. But there is hope, and that is something that people need in a devastating time. The dog shows that things are going to get better and that this may have not been such a horrible thing. The people in this picture can create a better life for themselves and starting completely may be kind a blessing in disguise for them. This image captures all these feelings into one and it is done in a seamless way. While this is definitely not a happy image, or something that people find envious, it does put life into perspective for those who see it. Those who see it think that they are so lucky to be so fortunate and for those impacted, they think about how lucky they are to be alive and that things will turn around for them.
