
Pictures can create many different emotions. They can be used to influence decisions, promote products, express joy or sadness and also draw attention to serious issues. This picture of a young girl surrounded by negative sayings and hurtful words presents the very important issue of bullying in modern society. 

The bold text “Stop Bullying” across the middle of the page instantly draws the attention of the viewer. One way it does this is by having the words the darkest letters on the page. The phrase also stands out due to it being placed on a white background.  This text appears to be strategically placed across the subject’s (the girls) mouth. The reasoning behind this may vary. At first glance it could be believed that the girl in the image is a bully. This would explain why her mouth is covered. However, if you look more closely at the image you see her body language represents someone who is defeated. Covering of the girls mouth shows how she may feel like she can't express herself. It shows how her bullies control what people think of her, and what she starts to think of herself. By having her mouth covered a new level of hopelessness is cast upon the girl. Another way this was shown is through her shrunken shoulders. Her arms crossed across her body seem to be working as a shield. In a way she is hiding behind them, and you can see a look of despair in her eyes. Due to all these reasons it makes more sense that the girl in the image is the victim of these bullies. The girl herself appears to be young and beautiful. She posses many of the qualities of America's idea of a beautiful women. Her long light curly hair, the makeup on her eyes and her seemingly nice body. All these things point toward what seems to be a beautiful young women. However the words surrounding the picture show numerous hurtful and mean sayings which may lead the viewer to think otherwise. 

Something to note in this image is that the words are strategically placed on the girl's body, not around her but on her. This may represent how she goes from someone surrounded by negativity to someone engulfed by the negativity. The negative words all over her body may represent in one way how these terms are becoming part of her, and how they begin to make up what you see when you look at her. Instead of seeing the girl you see all these words. People are no longer viewing her for what she creates but rather as what has been created for her.

The image being in black and white presents another view. By taking color out of the image, part of the life is taken away. The picture becomes more dull. It also results in less distraction which causes the viewer to look even more at the words. This can represent how some of the excitement or personalization that could be in the girl's life has been taken out and replaced by the sayings. Parts of what make her an individual have been removed. Taking away the color of her eyes and other personal traits you are taking something personal of hers. This relates to bullying as well. When someone is bullied they lose their self worth and self identity. By losing these things they begin to become less human. This is shown in this image through the lack of color.

In the image the upper left corner shows light opposed to the upper right which shows darkness. There could be many different interpretations on what this may mean. One possible explanation would be how the girl allows herself to be affected by these bullies. In some situations light represents positivity and happiness when black can represent sadness and negativity. Another idea would be that the black represents death when light represents life. Looking into this it would be possible to wonder if the girl is contemplating suicide. A more likely explanation however would be that the girl must choose whether she moves past the bullies and sees the good (the light) in the word or if she dwells on the negativity and stays in the darkness.

When  viewing this drawing, the viewer gets a real sense of what it is like to be a young women in modern society. It shows how much the things people say affect young girls. The standards at society holds young women to, and that young girls hold themselves to is unrealistic. This picture does an excellent job of showing a girl who has been affected by all of this. Although this image is simple it provides an important message through its use of body language, word placement and color choice. Pictures can be used for many things such as  influencing decisions, promoting products, expressing joy, sadness and in some cases including this one, to draw attention to serious issues.

