The 9/11 attacks affected countless families and many people lost their loved ones.  The city of New York took years to recover, and for many people the event changed their life.  The woman in the picture is one of these people.  The woman seen clearly has been involved with 9/11, and seeing the new memorial means something to her.  Maybe she lost a son or husband, maybe she was affected herself.  Through the use of lines, color, and situation, and observer can understand the heartbroken emotions of the women impacted by the 9/11 attacks.

The first and strongest aspect of this photo are the lines used.  The women is set up perfectly in the rule of thirds to the right of the page.  This was done so that we can follow her eyes to the left of the page, which leads us to understand that she's looking at something that makes her emotional.  The lines of the memorial along with the lines of the names of people who passed away are perpendicular to the women, arguing that the memorial is cutting through her (breaking her).  The final use of lines are the lines on the women’s body.  She has the straps on her bag creating lines as they press into her skin, showing the reader that the women is under immense amounts of stress and pressure.  This strain is also shown with the crease in the women’s neck, which leads the readers eyes back to her gaze which follows across the picture.  Her arms create a triangle, and in photography the use of a triangle represents the main subject.  The strategy of line is unique in the image and expresses how the women is struggling to get by and stay positive during this difficult time.

The second visual device that the photographer uses to create emotion is color.  The strongest aspect of color in this image is the contrast between the women and the color around her.  She is wearing black, which is how the reader infers that she lost someone, because black is the color of mourning.  However, the background it mostly colorful, so our eye is drawn to her and her pain stands out even more.  The second aspect of color that the eye is drawn to is the pink rose.  The color of the rose is extremely ironic because their is so much death around her, yet the rose is extremely bright and its thriving point, completely bloomed.  However, the rose is behind her, so the women doesn’t see it, showing that the only things she can focus on in her state are the negatives.  The final color that stands out is the teal ribbon on her chest, the teal ribbon was used to honor victims of 9/11, so this color once again lets the reader infer that the women lost someone.  Color plays a very important role in showing us how the woman is shaded emotionally, even with the brightness around her.  

The situation of the image is the concluding aspect that lets the reader decipher a deeper meaning for the picture.  The situation is very ironic because although the woman is so incredibly sad, the city is thriving behind her.  A reader can see the reflection of New York within the buildings, and because the memorial was made after the attacks, the city is back to its day to day life, suggesting that even though things might be okay right now, we need to remember how it was.  The woman against this, shows us that although the city can recover, her life is changed forever, and it will never be the same.  There are trees and running water from the memorial in the back, and this is another ironic aspect because these are both signs of life, and the woman has been impacted by death.  The front of the image shows only loss (the names, the women crying), while the back of the image shows life (nature, the city thriving).  These two aspects juxtapose with one another, and the situation of the image makes it clear that although New York may haw outwardly recovered from 9/11, the events of the tragic day will always be within people’s hearts.  

Overall, 9/11 is something that has changed so many people’s lives, and through visually examining this picture, a reader can understand the heartbreak that the terrorist attack caused.  The lines in the image show how the memorial cuts through the women’s heart, and how there is still so much strain on her emotionally and physically.  The color in the image displays that the woman is in a dark state, and that she can only focus on the agony, even though there is brightness all around her.  Finally, the situation of the city thriving while she is still mourning, gives the reader a chance to understand that tragedies do not just last a month or a year, but that they stay with a person forever.  The image is powerful and meaningful, and close reading of this visual text allows and observer to not only sympathize but understand the woman’s pain.  
