In order to achieve academic success, one must dedicate an abundance of time and effort to their studies. O’Sullivan, the author of an image essay dedicated to the journey of academic success, portrays the necessary steps to obtain success. His work is comprised of seven images, all of which communicate a unique message to the reader. Out of the seven images, two of them are his own pictures and five of them are not. This essay tells the story of his own personal success that he experienced in high school, and what steps he took to achieve his goals. A few of the author’s major visual elements are facial and body expressions, color scheme, and size of the images. Collectively, these elements help communicate his message to the audience.

The first two images, employed by O’Sullivan, are comics that represent the two most primitive steps to academic glory. Image number one includes five children, sitting at their desks, with illuminating smiles. This image represents the importance of attending class. The major visual element used here is the facial expressions of the students. The large smiles on their faces indicate that they are all attending class with a positive attitude. The author uses this image to describe the first step to academic success, which is attending class with a positive attitude. Image number two portrays several students with their hands eagerly raised. This image was used to represent the importance of participating in class. The important visual elements used here are body expressions and artistic detail. First, the students are all sincerely raising their hands and begging to be called on. This element tells the reader that these students are participating in class because they are interested, not because they were forced to. Secondly, the artistic details used here are little scribble marks drawn around the student’s hands. These details illustrate the back and forth motion of the student’s hands as they are raised in the air. This motion shows how eager and excited they all are to be chosen by the instructor.

O’Sullivan’s third and fourth images are indicative of his last two major steps to achieving academic prowess. In the third image, a boy can be seen completing his homework assignments. O’Sullivan, like most successful scholars, would agree that completing assignments is necessary to succeed. The boy is alone in the picture, which is important because the author is trying to communicate to the reader that isolation is often times helpful when trying to finish work efficiently. Also, the boy’s facial characteristics suggest that he is relaxed and thinking deeply about his assignment. The next image portrays a boy studying for his examinations. The boy’s face here gives off the idea that he is overwhelmed with the amount of material he is studying. Additionally, he has his hands on his head, signifying further his level of distress. Lastly, the plethora of open textbooks on the table suggests that the boy is studying vigorously for an upcoming test. Each one of these visual elements culminates to express the authors message that intense studying is vital to one’s academic triumph. 

The next two images that O’Sullivan used were his two personal pictures. After the first four images were focused on the steps to reaching success, these next two images are dedicated to celebrating one’s academic accomplishments. Image number five is arguably the most impactful piece of this work. First and foremost, this is the only image crucial enough to occupy its own page. The size of this image allows the reader to understand the magnitude of this part of the essay. In this image, there are students seen walking down the stairs with their arms raised above their heads and they are all smiling from ear to ear. These visual elements describe the joy these students are experiencing after enduring four years of rigorous academics. Most importantly, this image captures the exact moment that the students realized all of their hard work over the years has finally paid off. O’Sullivan’s penultimate image is a picture of him and his parents on graduation day. The color scheme here definitely plays an important role as another visual element. The pearly white tuxedo, and sharp red bow tie and cumber bun, imply that this day is an extraordinarily important one. Further, the facial expressions of the parents demonstrate pride in their son’s accomplishments. Ultimately, the author is stressing the importance of working hard to eventually reach the point of finishing exams and graduating with no regrets.

To begin his conclusion, O’Sullivan includes an image of the magnificent Darla Moore School of Business. The obvious visual element here is the breathtaking color scheme. The dynamic colors used here gives the reader the idea that if one works diligently in high school, he or she will attend a university as spectacular as Darla Moore. The energetic colors of the sky also add to the sentiment that this school is a very desirable institution to attend. This last image serves as motivation for the audience. In other words, this image portrays the potential next step in one’s academic endeavor if he or she works vigorously throughout high school. Despite the last image inspiring the audience, the essay, in its entirety, was not merely a motivational piece. As stated earlier, this image essay was also a representation of O’Sullivan’s high school success story. Many different reader’s interpretations would agree that the image essay was an attempt to illustrate his own academic success. However, there is another prevalent interpretation about what message the author was trying to share with the audience. This final interpretation of the image essay suggests that this piece was meant to inform other students about how to achieve their academic goals. Without question, O’Sullivan’s image essay is open to a multitude of different interpretations. This is most likely the case due to the extensive employment of effective visual elements. Whether it was facial expression, body language, color scheme or picture size, O’Sullivan’s broad use of visual elements helped contribute to the multifaceted interpretation that the reader is left with.
