Analysis of Graven Images - Saul Bellow

Saul Bellow was a Canadian-American writer who was awarded the Pulitzer Prize, the Nobel Prize of Literature, and the National Medal of Arts.  In his essay, Graven Images, Saul Bellow writes about how the media is open to changing what people should think of someone by distorting the truth.  Graven Images was written in 1997 at a time where digital media and the internet was just starting to grow.  Written for all ages, Bellow does a great job at showing how the media is in control of what the public sees.  His use of anecdotes helps to exhibit the true meaning of the essay.  An example of one of these anecdotes is when Saul Bellow was describing when he was photographed for TIME magazine and says, “I often remember how at the age of ninety-nine Freud’s grandmother complained that in the paper ‘they made me look a hundred years old,’” (Bellow 566). Saul Bellow shows his true experiences with the media, by presenting what they can control with just a small photo lens.  Freud’s grandmother helped Bellow’s overall argument by displaying how different he looked in the pictures.  Saul Bellow also uses logos in an effective way by providing expert testimony.  In the very beginning of the essay, Bellow quotes Harry Truman, saying, “That as a president of this country he was its most powerful citizen - but sometimes he added, smiling, the photographers were even more powerful,” (Bello 564). This statement from a true expert helps back up Bellow’s purpose in the fact that the media has much control.  Through using this expert opinion, it not only backs his argument, but it also draws the audience directly into the passage making them very interested. By using these two strong rhetorical devices, Saul Bellow captures his audience and effective establishes his entire argument.  In my opinion, this essay made me re-think how much control the media really does have.  If it were not for the media, we as a nation would possibly see more of the truth.

"But neither the kindly nor the wicked ones can show us the realities we so hope - or long - to see." (Bellow 567) - https://www.emaze.com/@ALCWIOLL/MASS-MEDIA-IMPACT-ON-SOCIETY-BY-PAULA-ROCA