English 130
Final Draft of English Term paper

African American Body issues.

There are a lot of pictures showing mothers, their sons, and relationship structures in families. I obtained this image by searching for ‘juvenile delinquent families’ on GOOGLE. The picture itself was a still from EBONY magazine, published in 2005, showing the inevitable consequence of the youth having children, and the alarming rate at which this happens in the US. Since EBONY magazine focuses on the current events of African American celebrities and the culture as a whole, it would make sense that the audience is predominantly African American, but also frequent readers of the magazine. The picture actually has 2 parts to the overall image. The first part is set in the Bronx, and has three members of an African American family (a father, son and mother), standing aloof from each other. The other image tied to this picture shows the boy a few years older, but behind bars. The caption highlights single mom homes as a leading cause for juvenile delinquents. This image negatively predicts that broken African-American families lead to criminal children. What initially captured my attention was the facial expression of the father in the image. His head is turned to the side and he has a look of disgust as if to say: “I want nothing more to do with my wife or my son”. His facial expression also highlights a stern young adult, which gives the picture more of a “thuggish outlook”. His nostrils are definitely flared and his lips are pursed, making him look mean. He has a frown that ties to his grim face. Unfortunately, this look is not a friendly look, and does not positively represent the demeanor of a majority of African fathers. Rather it projects a terribly exaggerated illustration of coldhearted emptiness and adds to the reasoning behind broken families. In addition