Rhetorical Analysis – Forgotten Man

Maynard Dixon’s painting, Forgotten Man (1934), is a social protest piece showing the feelings of working class people during the depression. His argument is that the leaders of the country did not do enough to help and protect the common people of America.

Forgotten Man link

WATCO: Ignoring the common man during the depression on the future of the American economy?

Claim: Ignoring the common man during the depression hurts the future of the American economy because failing to help people who are struggling takes away their hope of ever being successful.

Implicit Assumption: Whatever takes away people’s hope of ever being successful also hurts the future of the American economy.

Audience: The leaders of the country who, in Dixon’s opinion, were not doing enough to help the many people who struggled economically during the depression.

This painting uses persuasion on several different levels. The artist depicts a man who is rejected by society without society even really knowing or caring about it. The Great Depression was a time when people looked out for themselves because the economy was not strong enough for them to support anybody else. The man in the picture is discouraged and sitting on the curb while everyone else walks by without even noticing he is there. This image builds credibility with the audience and is effective in building emotional attachment to the piece. The man’s down-trodden countenance and posture are an accurate depiction of the despair many people felt during that period, and Dixon’s views are not dissimilar from the feelings of many others at that time.

I feel that this painting is an effective argument on behalf of the working class of America. It reminds people of how difficult times were in the 1920’s and 1930’s, and how success can be such a fragile thing. The painting is sad and thought-provoking, yet beautiful to look at and emotionally moving. Nobody wants to go back to that, and hopefully our leaders will do things that will prevent that from happening again.