Writing Project 2

Throughout World War II, Americans and their allied forces were constantly devising plans for a quick end to the war. Part of these plans was to gain control of islands that were of dire use in the travel from home base to enemy lines. Iwo Jima was one of those islands. The island of Iwo Jima is located around 600 miles away from Tokyo, Japan and was thought to be a critical checkpoint for United States aircraft to land and refuel, if it was captured. Also, American forces believed that there could be many emergency rescues ran out of this location and that considerable time could be saved using this island. This island had three airstrips that the Japanese used for launching their kamikaze attacks. Japanese officials already had radar located on this island, and as a result the Americans were not able to pass through the area without being noticed. The United States was fairly confident that this island would be fairly easy to come by, however Japanese forces begged to differ with them.

Before invading the island, the American forces assumed that there would not be a lot of resistance there. However, after the troops landed, they quickly became bombarded by Japanese gunfire. The Japanese, who were well known for their low-key hideouts, immediately took the upper hand. After sustaining many initial blows on the beaches, the American forces pushed inland and gained control of the island. By the end of the battle, Japanese troops were starved and desperate, committing suicide or surrendering themselves to the allied forces. The battle at Iwo Jima proved to be severely detrimental to both sides of the war. The Japanese troops lost over twenty thousand men, while the American forces sustained over twenty seven thousand troop casualties. The victory at the small island of Iwo Jima proved to be a large factor in the allies win in World War II.

As a result of the victory, a memorial, the United States Marine Corps War Memorial, was constructed by Horace W. Peaslee in 1954. The sculpture was inspired by a picture taken after the victorious battle at Iwo Jima. A plaque beneath the sculpture says, "In honor and in memory of the men of the United States Marine Corps who have given their lives to their country since November 10, 1775."(U.S.M.C. War Memorial) From World War II to the present-day War on Terror, this sculpture is a reminder that the pursuit of freedom is a huge undertaking that is never complete. This piece of art, through the use of analogy and compare and contrast, employs patriotic pathos in an observers mind.

The monument depicts six soldiers hoisting an American flag, the symbol of the United States of America. The objective here is emphasizing that the Americans were victorious in this battle. However, that these six dirty, tired, and battered men are merely going through a formality in the grand scheme of this war. The analogy of the tight, focused look on the men’s faces says that the battle may have been won, but the war was still not over. Several of the men were reassigned following this battle and were sent to Japan. The men here are not joyous; they are in fact still scared and insecure (Marine on Iwo Jima, 34). The cause of these looks is the extreme situations that they have faced in every confrontation they have been involved in. Seeing thousands of men die in a battle, along with persevering through bad weather, a lack of food, sleep deprivation, and other elements will make a person raw with emotion.

The flagpole is an important part of this statue as well. The angled flagpole signifies that work will always need to be done in trying to achieve freedom. The teamwork of all of these men lifting the pole can be compared to all of the men and women who were a part of this war, whether on the battlefields or in the medical tents. All six men are working hard, helping each other to reach the goal, which is to eventually get the pole to stand upright. This is compared in the war by allied forces pushing their way across lands and seas to thwart the enemy and eventually killing them or forcing the axis powers to surrender. In a narrative sense, this sculpture is telling the observer about a moment of time. This instant demonstrates the magnitude of this battle during the war and also, through the sculpture, makes the instant forever embedded in time. This instant enhances the idea of a continuous fight for freedom.

These rhetorical strategies all focus on how pathos is created by this piece of art. When looking at the sculpture, people feel an overwhelming sense of patriotism for their country. When people look at this they remember that hundreds of thousands of men have died fighting for America’s freedom over the last fifty years. While they feel sad for all of the lives that are lost during war, they also feel proud because soldiers died for them. People see the flagpole being raised and feel a sense of community because of the teamwork it takes to raise the flag. The comparison of the men’s faces to the war itself excites the person’s brain to remember what they have learned about the difficulties of World War II. The timeless instant of the statue shows the infinite progress towards freedom.

The USMC Memorial can be connected to the present day not only through the picture just discussed but also through comparing World War II to more recent wars the United States have been involved in. The War on Terrorism, for example, was started to combat any type, form, or representation of terroristic acts. This is a major undertaking and one that requires an immense amount of time and commitment by all of the politicians and soldiers involved. This is the same for any war, as in WWII women were even recruited to help in factories and in the medical field. The memorial’s flagpole can be compared to the progress made in the war so far, the war is not over yet. To look at this even further, perhaps in a more negative way, the statue is an event frozen in time. This could reflect the position the War on Terror, a debatable standstill. The men pushing the flag towards the sky represent the politicians, soldiers, nurses, and all other personnel involved in the effort to defeat any and all terrorists.

The United States Marine Corps Memorial is an object that has touched millions of American’s emotions. These emotions that are caused by looking at this statue can also be connected to the emotions that are drawn from viewing the similar image of the World Trade Center’s flag raising. The image of three men hoisting an American flag on September 11, 2001 also pulls pathos out of people in the form of patriotism. In both pictures, the flagpole is on its way towards pointing straight up, but isn’t there yet. These two pieces of artwork also illustrate crucial periods in their respective time frames. The USMC Memorial depicts a key victory and a turning point during WWII while the September 11th picture shows a cause for hope and a wish for better days ahead. The United States Marine Corps Memorial is an effective piece of rhetorical art in this era. All of these similarities tie the past to the present in the same way: showing that freedom will never be won for good, it will be won on a day-by-day basis.


Works Cited

Bomar, Mary A. "U.S.M.C. War Memorial." National Parks Service. November 16, 2008. http://www.nps.gov/archive/gwmp/usmc.htm

Cooper, Rachael. "Iwo Jima Memorial - U. S. Marine Corps War Memorial." About.com 2008. http://dc.about.com/od/monuments/a/IwoJima.htm

Pfeifer, Charlie. Marine on Iwo Jima: An Interview with Col. Thomas Fields. February 9, 2004. http://www.doingoralhistory.org/project_archive/2004/Papers/PDFs/charlie.pdf

Simonich, Milan. "Memorial Day, 2001: Marine from Franklin Borough never knew impact of Iwo Jima photo." Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. May 28, 2001. http://www.post-%20gazette.com/regionstate/20010528strankreg3.asp