After going through all of my pictures on my laptop, I decided that this is the one to write about because both humor and tragedy are captured in this image. This is a picture of my boyfriend, Jeff and his father, Paul. It was taken after Paul was done with his surgery on his esophagus.
Paul’s journey of fighting esophageal cancer began the morning of October 23, 2007. After a few months of having difficulty swallowing and avoiding the problem, Paul finally decided to go see the doctor. He went in for an endoscopy, and bad news resulted. The doctor said that there was a tumor where the stomach and esophagus met. Three days later, the doctor called to confirm that it was indeed cancer. He also said that the esophagus surgery has a higher risk than open-heart surgery. Besides knowing this scary fact, the Wimber family and friends prayed all day and night throughout Paul’s journey. During the surgery, the doctor couldn’t see where the cancer was with the naked eye. He basically just prayed and made an educated guess on where the cancer was. Afterwards, he came to find that he was less than one centimeter away from the cancer. This was good news because if he had cut directly into the cancer, it would have been extremely bad. They’re still praying until this day and thanking God for everything he has done.
*If you want to read more about this then look at Diana's blog (Paul's wife). She has been blogging since their journey fighting this cancer began.
Now knowing the history that this image has, what would you say after looking at this image? When I first saw this image, I was thinking: “Wow, why are you so excited for your dad hooked up to all these machines?” My boyfriend said he made this expression in the picture because it was after his dad was done with surgery. It shows that the surgery went well, and he’s very happy that it did. Of course, who wouldn’t? I had thought that this was taken before the surgery when he was going through all of his chemo treatments. Although, the excitement on Jeff’s face and his thumbs up may signify the positivist that he is. Staying positive in these situations is the way to go because it reduces any emotional stress that one may have. This image portrays tragedy because Paul had to fight the evil cancer, and his body is just physically miserable. Also, the setting of a hospital suggests tragedy because many sad things happen in there. There are good things that happen like giving birth, but there’s more bad than good. It also illustrates humor because his lovely son has an ecstatic look on his face and holding two thumbs up. The humor distracts the viewer from all the tragic objects in some sense. It takes the focus off the tragedy that’s obvious, and it sets the focus on excitement.
An image withholds a lot of things like history and messages. There are several ways that people can analyze and interpret this image. If you first saw this image, how would you read it?
1 comment:
I notice the circular window, and the incredible techno-medical landscape surrounding the humans in the photo. It almost looks like space, except for the jeans and the dark hoody. It seems, too, like the subject is at a distance; the photographer is far enough away that the little table interrupts the frame.
You do well balancing the horror of the cancer and the uplifting story of a successful surgery; in a sense, your post (and this image) really hinges on the tenuous position of humans entering a post-human age. We want all the risks of mortality, and all the control promised by technological hook-ups. About Jeff’s thumbs: One wonders if at some point thumbs will cease to be necessary for humans, or at least if they will lose their ability to communicate glee. Your post captures how an image can contain both a touching personal story and an archaeology of the present.
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