Clarence Lee
Phillip Webster
IB Lang & Lit SL – Section G
March 26, 2014
“Have you Prepared for Your Wife’s Death” Mock Commentary and Outline
Outline
I. Introduction
A. Morbid article
a. Has a large title
b. Has a weirdly phrased title that catches the audiences attention
B. Title
a. Can have 2 interpretations
b. Whether one has prepared for their wife's death
c. Whether one is prepared for murdering their wife.
C. Thesis
a.Lowe Howard-Spink uses morbid images as well as "in your face" facts to dissuade people from killing their wives or to warn people what would happen when their wives passed away.
II. Body Paragraph 1: Speaker and Audience
A. Speaker
a. Lowe Howard-Spink
B. Time and place
a. Time: 1983
b. Place: London
C. Significance
a. The time and place that this article took place is significant because life insurance was still a relatively uncommon plan during the 80s.
III. Body Paragraph 2: Stylistic Features
A. Pictures
a. Can have 2 interpretations
b. Everyday materials that resemble house chores, such as a knife for chopping fruits and vegetables etc.
c. Murder weapons used by potential murderers who wish to kill their wife. A bottle of bleach could be used to poison the wife, etc.
B. Text boxes under pictures
a. 4 pictures
b. Adds a caption to each of the 4 pictures
c. Helps readers to easily identify the significant of the 4 images on the article
C. Significance
a. Morbid images stand out
b. Help immediately draw audience’s attention to the images
c. Adds a more persuasive edge to this article advertising Albany Life
IV. Body Paragraph 3: How is Albany Life trustworthy?
A. Numerical Statistics
a. Numerical statistics make this article look more realistic
b. Helps build up trust: audience trusts towards Albany Life
c. Shows that Albany Life knows what they are talking about/dealing with.
B. Coupon with their logo
a. Helps increase ethos
b. Logo on the coupon makes this article trustworthier
C. Significance
a. Both numerical statistics and the coupon with their logo help increase ethos amongst their audiences.
V. Conclusion
A. Restate thesis in another way
Commentary
This text is a very morbid article that advertises for Albany Life's life insurance plan. The article has a bold heading, which is abnormally worded: "Are you Making Plans for Your Wife's Death?" This large title is very eye catching and it really helps convey its message really clearly. The title of this advertisement can be interpreted in 2 different ways. It is either asking the audience if they have already made plans for murdering their wives or asking the audience if they have made plans just in case their wives were to pass away. However for the most par of this commentary, the "have you prepared for your wife's death" interpretation of the title of this article will be considered. Lowe Howard-Spink uses morbid images as well as "in your face" facts to dissuade people from killing their wives or to warn people what would happen when their wives passed away.
The speaker of this article is none other than Lowe Howard-Spink. This article was published in the year 1983 and it can be said that society in London for the most part was still relatively conservative, which is why Spink's article is very effective. The targeted audience will be the people of London since this article was published by Albany Life, located in London. London is an urban town and the capital city of England, naturally there will be a lot of families living there. Hence this advertisement is definitely directed towards the families that live in London during 1983. The time and place of this article is significant because life insurance was still a relatively uncommon plan back in the 80s.
Lowe Howard-Spink uses numerous morbid images to help reinforce his persuasiveness. All four images used in this article, a knife, a bottle of Bleach, a bottle of medicine and a pillow are each unique and outstanding in their on ways. Each of the four images has its respective label with various questions, which are related to the chores that the image presents. For example, under the bottle of bleach is a caption that asks "After hours of office work, could you face hours of housework?" This helps capture the audience's attention to the various points that Spink is trying to make through writing this article. Each of the 4 images used represent a different house chore that would have to be dealt with if one were to either kill their wife or become a widower. The bottle of bleach represents washing the clothes, the pillow represents making the bed and folding up clothes, the knife represent cooking and last but not least the bottle of pills represent taking care of a sick child. However, just like the title, the 4 images can be interpreted in a different way. A more warped way to look at the four images would be to look at it as a "murder weapon". Since the other possible meaning of the title was asking people if they had already made plans for murdering their wives yet, these 4 images could easily be interpreted as possible murder weapons. The bottle of bleach and pills could easily be used as a poison for killing the wife, while the pillow can be used to smother the wife and the knife can obviously be used as a murder weapon. Hence, this shows how successful the small captions under the images as well as the large images are.
The text seen in this article is very carefully worded. It is clear that Spink feels that it will be really hard to survive without your wife because of the various sentences that he uses. For example, he states "At 2.50 pounds an hour, that comes to a staggering 10,400 pounds a year…" and "For as little as 15.00 pounds a month, Albany Life can provide cover worth over 50,000 pounds". These are clearly numerical data used to persuade husbands to invest in Albany Life just in case their wives were to pass away. The numerical statistics also help make Albany Life appear trust worthier to the audiences as it helps Albany Life to appear like they understand what they are talking about/dealing with. This article is very official in the sense that it is written formally as it is a formal advertisement from Albany Life advertising how it can help husbands plan the future in case of their wife’s death. This article also uses a lot of persuasive sentences to urge potential buyers, such as "Heaven knows, you'd need help. Lots of it." This helps the readers (mostly men) to feel that it really is necessary to invest in Albany Life in order for them to successfully carry on should their wife’s die. Last but not least, this article looks very formal due to the fact that there is a small box towards the end of the article, which asks readers who are interested in more information to cut out the small coupon and send it to Peter Kelly. The Albany Life logo on this coupon helps reinforce that Albany Life is a legitimate life insurance agency and not just a scam. This will help greatly increase the ethos that Albany Life has with its audiences. If the audience trusts Albany Life more, it would greatly increase the chance that they decide to purchase life insurance from Albany Life.
In conclusion, Lowe Howard-Spink incorporates both morbid images and well and carefully crafted sentences to help successfully persuade husbands to consider buying life insurance from Albany Life.