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Gissel Fuentes

Kandice Kardell

English 101

26 September 2018

A Woman

To start off with, these two portraits show the same happy woman that is wearing a Navy

uniform. In both portraits, this woman’s face expression shows that she is excited for something

and seems to not be bothered or worrying about anything. With the Navy suit she is wearing; the

viewer can conclude that she is serving in the Navy. This woman’s gesture shows she is ready

for battle. This is because the way she holds her Navy jacket in the first portrait, is the same way

someone would hold their jacket when prepared for something. She is pulling on her jacket as if

she had just put it on and is ready to go into battle. Her face expressions and clothes show that

she is fearless and excited to serve the Navy. Both portraits show that this woman may have been

one of the first woman to join the Navy, if not the first woman to join.

To continue, one of the portraits is a poster that was painted. This portrait has writing that

is coming off as sarcasm. The writing says “Gee!! I wish I were a man! I’d join the Navy”. With

this message and a women next to it that has a Navy suit on, the viewer is informed about

women being able to join the Navy. Men were only allowed in the Navy, so this message is

saying that women who wish to be in the Navy have to be men. However, women must read it

with sarcasm to understand that women can now join the Navy. Therefore, this message shows

that she may have been the first to join the Navy so, she is informing other women to join.
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As for the second portrait, which is a photo, the back ground and an object tells the

viewer a lot about the setting and how she most definitely was in the Navy. In the back ground,

there is a field with trees and grass. This lets the viewer know that she was in a battle field. The

object that brings this together is the cannon she is leaning on. Cannons were mainly used in the

first wars and in the first wars women weren’t allowed to serve. So, this cannon shows she is one

of the first women to serve in the Navy. Therefore, when putting the battle field and a cannon

together, the viewer has an idea about her being one of the first to join the Navy.

To conclude, throughout these two portraits the focal point is this woman, who seems to

have been the first woman to serve in the Navy. The viewer knows she is the first to serve the

Navy because her words are telling other women to join the Navy with her. This woman shows

she is fearless and excited about being the first women in the Navy by her face expressions. Her

gestures show she is prepared for anything that comes her way. The viewer knows she for sure

was serving because the second portrait is of her on a battle field, leaning on a cannon.

Therefore, with all these six elements the viewer is informed about this woman being the first to

serve the Navy.

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Works Cited

“Loretta Walsh: First Woman to Enlist in Navy.” America Comes Alive, 12 Oct. 2016,

americacomesalive.com/2011/03/03/loretta-walsh-1896-1925/.

“Women's History Month: The Navy Yeoman in World War 1.” Korean War Memorial |

American Battle Monuments Commission, 28 Mar. 2016, www.abmc.gov/news-

events/news/womens-history-month-navy-yeoman-world-war-1#.W6vk9vZFzIU
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