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Escobar Alexander

Professor Granillo

English 101

12/03/19

Bonded

Past achievements are meant to be documented, especially regarding humans. We all

make mistakes and the next person to evaluate them is meant to correct our process. In this case,

A cake that was meant to presented with humor but determined inadequate for a wedding cake, is

now being remade to fulfill the true purpose of a wedding cake. There is a consensus that

wedding cakes are meant to be beautiful and express the love of the newlyweds. People making

cakes for their friends and family getting married should stray from tampering with a wedding

cake that is meant to express love and happiness. This needs to be done by making sure the

message is clear and concise and does not leave any room for people to question the message of

the cake. Wedding cakes are meant to display unity and love and should be kept in that format to

avoid confusion.

To begin with, the wedding cake that was being evaluated consisted of a few key symbols

that could have been avoided to use. For one, there is a groom showing depressed emotions with

a ball and chain on his foot while sitting down, hopeless. As stated by the article Unpleasant

Icing “The speaker uses pathos to express a melancholic semiotic situation, or, highlights a

possible dreadful alternative outcome for the groom” (Escobar 1). The bride is not even facing

his direction and is quite happy with the wedding and displays no empathy for the groom’s

conditions. The cake also has a giant outline of a heart on it with the bars to fill the inside. Also,

there is mainly pink on the cake which displays dominance of one over the other. Lastly, the
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words “Prisoner of love” are plastered on the front of the cake which indicates only one person

as a prisoner. This was a cake design that strayed from the message of love and unity between

two newlyweds. This could have been done with humor, but not everyone may understand this

style of humor and therefore must be avoided.

Nonetheless, the new cake design takes a more Western style traditional approach. The

cake is layered with white frosting all over it. The only color frosting that is present is red

frosting, which doesn’t conform to any gender role color based on traditional western style

cakes. There will be no groom or bride figurine on the cake. The only symbols that is present are

red hearts of all shapes and sizes. Also, there are words on the cake that say, “Happily bonded

for eternity”. This cake is straight to the point and shows no mixed messages. There are no

figurines that state what the bride and groom must look like. The inside of the cake is also

chocolate to show that dark colors can represent purity just the way the color white does in these

styles of cakes and expresses feelings of love, being that chocolate has been paired with flowers

and romance many times before in western culture. This cake is meant to be neutral on all levels

and meant to be used by anyone who wants to display their love and happiness with their new

partner in life. Rachel Graham makes a point about this in Grahams Have Your Epideictic

Rhetoric, and Eat It, Too and states “the cakes not only participated in reality at a critical

moment in time but also represented one reality while inspiring a new one” (Graham 40).

This cake was made to display a safer approach to designing a wedding cake and how it

should be made for the sake of the wedding itself. It Displays usage of a pathos rhetoric in order

to engage with the audience. Quote “Rhetoric is defined as the ability to see what is possibly

persuasive in every given case” (Rapp 1). Pathos is the appeal to emotion as a persuasive tactic.

Signifier’s are objects that exist (Silverman, Rader, 14). A Signified is the meaning of something
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(Silverman, Dean, 14). Semiotics is the study or interpretation of signs and symbols. Marxism is

“Getting or keeping economic power is the motive behind all social and political activities”

(Tyson 51). Ideology is usually regarded as a belief system (Tyson 54). Lastly, Rugged

individualism is when someone attempts to obtain goals that only benefit themselves and no one

else, this is popular in the United States (Tyson 57). Decision Theory is a literary theory that

states “decision-makers must consult their own beliefs about the probability that one

outcome or another will result from a specified option” (Steele 1).

The cake itself ensures the semiotics of love and happiness are clear. Decision Theory

played a huge role in the cakes design because the cake design was picked solely due to the

beliefs and reference to what a traditional western style cake should look like. The original cake

design followed a more rugged individualistic approach that showed the bride as the happy

winner of the relationship. The updated cake strays from those ideals because it considers both

the groom and bride within the relationship. The updated cake chose a specified option to stick to

a traditional format in order to receive a positive opinion or outcome from the bride and groom

themselves. It takes a different ideological approach that doesn’t conform to Marxist motives for

economic or social power but instead highlights equality and consensual bondage between two

persons who love each other. We don’t see one person reaping the benefits while the other

suffers with the outcome. This cake also maintains its signified message of happiness and

equality due to the lack of mixed colors and the semeiotics of the hearts on the cake.

Additionally, Red is used as the dominant color for the heart symbols on this cake. It

maintains the direct signified message of love. Color is important because it can reveal signifies

the way their intended to be interpreted or not. According to Color theorist Maund “Rather, color

is a psychological property of our visual experiences when we look at objects and lights, not a
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physical property of those objects or lights” (Maund 1). In many societies’ red is the color of

love, passion, revolution or anger. This color is paired with hearts therefore it maintains the

notion of passion and love. Some may say red can represent anger and rage but even then, this

color is paired with unbroken hearts instead of knives, broken hearts, or pitchforks. We maintain

the signified for the sake of the bride and groom and ensure no one in the party feels attacked or

shamed. We also conform to the ideology that marriage is a happy achievement and not

damaging to one’s life. The hearts on the cake leave no room for Marxist values to intervene.

Also, the words themselves provide a signified that is positive and leaves very little room

for rugged individualism. In Rachele Grahams Have Your Epideictic Rhetoric, and Eat It, Too

she states “The theme, text, and even the flavor of a cake should teach the audience about the

celebratee’s interests and the reason for celebrating.” (Graham 32). Chocolate has been

represented with love and feelings of happiness, which is why the flavor of the cake is also

chocolate. The words on the cake is made with frosting that is delicious and shows how

interested the bride and groom are in marrying each other. The theme of the cake consists of

white frosting as the background layer and hearts intact to create a theme of love and unity. The

color white has been paired with symbols of purity, happiness, and overall majestic qualities

when placed on a wedding dress, cake, or even wedding doves in western cultures. Some say the

word “bond” should be removed, but the words “happily” before it ensures this is consensual and

benefitable to both the bride and groom. Rachel Graham also states “OCCASIONAL CAKES

INITIATE, SUPPORT, INFLUENCE, OR LEND CLOSURE TO OTHER MODES OF

DISCOURSE” (Graham 35) Overall the elements used in this cake design keeps great distance

form Marxist rugged individualism.

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In conclusion, this cake has come a long way from its original design. The semiotics used

in the first cake were not only misleading, but also morbid and inconsiderate of both the bride

and grooms’ feelings. This cake can be regarded as a “safe cake” to others, yet the cake clearly

fulfills its intended purpose in western culture to provide semiotic situations aligned with

happiness and love. This is how western style wedding cakes should be made because it follows

a traditional format that warms the bride and groom on their wedding day. This style of wedding

cake is always meant to be presented on the wedding day of two special individuals considering

each other and joining as one willingly. The redesigned, all white, red hearted, chocolate filled

cake should be placed at the center of any wedding reception to be viewed and appreciated.

Overall the pathos appeals this cake displays through its design is most beneficial to the bride

and groom themselves because no one solely benefits from this design. It is equally distributed.

This is the perfect cake for a wedding day, while the original design should be discarded and

avoided at all cost by any cake baker globally. It just wouldn’t be fair to the bride and groom to

design a cake any other way other than the design of redeveloped, somewhat traditional, cake.
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Works Cited & Bibliography

Rapp, Christof, "Aristotle's Rhetoric", The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Spring 2010

Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.), URL =

<https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/spr2010/entries/aristotle-rhetoric/>..

The main point of this article was to display the many different Rhetoric styles. It also

presented the history behind Rhetoric. Lastly, it specified how rhetoric is used. It made a

huge impact on my paper because it provided clarity on the usage of the rhetoric. It also

gave me insight on my analysis by giving me examples of what rhetoric was made for in

persuasion and arguments.

Maund, Barry, "Color", The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Spring 2019 Edition),

Edward N. Zalta (ed.), URL =

<https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/spr2019/entries/color/>.

This article provided numerous theories on color and its interpretation. It went through

the primary colors in which the human eye can see. It gave me insight on the many

different interpretation’s red can display to the human psyche. It allowed my analysis to

be in depth. The semiotics of this paper was backed by the information this article

provided.

Grahams, Lussos, Rachael. (2018). Have your epideictic rhetoric, and eat it, too.. 2. 28-47.

Rachel Grahams article gave a new meaning to cake design. It showed its importance in

society and impact. I used this article as a framework to my cake design. It also provided

a path to understanding what I wanted my signified to be. It allowed me to critically think

on my analysis of both cake designs.

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Silverman, Jonathan, Rader, dean, “Reading and writing about television”, The world is a text:

Writing about visual and popular culture, 2018: 223-243. Print

This print is a great resource to format a paper. It provides definitions needed within an

essay. I would refer to this paper when I felt stuck on how to define semiotics. Overall it

helped my analysis because it provided structure. Especially regarding semiotics.

Tyson, Lois. “Marxist Critism” Critical Theory Today: A User-Friendly Guide 2015: 51-78.

Print.

This allowed me to take an approach on the cake design under a different lens. Marxism

holds many different ideologies which allows it to be diverse. Because of that it allowed

flexibility within my paper. I wrote my analysis understanding what ideologies coincide

with both cake designs. This gives more room for clarity for the reader.

Steele, Katie and Stefánsson, H. Orri, "Decision Theory", The Stanford Encyclopedia of

Philosophy (Winter 2016 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.), URL =

<https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/win2016/entries/decision-theory/>.

Decision theory is described in many different styles within this article. Although there

are many styles, it allowed me to define my intentions. It speaks on what can influence a

decision and the outcomes to think about. It provides an automatic space for critical

thinking. Overall this literary theory allows both the writer and reader to have a concreate

definition to certain actions.

Escobar, Alex “Rhetorical analysis” Unpleasant Icing: 2019: 1-6 Print

This article allowed me to revisit a prior evaluation to the original cake design. It allowed

me to maintain a purpose. The purpose being what should be avoided and what should be

created. Overall it kept my analysis in check to ensure I didn’t stray too far from the
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point. Which was, how to make a presentable wedding cake that isn’t damaging to the

bride and groom and their families.