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Stephanie Soto
Professor Melisa Malvin
English 115
14 October 2015
Taking for Granted
The dying Sudanese girl in a dry landscape being watched over by a vicious, hungry
vulture waiting for her to die before it eats her. Kevin Carter, photographer, has taken this
heartbreaking image to make others realize how bad the situation is and how awful people are
living to survive from starvation. From other countries like this Sudanese girl in the picture
demonstrate how having anything valuable, even if its small for them is a privilege to have.
Some people dont realize the things they take for granted, like water, food, and shelter, that
others rely on to survive. Kevin Carter had realized the pain once he took the picture of the
infant. The living situation of this poor girl was just too cruel for him to handle, seeing this infant
living on these extreme conditions and that no one would help, were just too painful that led him
to extreme depression. The vulture has its own meaning of survival even if its unpleasant to see
with our eyes. Kevin Carter is trying to draw attention to the issue of starvation in Sudanese, the
lives of the people, such as this young girl, are extreme awful and the cruelty of survival.
The black and white photo depicts a young, helpless African child around the age of two
to three years old who is facing down, crouched in the ground. Her face is hidden, facing the dirt.
She is dark skinned with short, black, curly hair. Her head is almost as big as her body and her
hands and legs are extremely skinny. Only a thin layer of delicate skin from walking and
crawling on the hot desert ground keeps her body together. As she stays in a crouching position

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looking down, she looks to have lost any hope left in her. The remaining energy that keep her
breathing is the only thing keeping the vulture from swooping in and eating the child. She has no
clothing, only a white bracelet and a white necklace around her neck. For some people, they have
everything like clothes and a roof over their heads, but it doesnt really mean much to most
people because some have grown to think this is a regular everyday things, so they dont know
how ungrateful they seem taking these things for granted. To this Sudanese girl, having any
clothes or food to survive is a big privilege for her. Only half of the white bracelet is nearly
visible as the residue of dead grass covers the other half while her hand lies on the arid, flat
ground. Her body looks fragile, summing that she hasnt eaten in days or weeks. Assuming how
her body looks, it seems she had never felt what its like to be full from eating, while others in
wealthier nations are wasting food even though children are dying around the world from
starvation. This infant is extremely weak, looking exhausted simply lying there. She lays on dirt
with dry pieces of grass, scattered all around with a few rocks lying around. It looks extremely
hot as the sun hits her back, while she keeps her face covered from the bright sun.
Visualizing the photo knowing how hot and dry it must be, no water around just dry
pieces of grass, shes dying to have any water. A few feet behind her in the corner of the photo is
a small house with a shifty roof top nearly visible, hidden in layers of dry tall grass. This is
where they must have lived; in unstable, dangerous homes that are falling apart. Passing the
house on the top of the photo is nothing but trees, blurred out to the background. It looks quiet,
empty, and theres no one around her, but only a vulture that seems to almost tower the little girl.
It looks like they abandoned this young girl to die, probably because they didnt have enough
food to feed her whole family and was left to survive on her own, or she didnt have the strength
to continue on to reach the Union National Food Camp. The Union National Food Camp is

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where people would go around the world, volunteering to help and serve food, water, and shelter
to the ones who really need help like this poor girl in the picture. In Picture This demonstrate
the levels meaning the distance or color of a figure would have different meaning or sign to an
image. For example, as the vulture who is on top looking down on the young girl assuming it is
the dominant one in the image as for the infant, shes at the bottom all small and crouched up
meaning weak and helpless. Also the colors have a meaning such as the vulture with the dark
shadow colors showing death and for the young girl with the light colors demonstrate hope. The
look of the vultures face and how close it is to her, she has few hours to live before she dies from
starvation. The Vulture has its full attention on the little girl, the photographer didnt even make
the bird stir. There is absolutely no one to nurture and feed this poor innocent child, who is left to
die in the barren land of her home. One gets this feeling of sorrow as one watches the infant
simply lie there, hopelessly trying to shade herself from the screeching, hot sun knowing that she
will soon be a simple meal for the vulture to survive off of.
Kevin Carter took this photo in 1994 and was one of the Pulitzer winning images. This
image is strongly connected toward pathos, because of the sorrowful emotion it makes one have
once one visualize the photo. It is shocking to see this infant almost to her death and seeing a
vulture behind her, waiting patiently for her to give up and die so it can devour her. Its so
dreadful to look at, knowing how much pain and misery this infant is living. People should be
upset at themselves because they arent doing nothing to help this girl live longer, but instead
worry only about themselves. This image is just horrifying to see, causing everyone to feel an
emotion of heartbreak. This was found in Carters diary, Dear God, I promise I will never waste
my food I pray that we will be more sensitive towards the world around us and not be blinded
by our own selfish nature and interests. I hope this picture will always serve as a reminder to us

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that how fortunate we are and that we must never ever take things for granted (Carter). Once we
see this image it makes one think about how much we have and how we take things for granted.
For myself seeing this image is just unbelievable, theres actually children living in these kinds
of situation and that no one is helping them is just awful and sad to watch. Three month past after
taking this image, Carter found himself in an immense depression that caused him to commit
suicide by Carbon Monoxide poison at the age thirty-three.
I interviewed several people and one of them was name Erick Gabriel, an eighteen year
old that is a student at CSUN. I try to find the differences from my point of view and of his
reactions and emotions on what he encountered upon seeing this image. He believes the
photographer is trying to portray extreme hunger and poverty around the world, especially in
Africa and how many people such as children are dying. Seeing this image for him is disturbing
because no one likes seeing a young innocent girl die, especially from hunger. Its heartbreaking
visualizing this image knowing that theres probably other children also dying from starvation.
The emotion he mostly feels is when hes seeing this image is absolute sorrowful, grief stricken.
Here in the United States we actually dont see starving children that are near their death. When
we see this image it can be really emotional, especially since its a young girl. He thinks the
photographer is trying to send it around the world so they can see that poverty and hunger is real
and to start helping. People dont see this as a problem because its not around them, so the
photographer took the picture to demonstrate what happens when no one helps out. This picture
has affected his lifestyle by being grateful with what he has and not to be so stingy on what he
dont have because this infant would be grateful for anything they give him especially if it was
food. A lot of people will say this image wouldnt affect their life style at all. People go about on
with their lives every day and only worry about themselves, but one day the poor will have

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nothing else to eat, with only the rich having the privilege of food on the table. The vulture is in
the photo to show that the girl is decomposing, theres no way that this girl is going to survive
another day. It is honestly melancholy if you think about it, because the infant is dying slowly
while the vulture is waiting to swoop upon the young girls body. This is direct because once you
see the image you could feel the hunger that the small girl is going through by just looking at her
bones. Also, by looking at the vulture you could tell that the photographer didnt want to make
one think but just act. Also make them think twice if they see someone in hunger in the street and
hopefully they realize that starvation and poverty is all around and instead of turning their heads
the other way they can do something about it, even though if its a small action it can save many
lives.
The vulture waiting on the weak to give up on the hope of living shows its stature in the
food chain. The food chain is when a series of organisms competing in their feeding habits, the
smallest being fed upon by a larger one, which in turn feeds a still larger one. Even though
humans are at the top, uncontrollable circumstances can make us fall beneath what we once
reigned over. The weak would be the young Sudanese child dying from starvation and the strong
one would be the vulture patiently waiting for his meal. It stands over a small patch of dead grass
towards the middle left of the photo with this look of hunger in its eyes, stalking its prey,
knowing that this young girl will not make it past the day. It seems awful knowing this child is
about to get eaten by this bird once she sees the light but in this harsh environment, survival of
the fittest is what controls every living organisms reactions to survive. The vultures would hunt
by seeing anything close to its death and would wait around it until that animal or human is dead.
The vultures were born to eat dead flesh and it is doing its job to live by waiting as long as

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possible until the little girl gives up her last breathe. The vulture needs to survive too and,
unfortunately, the only way is by eating this infant.
We like to find differences to make us better. In our society people would try to get more
valuable things and try to be the wealthiest to feel like theyre better and important than the
people that are lower to them. They could think about themselves but they should consider
thinking about the ones who actually need help and would be grateful for anything one gives
them. What we see as evil or cruelty on the image because of the situation how it is waiting for
her to pass away to devour her, this is only normal for the vulture to survive in this world. Many
people would have alike emotions upon this image of this small Sudanese girl, but the irony of
the situation is seeing the point of view of the vultures side of survival. Before Kevin Carter
committed suicide, he probably realized the pain and torture these people are living, but just
couldnt believe what he was seeing in this horrific image of this Sudanese infant girl in poverty,
causing her to slowly starve to death.

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Work Cited
Bang, Molly. Picture This: How Pictures Work. San Francisco: Chronicle, 2000. PDF. 10
October 2014.
Carter, Alex Selwyn. Vulture Stalking a Child. Iconic Photos. Wordpress, 12 Aug. 2009. Web.
26 Oct. 2015.
Gabriel, Erick B. The Interview. Personal interview. 3 Oct. 2015.

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Stephanie Soto
Professor Melisa Malvin
English 115
October 14, 2015
Taking for granted (Draft)
They said the best things in life come free to us but thats not the case for everyone.
People dont realize most of the things we take for granted like water, food, and shelter, others
rely on to survive. Kevin Carter had realize the pain once he took the picture of the infant, the
living situation of this poor girl was just too cruel for him. From other countries like this
Sudanese girl in the picture demonstrate how having anything valuable even if its small for them
is a privilege to have. The vulture has its own meaning of survival even if its unpleasant to see
with our eyes. The world to us may be perfect in our lives but for many people, even children,
are dying from starvation.
This photo was taken by a photographer named Kevin Carter in 1994, a Pulitzer winning
image. This image is mostly toward pathos, because of the sorrowful emotion it makes you have
once you visualize the photo. It is shocking to see this infant almost to her death and seeing a
vulture behind her, waiting patiently for her to give up and die so he can devour her. After when
Carter took the picture, he automatically just left this poor child to die, didnt lend a hand to help
her. No one knows what happened to the starving child, if she lived or got eaten by the vulture.
This was found in Carters diary, Dear God, I promise I will never waste my food no matter how
bad it can taste and how full I may be. I pray that He will protect this little boy, guide and deliver
him away from his misery. I pray that we will be more sensitive towards the world around us and

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not be blinded by our own selfish nature and interests. I hope this picture will always serve as a
reminder to us that how fortunate we are and that we must never ever take things for
granted(Carter). Once you see this image it makes you think about how much we have and how
we take things for granted. Three month past after taking this image, Carter found himself in
immense depression that caused him to commit suicide by Carbon Monoxide poison at the age
33.
The black and white photo depicts a young, helpless African child around the age of 2-3
years old who is facing down, crouched in the ground. His face is hidden, facing the dirt. She is
dark skinned with short, black, curly, nappy hair. Her head is almost as big as her body and her
hands and legs are extremely skinny. Only a thin layer of callused skin from walking and
crawling on the hot desert ground keeps her body together. As she stays in a crouching position
looking down, she looks to have lost any hope left in her. The remaining energy she has keeping
her breathing is the only thing keeping the vulture from swooping in and finishing deaths job.
She has no clothing, only a white bracelet and a white necklace around her neck. For us we have
everything like clothes and roof over our heads but it doesnt really mean much to us because we
have grown to think this as regular everyday things so we dont know how ungrateful we seem
taking these things for granted. To this Sudanese girl, having any clothes or food to survive is a
big privilege for her. Only half of the white bracelet is nearly visible as the residue of dead grass
covers the other half while her hand lies on the arid, flat ground. Her body looks fragile from
how gaunt her body is, summing that she hasnt ate in days or weeks. Assuming how her body
looks, I could tell she has never felt what its like to be full from eating and we are over here
wasting food while children are dying around the world from starvation. This infant is extremely
weak, looking exhausted simply lying there. She sits on dirt as dry pieces of grass are scattered

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all around with a few rocks lying around. It looks extremely hot as the sun hits her back, trying
to keep her face covered. Visualizing the photo knowing how hot and dry it must be, no water
around just dry pieces of grass, shes dying to have any water. This reaches a few feet behind her
in the corner of the photo is a small house with a shifty roof top nearly visible, hidden in thick
layer of dry tall grass. This is where they must have lived; in unstable, dangerous homes that are
falling apart. Passing the house on the top of the photo is nothing but trees, blurred out to the
background. It looks quiet and empty and theres no one around her but a vulture that seems to
almost tower the little girl. It looks like they abandoned this young girl to die, probably because
they didnt have enough food to feed her whole family and was left to survive on her own or she
didnt have the strength to continue on to reach the Union National Food Camp. The look of the
vultures face and how close it is to her, she has few hours to live before she dies from starvation.
The Vulture has its full attention on the little girl, the photographer didnt even make the bird stir.
There is absolutely no one to nurture and feed this poor innocent child left to die in the barren
land of her home. One gets this feeling of sorrow as one watch the infant simply lie there,
hopelessly trying to shade himself from the screeching, hot sun knowing that she will soon be a
simple meal for the vulture to survive off of.
The vulture waiting on the weak to give up on the hope of living shows its stature in the
food chain. Even though humans are at the top, uncontrollable circumstances can make us fall
beneath what we once reigned over. The weak would be the young Sudanese child dying from
starvation. Using all her strength, trying to crawl with her brittle body to the United National
Food Camp knowing that death was shadowing her every move. It stands over a small patch of
dead grass towards the middle left of the photo with this look of hunger in its eyes, stalking its
prey, knowing that this young girl will not make it past the day. The vulture has dark colored

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feathers under him, almost resembling death. It seems awful knowing this child is about to get
eaten by this bird once she sees the light but in this harsh environment, survival of the fittest is
what controls every living organisms fate. The vultures were born to eat dead flesh and it is
doing its job to live by waiting as long as possible until the little girl gives up her last breathe.
The vulture needs to survive too and, unfortunately, the only way is by eating this infant.
We like to find differences to make us better. In our society people would try to get more
valuable things and try to be the wealthiest to feel like theyre better and important than the
people that are lower to them. They could think some about themselves but they should consider
thinking about the ones who actually need help and would be grateful for anything you give
them. Before Kevin Carter committed suicide, he probably realized the pain and torture these
people are living, just couldnt believe what he was seeing in this horrific image of this Sudanese
infant girl in poverty, causing her to slowly starve to death. What we see as evil because of the
situation, this is only normal for the vulture to survive in this world. Some dont realize that
theres people, even children, dying every day from starvation.

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