The Windows Home

After six days of captivity, Greg Mortenson tears up when he studies a water pik ad in a 17-year-old copy of Time magazine. Three generations of an American family are standing under the tag line, "A smile should be more than a memory" (Mortenson and Relin 169).

How are a culture's advertisements the "windows home" (Mortenson and Relin 168)?

Comments

  1. UnknownOctober 4, 2009 at 9:26 PM

    Advertisements are designed to attract an audience. That said every successful advertisement shows a picture of what its target audience likes or wants. An advertisement is like a window into that culture therefore, because it shows what that culture values in its people and society. In Greg Mortenson's case this particular advertisement and its catch phrase have great meaning in that they show several generations of a family the likes of which Mortenson is hoping to produce with his new wife. It is a hope that Mortenson feels all the more strongly because at the time he reads this magazine there was a real chance that he would never see his family again.

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  2. martha GunawanOctober 11, 2009 at 10:03 PM

    The advertisement in the old 17 -year - old magazine made Mortenson missed his wife. It reminded him of his wife's lovely smile that gave him the hope to come back home safely. He was kidnapped and he might couldn't go home and meet his wife again, but the memory of his wife's smile had given him the spirit to find the way home.

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