Analyzing Political Cartoons Background Modern American political cartoons

Analyzing Political Cartoons

Background • Modern American political cartoons have been around since the nineteenth century. The increase in newspaper and magazine circulation in the 1800’s provided a rich environment for the rise and use of political cartoons. • Political cartoons express themes and problems of different eras.

Why Are Political Cartoons So Popular? • People with limited reading abilities can understand relate to them. • “A picture is worth a thousand words. ” • They communicate powerful ideas in unique ways.

Cartoon Analysis Guide • Symbolism – Cartoonists use simple objects to stand for larger concepts. • Exaggeration – Cartoonists may overdo physical characteristics of people or things in order to make a point. • Labeling – Cartoonists often label objects or people to make it clear what they stand for. • Analogy – Comparison between two unlike things that share the same characteristics. • Irony – The difference between the ways things are and the way they should be. – Cartoonists use irony to express their opinion on an issue.

"There is a negro school at Mcherrin Station, on the Richmond and Danville Railroad, where the teachers receive scholars of all ages and both sexes. Mr. Arvine, of Lunenberg, had an old cook, 71 years of age, who took it into her head to learn to speak and write the English language correctly; so she entered the school, and bringing her ten cents per day and regularly paying it over to the teachers, she got along very well until, perhaps, at the end of the second week, she missed her lesson, and was kept in at play time. The idea! an old negro seventy-odd years of age kept in at play time. "