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Laura Garcia
English 1010- 082
I Peterson
02/19/2013
Political Cartoon
A few months ago we had U.S. Presidential Election, a somewhat heated topic
that forces people to put their faith and hope of a better life in the hands of a
government leader. This means that authors and cartoonists like Anna Baldwin, who
favor or disfavor these public figures, use these types of cartoons to convey their
feelings on the recent decisions made by the people of the United States of America,
and this those cases they are using kairos appeals.
We identify them as cartoons by the style of the drawings. In this case, the author
is using a farm as a setting, where a farmer and his one cow live. The way the author
portrayed the cow is that she is super thin so that you can only see the big udders.
Because the legs are extremely thin, the cow has difficulty standing. The name of the
cow is U.S Treasury.
The farmer is President Obama. His face is shown with big ears, a mouth and a
nose. It’s definitely an exaggeration of his facial expressions. He is dressed as a farmer,
and his expression is of happiness. Because he is going to milk the cow, he is carrying
many buckets below his arms. Each of the buckets has names that have a way of
representing the double meaning of the cartoon.
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In this particular case, author Anna Baldwin was portraying the cartoon to the
public to express her disagreement of President Obama giving to the county treasury.
With this she is using pathos; you can see how she shows her feelings by using the
picture of the cow. Being that the cow is very thin, the expression on her face is of
discomfort and sadness as she watches President Obama come back with many
buckets to get more milk from her (her being the cow named U.S. Treasury). This is
saying that the President is putting this country in way too much debt with unnecessary
expenses.
This touches a lot the people’s feelings, because many of them are going
through a rough time and feel that the President has not made good financial decisions
in his mandate. Using ethos, Anna Baldwin wants to represent and show people the
debt that President Obama has led this country towards. This shows that the author has
some knowledge about the financial situation happening in this country, but does not
make it more credible; because is showing only one point of view, which is hers, by
showing on the cartoon that Obama is happy getting more milk from that poor cow, that
can hardly stand. She wants to show his big smile, showing that the president does not
have any concerns for the economy of this country.
The arguments that the author proposes is a logos appeal. Since we see this
issue on a daily basis, and we are affected by the economy of the country in which we
live. Also, the information that we hear in the media of people’s opinions concerning our
economical management make it logical.
Going back to the elections, we heard the President talk about the management
that he has given to the economy during his presiding four year term, and what would
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be the use of the money in his projected next four years, for which he has been
reelected. This has been one of the biggest ongoing problems, and America does not
feel satisfied with all of the proposals. They feel that the management wasn’t very
smart. Because of those criticisms, the author refrained from use of logos and displayed
herself as a knowledgeable person. That way her point of view is successful for her
readers. This point is also more credible because of people’s situations now days.
However, the author does not shows statistics or facts that support her point of
view, and that may be a mistake. That makes people who have only a superficial
knowledge about politics and the financial status of the country, pick a side not knowing
the real situation. They may go against the President by the way the author is explaining
the way that he is handling the country. But, if you wanted to actually go and deeply
study the subject, you could see and understand the different points of view not only of
this cartoon, but many articles, news or newspapers. Educating yourself can also help
you see that this is simply an exaggeration to prove a point, which in this case is the
author’s point of view. We must educate ourselves in order to create our own point of
view, and make a good decision when elections come around. We need not forget that
voting is a right and a duty.
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Work Citation
Baldwin, Anna. “Political Cartoon”. Arlee Students, 22 Oct. 2013. 19 Feb. 2013
Smith, S.E. “What is a Political Cartoon?”. Wisegeek. 22 Feb.2012. 19 Feb 2013
