With a Partner (Or by Yourself, If You Choose)

Political Cartoon Activity

American Voices/Swearngin

With a partner (or by yourself, if you choose)…

1.  Look at the current cartoons and try to figure out the message of each one. Read the “Cartoon Analysis Guide” (back of this page). Pay attention to the ways the cartoonists try to get the message across:

·  Symbolism: a picture or other symbol standing for something specific (ex: the guy in the basketball jersey symbolizes all college athletes).

·  Irony: when there’s a difference between what you expect and what’s actually there (ex: the “friendly” arrows Amazon is shooting).

·  Exaggeration: when we make something bigger (or smaller) than it actually is (ex: the big guy pushing the shopping cart/tiny people in the cart in the bottom right cartoon).

·  Analogy: when two unlike things are compared (ex: the money universities make from college sports is like a giant dump truck full of cash).

·  Labeling: telling us exactly what something is or is supposed to be (ex: the big guy labeled “Hackers”).

2.  Look at the political cartoon from 1865 by Thomas Nast. Then analyze it more carefully and complete the 7 questions for Cartoon #1 (*there is another cartoon for this lesson, but we’re not going to do it today).

3.  Make your own cartoon!

·  Pick an issue from the Reconstruction time period.

·  Take a point of view on that issue and decide on a specific message you want to send.

·  Think about how you could show that message in pictures, using some (or all) of the characteristics of cartoons explained above and in the “Cartoon Analysis Guide.”

·  It can be one just one “frame” like in the examples, or several frames to show a sequence of events (like in a comic book).