McGrath 1

Danielle McGrath
UWRT 1102
September 30, 2014
Comments:

The amount of detail in Obamas cartoon is overwhelming in a good way.

I could not catch on to many grammar errors.

Make some sentences more concise.

Do not repeat yourself.

Take filler words out.

Addresses all components of the rubric (who, when, where, why, how relates to genre)

Thesis is not one sentence, but is spread out over many sentences in the first paragraph,
and you addressed all parts of your thesis later in the paper.
Writing Project 2.1 Revised
Like most genres, political cartoons are typically geared toward a specific audience and

aim to get a particular point across. This genre reveals important aspects about the scene through
content, rhetorical appeals, structure, format, syntax, and diction. A political cartoon uses satiric
gestures by bashing political figures and the issues they face. It also makes fun of a more serious
matter using exaggerated pictures, concise captions, and colors. Political cartoons also test and
question a readers intelligence. They make the not so obvious rather obvious, even for
uninformed readers. The problem is that uneducated readers may think the writers information
is true. They have no opinion of their own, so they simply submit to the opinion of that writer.
This is how a political cartoon changes a persons view. It appeals to their sense of sight through
imagery, syntax, and diction, so they are blindly led to believe the whole scene portrayed.

McGrath 2
People can read political cartoons in almost any location at any point in time. They could
be written in a newspaper, online, or in a magazine, and an average reader takes a look at them.
The audience for political cartoons is people interested in politics. These people could be
categorized as informed readers. This is because they are reading them to play off the
information they already know about the subject matter, plus they offer pleasure and
entertainment. On the other hand, there are uninformed readers, as mentioned above, who read
them to try to get a grasp on a political issue, but end up compromising their own opinion
because they know little or nothing about that issue.
Political cartoons almost always have a dramatic visual component to them. The
illustrations are outlandish and portray political figures as being larger than life. The
utilization of a variety of colors is also predominant among this genre. Both of these elements
aid in getting the overall situation across to the reader.
The syntax and diction of a political cartoon also help to convey the message. There are
not many words in the analyzed political cartoons. This is rather effective because the sentence
structures do not need to be complex, and there does not need to be many words to explain the
scene and rhetorical situation. Since the rhetorical appeals of logos and pathos are present, the
significance is depicted.
In the first political cartoon regarding Obama and his decision-making, it is very clear
that Obama is being mocked. This relates to the controlling idea because he is being made fun of
through the use of images, diction, and syntax. These are the typical elements that distinguish a
political cartoon from another genre. Obama is portrayed as being all over the place. In some
photos, he looks too laid back, while in other images he appears crazy.

McGrath 3
Obamas speech is rather objective. It does not contain a lot of detail and it is up to the
reader to catch on to the message. The theme indicates that Obama cannot make up his mind. It
can also be inferred that he waits too long to execute his decisions. He would talk about the issue
regarding the arming of Syrian rebels on August 8, for instance, and then would babble on about
another issue without reaching a decision about the former problem. Over a month later on
September 10, he would go back to his discussion on the arming of Syrian rebels. He appeared
scatter brained and lost as to what he wanted. Once again, imagery becomes a major
component in analyzing this political cartoon because on August 8 he is wearing a blue tie, but
on September 10, a month later, he is wearing a red tie. Not only does the diction (month titles
and Obamas speeches) point that time has moved on, but the different pictures and colors
indicate this, as well.
Logos and pathos are used here. There are stated facts that appeal to the audiences
rational mind, such as when Obama talks about Syrian rebels, strategies, etc. Pathos is also used
because the words and illustrations persuade readers to feel what the writer is feeling, and one of
the goals of a political cartoon is to persuade someone.
The structure of the political cartoon is that it goes from particularities to a generality.
The generality is the end result, which is his decision about arming the Syrian rebels. It took him
all those particularities to reach that conclusion. The format of the political cartoon showed
nine different pictures of Obama and each portrayed a different message. The final message was
written above a different date (Sept. 10), which was way later than his earlier dates (Aug. 8).
The writer probably did this to show the different scenarios and to exemplify that Obama took a
long time to reach decisions.

McGrath 4
The writer uses rather simple sentence structure (syntax). There are incomplete sentences
and transitions using ellipses. He most likely wants to show that Obama does not have complete
thoughts and is a little all over the place. The sentences are also somewhat varied and reflect the
various ideas that Obama has. The diction is also simple and talks about issues that Obama
wants to address.
As indicated by the paragraphs above, the rhetorical appeals, diction, syntax, structure,
format, and images mock Obama, which is a goal of a political cartoon. These elements also try
to influence a readers opinion by appealing to their sense of sight. They also play off of the
intelligence of the reader. For those who actually follow Obama, they know that he does take a
while to reach a conclusion, but nothing in politics is very simple, so time is needed to make an
educated decision. However, a person just reading this cartoon without this understanding would
blindly think that Obama does not know very much due to the fact that he is poorly presented.
The other political cartoon pertained to how the Ukraine is basically inferior to Russia.
Once again, imagery, structure, and format play a huge role in how the scene is perceived. This
cartoon does not focus so much on words as it does on actual illustrations. In the Obama
political cartoon, both the writing and pictures were necessary in understanding the overall
scene. With this cartoon, the well-depicted images are adequate. It mocks the Ukraine by
creating it to look like a miniscule entity compared to Mother Russia. Russia is illustrated as
being a larger woman with a huge hand, which already shows authority. The Ukraine, on the
other hand, is depicted as a very tiny person that is tied up in a rope. The woman (Russia) is
definitely more powerful than the little person (Ukraine), as can be seen when she is holding the
rope from which he is hanging. Not only does her size portray her as more powerful, but her
actions do, too. These are all the visual components of the cartoon.

McGrath 5
The readers intellects are questioned, too. Some people would not know that Russia
really does dominate over the Ukraine, not only in size, but in actual power. Through the use of
images, however, this not so obvious fact is made very obvious.
The rhetorical appeal used is pathos. This is because the illustration tries to appeal to the
audiences emotions and attempts to make the reader feel what the writer feels. There is no
logos in this political cartoon because there are no stated facts and no real reasoning or
rationality used.
There are no sentences in this political cartoon. This may be the case because sentences
are not even needed to get the point across. The diction is enough. There are only three words,
which are Mother Russia and Ukraine. The writers voice is rather passive only because there
were so few words. However, the message that Russia dominates and controls the Ukraine is
made very clear.
In the Obama cartoon, he is mocked and made out to be an indecisive figure. The
average person may take this to be true if they knew nothing about the difficult situations he was
addressing. The Russia-Ukraine cartoon depicts Russia completely overtaking the Ukraine. The
uninformed audience would not see this as a blatant and obvious fact, but the informed audience
would. The political cartoon genre is used to criticize, mock, and bash greater political issues.
The writers/illustrators goal is to use words and images to essentially test an ordinary persons
intelligence by making the unrecognizable things evident. It tests to see if a person will just
blindly follow what they are viewing and accept it as a fact, or if they will be smart enough to
take it with a grain of salt. Regardless, the aim of a political cartoon is to change the readers
views by appealing to his sight, which is why the imagery, syntax, and diction are so pertinent in
shaping the overall scene and situation.

McGrath 6