TOW #26 A Political Cartoon and A Positive Change

Writing Goals: Clearly analyze rhetorical devices used in the visual text.
Reading Goals: Pick a visual text that  is complex and interesting!

It’s a sad fact about the world, one that can probably be explained by “Murphy’s law,” but quite often, when bad things can go wrong, they do. This is especially true of things that happen because of (or just generally involving) the government. It’s not anybody's fault, but when good things happen, it comes as quite a shock. Political cartoonist Dave Granlund represents this in his political cartoon on recent job growth in America. He uses allusion and bright colors to represent the shock and emotions that the country has faced in this time of unexpected success.

Illustrator Granlund used bright colors and an allusion to express his point in an interesting, yet also effective way. The allusion to Jack and The Giant Beanstalk represents the giant growth of the job market in America as the beanstalk represents the quick, seemingly random growth of the industry. The job market has expanded, and nobody is clear on why. In fact, it came as quite a surprise to most people, including the government and the general public. These people are represented by Uncle Sam, depicted in a confused manner saying, “And Without Magic Beans!” to make the allusion clear, but also to represent the fact that this job growth is seemingly unexplainable.

The bright colors in the image reflect the joyous occasion that is job growth in America and tell the audience to be excited about this opportunity. Instead of focusing on the confusion and lack of reasoning behind this job growth, the audience is subconsciously pushed towards the happy event of job growth. Bright colors represent happy things, and in using them, the illustrator makes his true point clear.

Using allusions and bright colors, the illustrator, Dave Granlund, shows the incredible recent job growth in America. He also shows the surprise with which it came, and focuses his audiences attention on the real matter, job growth. Ultimately, these rhetorical devices allow him to effectively make a comment on the state of our government while also celebrating new job growth.

http://www.politicalcartoons.com/cartoon/0e062ff7-1cd3-42be-bca1-1af2995149e4.html