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VisualAnalysisWritingAssignment2.docxVisual Analysis: Cartoon Images
Understanding a cartoon requires you to “get” the joke. The joke may be poking fun at oneself or others, at US politics, at US economic policy, at young/old people, etc. Everything in society can be the target of a joke.
An effective cartoon uses both the image and the text (the “copy” or “caption”) to help convey the meaning of the joke.
Let’s analyze one cartoon together.
I’m going to keep in mind the rule of “show, don’t tell” as I analyze this cartoon. For example, instead of writing a mom looks under the bed, I will write that
Cartoonist Terry Wise’s image relies on a surprising caption for its humor about school. A woman with short hair, in a pink bathrobe and slippers peers under the twin-size, rumpled bed with a wooden headboard. A pet mouse sits on a single bed-side table, all suggesting this is a mother looking for her child. The caption at the top reads, “Sweetie?...You have to come out. It’s the first day of school.” This reinforces the interpretation of the mother and child image. However, the second caption at the bottom reads, “No!! I refuse to go!! They can get someone else to teach my classes!” making the point that this is not a child hiding under the bed, as expected, but rather a teacher, still living with his or her mother, who is reluctant to leave the comforts of the home to go back to school. The joke is based on that unexpected revelation. While this joke relies on the unexpected revelation of the reluctant school-goer being a teacher rather than a student, it also effectively makes a point about the fact that teachers are as reluctant as students to return to school every fall.
Cartoon Analysis Paragraph: Writing Assignment # 1
Write a one-paragraph analysis in which you describe, analyze, interpret, and evaluate the assigned image. What do you see in this cartoon? How is what you see being used in the cartoon? Consider both the image and any text. Does this cartoon make the point effectively?
Go to the PDF file in the next link to see the cartoon for the writing assignment.
Use a topic sentence. Be sure your paragraph flows smoothly. Conclude strongly.
Just for practice, craft a works cited page.
Are you kidding? How do I cite a cartoon? My 1301 teacher never taught that!
This cartoon came from:
Kaplan, Bruce Eric. Cartoon. Literature for Writing: A Reader for Comp II. 3rd ed. Mason, Ohio: Cengage, 2019. 31.
