To analyze a political cartoon, one must first understand the political climate of the time when the cartoon was written. One must also know from what perspective the cartoonist is coming. Next, it is important to analyze not only the picture as a whole, but to also inspect the little details which might not come through upon first glance. Finally, piece together what you know and what you think, and you might just understand what's going on.
After looking at a guide on how to analyze a political cartoon, I will be a little more thorough with how I analyze these cartoons. For example, I will write lists of words to describe what is being portrayed rather than purely making sense out of it in my head. For analyzing these cartoons, I will be using a guide from the National Archives.
After scanning the cartoon, I first noticed the text "Weyler the Butcher" and a large man in ball-and-chain. There is text which says "HE MAY SERVE HIS COUNTRY STILL FURTHER." This man seems to be chiseling at a rock. I have a feeling that the shape of the rock is significant but I can't find any actual evidence to indicate that. Butcher is a name which yellow journalists gave Weyler in order to, I assume, garner hatred toward him and fuel the fire in Americans. Based on all of this, I would say that the cartoonist is trying to instill fear in Americans, thereby garnering support for conquering Cuba and the Philippines.
Upon first glace, the obviously overdone caricatures of Hawaii, Cuba, and possibly Africa (?) are apparent. They are all holding American flags and seem to be running toward something. The caption along with it says that they are coming to celebrate American independence day as well. Based on all of this, I think that the cartoonist was trying to make Americans feel hatred toward these places as well as the people in them. This is apparent because of the very stereotypical way these people are drawn. After seeing this, I can imagine that Americans had no desire for foreigners to partake in any American culture.
National Archives "Analyze a Cartoon" Guide
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