An editorial uses words to express an opinion. A political cartoon, on the other hand, uses drawings to express a viewpoint. Most political cartoonists make use of a caricature—an exaggeration of a person’s physical appearance—and symbols that represent countries, political organizations, or ideas. Study the political cartoon above. Then answer the questions that follow.
Who does the large figure in the cartoon represent? Who does the small figure represent?
What is happening to the small figure in the lemon squeezer?
Why do you think the figures are so different in size?
What are some of the elements in the cartoon that tell you the large figure is wealthy?
What is happening to the price of coal?
How does the cartoonist feel about coal trusts? How does he probably feel about big business in general?
| Your Responses | Sample Answers |
|---|---|
| The large figure represents the coal trust, the collection of coal producers who were cornering and controlling the market. The small figure represents the common people, the average citizens who were being overcharged. | |
| The small figure is being squeezed to "press out" all of their money, like juice from a lemon. This symbolizes the coal trusts taking people's money with their high coal prices. | |
| The figures sizes are supposed to demonstrate the inequity of the situation - the big, mean coal trust is like a large bully picking on the poor, little common person. | |
| Even though his clothes may appear clownish to us today, the figure's dress shows wealth, especially the buttoned pants and bows ties to his legs. As well, the large bags of cash appear to belong to him since the money flowing from the press, now his, falls into the bags. | |
| According to the sign, the price of coal is now at $15 per ton, and still rising, so it is logically increasing. | |
| The cartoonist is telling a lot about his thoughts. He clearly thinks the coal trust is a mean, thieving bully who uses the average person to make lots of money. Most likely he doesn't just feel this way about the coal trust alone. Usually, cartoonists of this time attacked all forms of big business in the same way. | |
