Chris Weyant lives in New York City and has a privilege to be known as a cartoonist whose cartoons appear in a broad spectrum of newspapers and magazines like The Foreign Affairs and San Francisco Examiner. Weyant is also a creator of two online comic strips. Currently, the above chosen cartoon strip was published in The Hill newspaper on 07 July 2012 (“All Politics Tobbacco Mascots”, 1997).
In the current cartoon being analyzed, Weyant has used the techniques such as exaggeration, labeling, symbolism, analogy, and irony. He tried to convey his message ironically by showing the lemon as a symbol of economy (“Cartoon Analysis”). Exaggeration was applied in the sense of representing the Republicans in the form of an Elephant and the economy in the shape of lemon. Besides, he has labeled the lemon as the economy so he had used labeling. Moreover, he conveyed his message symbolically by showing the objects with larger concepts and ideas like the lemon and the elephant. He has somehow compared the perspective of the President and the Republican Party (which seems to be quite intellectually). Thus, this is a kind of analogy as well. Lastly, the irony is quite clear. It is represented in the way how Obama thinks about the economy and doesn’t take the responsibility of its devastation. Hence, he says he has not built it. Then, the elephant (as the Republican Party) answers him wisely that he owns it.
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In the above cartoon strip, Weyant has portrayed the cartoon in light colors. The large lemon on a pull cart represents the U.S economy. It is of the big size and it exclaims to the Republican Party (represented by the elephant with a tie and a suit) that he did no build this economy as it is now. The elephant replies that he (Obama) owns it. This indicates the guilt of the Republicans that Obama’s economic policies have not worked at all. In truth, they have caused a decrease in the employment number in the U.S. He has conveyed his sarcasm and truth in a beautiful way. He has given a lesson to learn that the economy is devastating day by day. The enlarged lemon is representing that if it further increases in its size, then soon it will burst. Hence, again they have to face the Great Depression period. This is the alarming situation of the American economy, and Weyant is waking its citizens by showing the actual picture of the present situation.
Like the claim of Mitt Romney that the President’s policies are diminishing the U.S. middle class, thus, racially drawn Obama (with his large ears) is shown in front of the cart emphasizing his impact on the economy with the elephant (the Republicans) depicted in the opposite direction to represent their stance on it. Furthermore, Obama is shown in the stance that may denote the indifference or the loss of what to do now with the situation that has become bad. This means that the economy has turned sour like the lemon. That’s how he has conveyed his message to its readers.