How do you analyze a political cartoon?

I looked at a guide to analyzing political cartoons. From this guide, I learned that there is often more intention than is evident in what a political cartoonist chooses to label. I noticed labels before, but now I know to think about why certain people or objects were labeled. It probably means they are important, because the cartoonist is sacrificing wittiness to make a point particularly clear. I already knew a lot of what it listed, like how political cartoonists often utilize exaggeration, symbols, analogies, and irony. I knew that it is our jobs as readers to, after identifying all of these elements in the cartoon, deduce what the cartoonist is trying to convey through the devices.

Going forward with the practice of interpreting political cartoons, I will first observe the entire cartoon in its entirety, then look for details. I will use prior knowledge to identify the people and events drawn. Then, as instructed by the guide, I will look for labels, exaggeration, symbols, analogies, and irony, and then I will think about what the cartoonist is telling me through them.

I just located three political cartoons.

This political cartoon is titled "The Open Door".
Like I planned, I first observed the entire cartoon. I identified Uncle Sam, a symbol for America, with my prior knowledge. I saw he was welcoming people through an open gate with the label "Philippines", and I know that the United States was once in control of the Philippines and exploited it for trade from my last history reading. I did not recognize the man in front of the column labeled "India", but I could recognize that I am missing that piece of information. I then looked for other labels, exaggeration, symbols, analogies, and irony. I saw that the four men Uncle Sam was ushering in had extremely different sorts of attire. I could deduce that each man was a symbol for a different country because of their differences in clothes and the labels on their hats, though the labels were too blurry for me to read, and I could not identify which countries they represented. They had many boxes and bags, and they looked very eager. They were exaggerations of the overzealous international trade American control of the Philippines allowed. The cartoonist was trying to shine a light on this greedy trade that America allowed.

This one is titled "School Begins". After observing it in its entirety, I used my prior knowledge to identify the classroom's teacher as Uncle Sam, or the United States. I saw a Native American in the back with a book on the alphabet being read upside-down, and an African American boy washing windows to the side, while a bunch of studious looking white children sat in desks. I knew the United States is notorious for mistreating of both African Americans and Indians and for giving them unequal rights compared to those of white people. They were not receiving schooling, which was analogous to the United States' treatment of these two groups. I noticed this was ironic, because the front row of the classroom was composed of child-like pupils with the labels "Cuba", "Puerto Rico", "Hawaii", and "Philippines". These were also non-white people, but Uncle Sam, America, was forcefully teaching them a lesson in United States government. They looked scared and unwilling. This was analogous to how the United States forcefully took control of these islands. The cartoonist was trying to illustrate the United States' its mistreatment of several peoples, but also the hypocrisy of the imperialist United States.

Finally, this political cartoon is titled "Uncle Sam Watches Over Cuba and the Philippines". Once again, after looking at the cartoon thoroughly, I identified Uncle Sam, who represented America, sitting on a small island's mountain with his hands on his knees, observing two babies on two other islands. I saw labels around the two babies that told me the babies represented the people of the Philippines and of Cuba. The fact that the Cubans and the Philippines were babies while the United States was an adult is an analogy used to depict the paternalism of imperialist America. The Cuban baby was playing with toy soldiers, a boat, a drum, and, most importantly, the Statue of Liberty, a symbol of freedom that Americans value so dearly. This was symbolic of how the United States helped Cuba with its independence. The Filipino baby looked visibly shocked at this unequal treatment, because the United States clung to upmost control of the Philippines. The babies are similar in appearance and age, so it was ironic that one is receiving better treatment. The cartoonist was trying to highlight the hypocrisy of the imperialist United States with its occupation of the Philippines.