Evelyn

Ms. Bull

Political Cartoons Analysis #1

21 October 2019

Cemetery of women

        Using cartoons to spread awareness of the gender expectations casted by society, political cartoons can show real-world problems while also demonstrating humor. Liza Donnelly uses irony and realistic techniques in her cartoons to ultimately promote gender expectations.

        Liza Donnelly uses irony as her humor technique to show female expectations. The phrases written on the tombstones showed how women were expected to behave, the typical role women play in society and things women are typically good at. “What’s her name: a good wife” was one of the phrases written on the tombstone. This showed irony because typically on a tombstone, the purpose is to honor that person’s life to keep in good memory for others so including the name is very common and essential. However, on this tombstone, it don’t just exclude the name but renames it as “a good wife”. This shows the irony that women will be remembered as good wifes, daughters or moms and not for how they are as a person. The irony used in the phrases on the tombstone shows the female  expectation roles in society.

        Liza Donnelly uses realistic as a stylistic technique to emphasize the female expectations. The cemetery and tombstones make the cartoon more realistic because it adds reality to the cartoon in what type of situation it is in. Although the tombstone drawings are all quite simple, the detail and message is mainly written on tombstones. The cemetery and tombstones set a realistic cartoon situation that adds onto the messages written on tombstones of female expectation roles in society.

        Overall, the cartoon showed a clear message of how women should act upon society. The cemetery and tombstones were used to emphasize the purpose of the cartoon and also to create a specific situation for the cartoon to be in.