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Various visual and (usually) written details convey a "message" designed to sway the reader. Explain that political cartoons use a special "language" to make strong points about complex issues in a single visual display. Finally, discuss the challenges of understanding historical cartoons as compared to the challenges of understanding contemporary political cartoons. Discuss whether their confusion is due to a lack of background knowledge or to something unclear about the cartoon itself.
![cartoon making fun of american value cartoon making fun of american value](https://i.pinimg.com/736x/73/33/e8/7333e8b56e7511624e0a89596ed7a8e3.jpg)
Ask students to list any cartoon details they do not understand. Have each group present its cartoons and explanations. The goal is to have them make initial interpretations on their own to see what that entails. This is a preparatory exercise, so don't apply too strict a standard to judging what students come up with. Emphasize that it is impossible to fully understand most political cartoons without some background knowledge of the issues they deal with. They are about social and political issues, and they express strongly held viewpoints about those issues. Stress that political cartoons are not like the comics. Ask the second group to do the same for the historical cartoons. Ask one group to discuss the contemporary cartoons and agree on a one-sentence explanation of each cartoon.
![cartoon making fun of american value cartoon making fun of american value](https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/71AcgiKFmAL._AC_SL1200_.jpg)
Teachers must help students master the language of cartoons if they are to benefit from these fascinating sources of insight into our past.ฤก. In short, political cartoons employ complex visual strategies to make a point quickly in a confined space. It takes a good deal of knowledge of the precise historical context to grasp such cartoons. Cartoons from the 1700s and 1800s often employ archaic language, elaborate dialogue, and obscure visual references. The best cartoons express real conceptual complexity in a single drawing and a few words. How much harder then must it be for young people to make sense of cartoons from the distant past? The stark, simple imagery of many cartoons can be highly deceptive. Yet some studies reveal that substantial percentages of adults fail to understand the political cartoons in their daily newspaper. Just about every school history textbook now has its quota of political cartoons. Since the 18th century, political cartoons have offered a highly useful window into the past. Political cartoons are vivid primary sources that offer intriguing and entertaining insights into the public mood, the underlying cultural assumptions of an age, and attitudes toward key events or trends of the times.