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Questions
1. To what recent news item does this cartoon refer?
2. A cartoonist often uses humor to illustrate a news item. What comic device does the cartoonist use to highlight this news story? Explain your answer.
a) caricature
b) satire
c) symbol
d) understatement
e) hyperbole
Scroll down to the bottom of the page for the answers.
Cartoon by Michael Ramirez
Answers
1. The cartoon refers to Samsung recently recalling its flagship Galaxy Note 7 smartphone after reports of the phone “exploding” during or after charging.
2. b) satire – satire is defined as: the use of irony, sarcasm, ridicule, or the like, in exposing, denouncing, or deriding vice, folly, etc.
The cartoonist did not use:
a) caricature: A description or characterization that exaggerates or distorts a character’s prominent features, usually for purposes of mockery. For example, a cartoon of a gaunt Abraham Lincoln with a giant top hat, a very scraggly beard, and sunken eyes could be considered a caricature.
c) symbol: An object, character, figure, place, or color used to represent an abstract idea or concept.
Santa represents the Christmas shopping season; The turkey wearing a Pilgrim hat represents Thanksgiving and Uncle Sam represents in this case U.S. politics/presidential candidates
d) understatement: A figure of speech in which statements are purposely understated. It may be used to indicate the speaker’s nonchalance (or obliviousness) regarding an often important or otherwise remarkable situation. It often results in irony where, for instance, the speaker’s response to an event does not match how the viewer expects the speaker to react.
e) hyperbole: An extreme magnification or exaggeration of actuality. It blows something completely out of proportion for a distorted effect. The purpose of hyperbole is to create a larger-than-life effect and overly stress a specific point. (Used as a figure of speech in which exaggeration is used for emphasis or effect, as in “I could sleep for a year” or “This book weighs a ton”)
