Purchase of Alaska Cartoon

"Alaska Purchase Cartoon by Granger." Fine Art America. Fine Art America, n.d. Web. 21 Feb. 2016. <http://fineartamerica.com/featured/3-alaska-purchase-cartoon-granger.html>

This political cartoon focuses on the purchase of Alaska, and uses exaggeration, symbolism, and irony. The exaggeration is shown by the signs in the background. One sign in the background reads, “Polling place, Snow county” which makes people assume Alaska is only snow, when in fact, it is as lush and green as anywhere. Another sign reads, “URSUS, The Bears Candidate”, which wrongly represents the Alaskans, who are people just like us. The bear is symbolism because it represents the “Alaskans” who were thought to be bears. Anyways, polar bears only live on the south pole. Irony takes the form of the polling place, which is ironic because you would not expect bears to vote. The cartoonist believes the purchase of Alaska was a mistake, and that Alaska was just another hunk of ice. The Alaskans were some of the only people who did not agree with this view. I disagree with the cartoonist because Alaska has proven to be a jackpot of natural resources.