Editorial Cartoons #3, 4

3.) Analytical Sentence: Through a sarcastic cartoon in which a scowling young woman writes a snarky letter to her mom and dad, cursing them for drenching her hopes of becoming a writer with their uppity parenting, Gregory illustrates the stereotypical idea that the only people who become authors are those with bad childhoods. As a whole, society believes that someone only writes for leisure if their upbringing has left them with a bleak outlook on the world, which suggests that writing is not the happier half's cup of tea.

Summary/Evaluation: In the illustration, a girl perches at her window and furiously scribes a few choice words to her parents. The caption reads, "Dear Mom and Dad: Thanks for the happy childhood. You've destroyed any chance I had of becoming a writer." One can infer that this girl has since moved out of her childhood home. On her floor sits a cup of tea, not steaming, suggesting a loss of passion - a hot hobby gone cold. 

     It is a misconstrued idea that only depressed, angry, and broken individuals can achieve literary greatness.  Many authors today even claim that to truly feel moved enough by the world to write, you must be able to see the evil, vicious nastiness in it. The young woman's disheartened and begrudging expression as she scribbles her letter suggests that she feels like she can't become a writer because her childhood was happy--she feels cheated, a good opportunity stolen from her.

4.) Analytical Sentence: P. Stever portrays successful individuals in an unbecoming light in a cartoon where a larger, sharklike fish instills false hope in its much smaller bowlmate by assuring it that there are no limits on whom it can be; in real life, society's elite purposely blindside people less capable themselves by making empty promises of prosperity which can't be fulfilled.

Summary/Evaluation: The cartoon displays two very different fish, one larger, with more developed features (such as eyes that actually look like eyes), and another littler and nascent, sharing a bowl whose geometric decorations closely resemble buildings on the larger fish's side. Almost nothing can be discerned on the smaller's, suggesting that it does not lead an opulent life. The caption, "You can be anything you want to be--no limits" accompanies the drawing, and since the large fish is looking down upon its simple companion, we can assume it is the one speaking.

     The large fish embodies today's affluent upper-class citizens, who sugar coat the road to success and often mislead those inferior to them, represented by the guppy. With their stable financial situation and plentiful jobs, rich folk go out of their way to make imbeciles feel equal by reassuring them that yes, they too have a place in the world. Innocent as they are, the less fortunate (who want to achieve their dreams more than anything) feed upon statements like the cartoon's caption without realizing their falsehood.