Grade 9

English Home Language

Satirical Cartoons
Satirical cartoons ridicule or mock a practise or a person in society. The cartoonist’s
main purpose is to highlight the foolishness of the person or practise in hopes that the
reader would share the satirist’s view. To love to criticise government, politicians, social
practises and behaviour.

Please, please, please move away from the understanding that cartoons are just
supposed to make you laugh. They can also address serious issues.

Cartoon Features
SETTING

Where is the cartoon’s action taking place? What are the visual clues that suggest the setting of
the cartoon? Are the characters referring to the setting directly or indirectly?

Setting: Doctors office.

Supported by the visual clues:
• Stethoscope, doctor’s jacket, examination
bed.

Speech bubble – word test Jargon associated to the medical

field.

CAPTIONS

Reinforces and helps contextualise the cartoons non-verbal elements. Can be used to
emphasise the cartoonist’s message.
In the exam:

• Find the title of the cartoon. It could be in a block at the bottom of the cartoon or
simply a headline followed by an ellipsis.
• Sometimes there might not be captions because they want to emphasise the visual.
LABELS
Cartoonists often label objects or people to make it clear exactly what they stand for.
In the exam:
• Watch out for the different labels that appear in a cartoon and ask yourself why the
cartoonist chose to label that particular person or object.
• Does the label make the meaning of the object clearer?

CHARACTERS
Focus on these familiar features of characters:
GESTURES
Hand movement, or position of the hand or arms that express ideas.

Finger: No! Hand: Stop Arms: Give up Hands: Oh no! Arms: Defeated Hand: Shock/fear

In the exam:

• Study the hand and arm movement of the characters.

• Look for movement lines that could also support the gesture.

FACIAL EXPRESSIONS
The eyes, eyebrows and mouth convey the mental state of mind of the character.

In the exam:

• Study the eyes, eyebrows and mouth to see what are the emotions that are being
portrayed.
• Give specific detail by referring to any of the facial features above.
• If you are unsure of the emotion pull the face in the exam.

Indignation= Annoyance
Disdain = Scornful (That
unimpressed look your mother gives
you when you do something wrong)
Aversion = Dislike
 CARICATURE
Sometimes cartoonists overdo, or exaggerate, the physical characteristics of people or
things in order to make a point.
In the exam:
• Look for any characteristics that seem overdone or overblown. (Facial characteristics
and clothing are some of the most commonly exaggerated characteristics.)
• Then, try to decide what point the cartoonist was trying to make by exaggerating
them.

The tennis player in the

foreground is drawn larger than
the rest of the cartoon.

The action (Caricature)being

emphasised creates the humour.

Serena Williams shows bad

sportsmanship by being a sore
loser. She jumps up and down
when she loses.
 STEREOTYPING
This is a fixed, exaggerated and preconceived description of a specific type of person,
group or nation. For example, all Zulu people are naturally ill-tempered. All teenagers
wear saggy denims.
In the exam:

• Analyse the characters. Look at their clothing, race, gender, profession, age and
words. See if any of these features have been generalised (We often describe things
as typical or normative)

Stereotype:
Created by the picture in the
textbook that suggest that girls will
become housewives were as to
boys will become businessmen.

The cartoonist ridicules the view that

gender should determine your career
choice or future. It focusses on the issue
of gender inequality.

Irony
Irony is the difference between the way’s things are and the way things should be, or the
way things are expected to be. In other words, the opposite happens to what is intended.
Cartoonists often use irony to express their opinion on an issue.

In the exam:

When you look at a cartoon, see if you can find any irony in the situation the cartoon
depicts. If you can, think about what point the irony might be intended to emphasize.
Does the irony help the cartoonist express his or her opinion more effectively?

IRONY: The signs says “caution children

playing”, but the reality is the children
are not playing at the playground, which
is the purpose of going to the
playground.

The cartoonist satirises the influence of

technology on young children’s lives.
 SYMBOLS
Cartoonists use simple objects, or symbols, to stand for larger concepts or ideas. Like a
dove that stands for peace.
In the exam:

• After you identify the symbols in a cartoon, think about what the cartoonist intends
each symbol to stand for.

VISUAL METAPHOR
A visual metaphor is an image that the viewer is meant to understand as a symbol for
something else.
In the exam:

• Look for people, animals or objects that could represent larger ideas. They normally
represent a whole group in society.

Visual metaphor that represents the stages of lockdown and

. the decisions the president would make during lockdown.
The wheel represents the life’s of the people.

VISUAL CLUE:
LABEL Perspiration
: droplets show that
the president is
nervous

SYMBOL:
Medical mask
has become a
symbol of
confusion, fear
and protection

LABEL
:
IRONY: The spin wheel (wheel of fortune) normally brings wealth or good things. People are usually
excited by it. The irony is that people are not excited by it but fear it. It does not bring them fortune but
misfortune.

The cartoonist ridicules the president’s decision-making capabilities when it comes to lockdown. He also
suggests that the president gambles with or life’s and leaves our fate to chance.

PUNS
A pun is also called a 'play on words.' Some words sound alike or have more than one
meaning, and so sometimes we can put them together to say something funny.

Types of Puns
Homophonic Puns

Homophonic puns use homophones, or words that sound the same but have different
meanings and spellings. For example, the words pain and pane are homophones. They
sound the same, but they don't mean the same thing and they are spelled differently.

Here is a pun that uses words that sound alike to make it funny:
• Where do polar bears vote? The North Poll!

(Here, 'poll,' a place to vote, is used in place of 'pole.')

Homographic Puns

Homographic puns use homographs to make them funny. Homographs are words that
look the same but have different meanings. Sometimes homographs are also pronounced
differently. For example, the word post means to mail a letter and the word post also
means a pole that is part of a fence.
These puns uses homographs to make you laugh:
• A bicycle can't stand on its own because its two-tired.

(Here, 'two-tired' is used in place of 'too tired,' as in being too tired to stand.)

Homographic pun – Here the words “ten ants”

is used in the place of “tenants” people who
occupy a house.
The most commonly used techniques used to convey humour in satirical cartoons are:

• Irony
• Puns
• Stereotyping
• Caricature

STEPS TO TAKE WHEN YOU GET A CARTOON:

1. Identify the subject by reading the title and looking at the cartoon as a whole.
2. Identify important symbols, words, features, labels and details.
3. Analyse the characters look at facial expressions, gestures, caricature and
stereotyping.
4. Decide which technique has been used to convey humour.
5. Interpret the cartoonist’s message. What are the cartoonist’s beliefs or ideas about
the event/ subject?

ACTIVITIES:

Study the following cartoons using the steps above.

Cartoon 1:

Questions:

1. What is the setting of the cartoon? Support your answer by referring to a visual clue. (1)
2. What is the context of this cartoon? (1)
3. How does the characters body language and facial expression support the message of
the cartoon? (2)
4. How has satire been used to convey humour in this cartoon?
(Focus on the technique and explain) (3)
5. What is the message of the cartoonist? (2)

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Cartoon 2:

6. Which of the countries above is portrayed to be less intrested in studying? (1)

7. What is glasses symbolic of? (1)
8. What is the setting of this cartoon? (1)
9. Discuss the effectiveness of the technique used by the cartoonist. (3)

DISCUSS: Present all ideas of the argument

EFFECTIVENESS: Does it achieve its purpose?
TECHNIQUE: How has the cartoon been drawn? Consider/think about the following:
characterisation (caricature / stereotype) setting, punctuation, speech bubbles / thought bubbles,
presence/absence of speech, facial expression and body language – state explicitly what it looks
like, onomatopoeia, movement lines, etc.

10. Explain what comment this cartoon is making about the study habits of children in
different countries. (2)

11. Add a character that would represent the attitude of South-African children when it
comes to study habits. (2)

[10]