Political Cartoon 4

This political cartoon is about the open door policy. The cartoonist’s massage is that Uncle Sam took the key of China and opened up their doors when that is not what they wanted. He uses a giant key to open the doors for his own selfish reasons. The cartoonist is showing that we imposed our rules on China. The opposing view is that it was necessary to have the open door policy so that democracy could spread. Also, the opposing view would be that we needed the open door policy so we could trade freely with China and the East, and that we needed access to resources in China so we could have more money.

The techniques of persuasion that are present in this cartoon are exaggeration and symbolism.  The key is so large which shows our dominance over a country that was less powerful than us. The cartoonist also put details on the door to symbolize Chinese traditions and culture. This cartoon supports my position that America was not justified in opening up China’s doors to force them to trade with everyone. We used our power to force them into this and that isn’t fair. We were not respecting their viewpoints and their beliefs by telling them how their government should be.

"Open Door Policy U.S.A." Scoop.it. N.p., n.d. Web. 07 Feb. 2016. <http://www.scoop.it/t/open-door-policy-u-s-a>.