Group names:
Pranavi Gundu
Maggie Baumgarten
Olivia Backus
Ruth Woodland
Jacob Baird
Satirical Illustrations Analysis
Pawel Kuczynski
Instructions:
● Box 1: Type your name
● Box 2: Type the name of the illustration and paste the actual illustration into the box
● Box 3: Individually identify the rhetorical situation (SPACE). Then, identify the specific rhetorical
choices/strategies used (CAT). Remember to support your answers with evidence from the illustration!
● Box 4: Write a clear thesis for the illustration. What choices/strategies contribute to the meaning and
purpose of the artist? Remember what you have learned about good versus better, and if necessary, use
the thesis template on slides 2-3 on canvas.
Student Name: Ruth Woodland
Illustration 1: Bored Panda Image #
Rhetorical S: The speaker is the cartoonist, Pawel Kuczynsky. He makes cartoons that
Situation: showcase the social climate of the world, specifically with technology.
P: His purpose of this work is to show how little satisfaction one can get from
a phone or tablet in comparison to the satisfaction and “sea” of knowledge
someone can get from a book.
A: The audience of this cartoonist is the online world. The fastest way to find
his work is through websites and his work deals with technology consistently.
Most likely, his audience is middle aged adults, as anyone younger than that
spends little time looking at political cartoons and older audiences won’t
connect to it as much.
C: The context of the work is the world today. Most people would reach for
their phone and social media way before looking at a book. Some might not
even notice the giant book behind them. The subject in the drawing does see
the book but chooses to stay in the shallow comfort of his device.
E: The exigence is unknown to an extent. I don’t know that he had a specific
experience that prompted his artwork. He sees the world and how overrun it
is with technology and uses his art to try and curve that change. The spark
that got him drawing was a concern for the minds of the people that would
rather be on their phones than learn through a book.
C: The cartoonist uses the beach as a way to get viewers to connect with the
piece. By putting the book as the ocean, viewers can understand the
difference between the value of the book versus the value of the
phone/tablet.
A: He establishes ethos by being a well known cartoonist. He establishes
pathos by putting a common situation in a more dramatized context.
T: There is an isolated tone with this picture. He puts that in by showing how
small the man and the phone are compared to the book/ocean.
Thesis: In his drawing, Pawel Kcuzynsky, a renowned Polish political cartoonist looking to
change the world through art, uses visual hyperboles, metaphors, and symbolism
to move his viewers to action and social change with technology.
Body Paragraph Pawel Kcuzynsky uses drama and exaggeration to invoke social change,
similarly to the way an author would use hyperboles to make a statement. For
example, he drew a man standing in his phone as if it were a small pool with a
large book acting as the ocean behind him. This creates the idea that the value of
the phone is much smaller than that of the book, just like a small pool is nothing
compared to the ocean. This form of hyperbole also acts as a way to establish
pathos. Oceans invoke feelings of power or majesty into its viewers. When a book
is treated as an ocean, it invokes those same feelings.
Student Name: Pranavi Gundu
Illustration 2:
https://www.boredpanda.com/satirical-illustrations-polish-pawel-kuczynski/
#3
Rhetorical S: The cartoonist of this work and illustrator of this work is Pawel Kuczynsky,
Situation: who is a Polish political artist and philosopher. He has used his creativity to
make artwork that comments on political, economic, and social issues. He
has won over 100 awards for using his art to capture the problems of our
modern society. He makes art, not for the beauty of the eyes, but he wants to
send a message through his art.
P: The image shows the diver diving into the “ocean” of cellphones, trying to
find a book, which has a pearl. The main purpose of this piece of art is to show
how books are like a pearl in the sea of phones nowadays. Pearls are rare to
find in the ocean; therefore, the artist is making a reference to the toughness
of finding books as finding pearls as finding books in this era of cell-phones.
Therefore, the artist is trying to make a point that to find a single “pearl” or a
single book, we need to dive deep down into the ocean of smartphones to just
look beyond our phones and find something within a book. The main reason
to do this is to highlight that we are so immersed in the world of our
smartphones that we don’t realize how important books are and how they
are, now, equivalent to finding a pearl in the sea. The audience, after seeing
such drawings, realize how much time they spend on their phones. This
strikes back to them to realize how much more valuable a book is compared to
the piles of cellphones.
A: The audience that Kuczynsky mainly appeals to is the entire population,
especially people who are addicted to their phones. More and more of the
younger generations are addicted to their phones; therefore, it also mainly
addresses them. The image shows only one person who is willingly to dive
down past the cellphones and reach out for a “pearl” or a book.
C: The context of this image shows the world of technology that we are living
in. For instance, this illustration would never have been so widely published
without the help of technology. Therefore, we are constantly engaging in our
technology, whether it is talking to friends or taking notes. In this age of
technology, many around us are addicted to our devices. This has caused the
illustrator to show such a picture, depicting the sea as a mess of cellphones,
with a “pearl” or a book sitting on top of it.
E: The catalyst that encouraged or sparked the illustrator to create such
drawing is the usage of cellphones versus the usage of books. Nowadays, you
could find people holding a cellphone rather than a book. Books have
something distant and as rare as a pearl. Everyone is on social media or some
other form of media, constantly relying on technology for quick answers,
rather than gaining knowledge from books. Honestly, this image reminds me
of the “Fahrenheit 451”, a futuristic book where books are banned.
C: The image consists of the diver diving into the ocean, where there are a ton
of cellphones on the ocean floor. On the top of the cell phones, there is a
singular book, revealing a pearl. The diver is depicted with a hand stretching
out to reach out for the pearl, symbolizing that the pearl in that book is the
pearl of knowledge. On the contrary, the illustrator has very muted and dull
colors.
A: The illustrator mainly appeals to emotional appeals as showing how a
single diver is making the conscious effort to dive deeper and grab the pearl of
knowledge. With all cellphones around, the illustrator helps the audience the
amount of technology involved in their life and how they should, like the
diver, reach out for a book instead of their cellphone.
T: The tone of this image is remorseful and urging. The illustrator is deeply
moved by the usage of technology and how we are all addicted and distracted
constantly to our phones. For example, the author uses muted tones of all
colors to depict a dull mood, portraying the issue in a bad light. Due to this,
the audience are more inclined to think back about how addicted they are to
their phones and reflect on that.
Thesis: In the third drawing of Paul Kuczynsky, a Polish artist and commentary on
cultural, social, and economic issues, he creates a dismal atmosphere and appeals
to the emotions of discontent and discernment in order to make the audience
realize the problem technology brings, ultimately moving the general population
to reflect on how addicted they are addicted to their cellphones and reflect back
on how to fix it.
Body Paragraph Pawel Kuczynsky, illustrator of ‘Image 3’, creates a dismal atmosphere. To invoke
such feelings, the subtleness of colors, the glimmer of difference in a scene that is
the same, and the motion of the man and the gesture he is making. Firstly,
Kuczynsky uses the subtleness of the colors of blue, white, and tan to add texture
into the image. This, in turn, creates the effect that cuts out the harshness of the
tones of the color, not drawing the audience to the image through the brilliance
of its colors, but the brilliance of its message and what the audience understands
from the picture being drawn. Furthermore, Kuczynsky portrays a glimmer of
difference in a scene where everything is the same. He uses cell phones as the
base for the sea-floor, in which a book with a pearl is sitting on top of. Due to this,
the illustrator draws focus to a focal point in the image, turning the audience’s
attention to the book and the pearl. This, therefore, sends the message of how
books are now as rare as pearls in the age of technology. Additionally, Kuczynsky
illustrates the man in a particular motion. The image shows the man trying to
reach out for the book in a sea of cellphones, not yet making it. Therefore, the
illustrator is trying to symbolize how the general population is so drowned in the
sea of technology that they are not concerned about the pearl of the sea: books.
All of this would move the general audience to realize that the problem lies in
their cellphones through the usage of subtle colors, focal points in the image, and
motion of the man’s hand.
Student Name: Maggie Baumgarten
Illustration 3:
Image 5 https://www.boredpanda.com/satirical-illustrations-polish-pawel-
kuczynski/
Rhetorical S: The illustrator of this work is Pawel Kucynsky, who is a Polish political
Situation: cartoonist, philosopher, who wishes to capture the problems of modern
society. He says that he does not care about the beauty of the work, but
rather the message behind his work is what matters.
P: The purpose of this particular image is to show the problem with letting
technology have too much power in life. This image clearly shows a mass of
people that are bent over their phones, and a lawnmower that is ‘mowing’ the
heads that stick out above the masses that are not controlled by the phones.
This shows that people that are not addicted to their phones feel strange
speaking out because the vast majority of people are addicted to their
technology.
A: The audience that Paul is speaking to is everyone who lets their phones
become a major addiction, particularly young people. The man that is
depicted is very young, and each person represented is a variation of the same
young man. The illustrator is thus addressing young people.
C: The context of this situation is that we live in a technological era where
technology seems to infiltrate most aspects of people’s lives. Social media has
proliferated and most people have at least one social media account. Phone
addiction has become a problem, and depression and anxiety rates have
skyrocketed because of constant exposure to advertisements.
E: The spark that inspired Kucynsky was exposure to social problems,
especially modern reliance on media.
C: This artist uses mostly beige, brown and gray colors to indicate the
depressing scene (see tone). The artist also chose to have the crowd only be
composed of one person, which leads to the viewer feeling like there is no
variation in the oppression of the technology.
A: This artist uses emotional appeals to make the viewer feel strongly that
letting too much technology into your life is an issue. The author also uses
reasoning appeals to get the viewer to find deeper meaning behind the
illustration. The drawing is set up so that the reader wants to find out why the
people popping out of the crowd can’t try harder to not be held down.
T: The tone of this is depressing and oppressive. The illustrator used beige
tones, winter weather, and slumped posture to indicate the depression and
oppression screens cause. The lawnmower used is also old and rusty, which
leads to the generally depressing tone.
Thesis: In the fifth image from Pawel Kucynsky’s collection of cartoons, Kucynsky, who is
an award winning polish artist who strives to capture social problems in art,
Kucynsky creates emotional appeals of depression, confusion, and tedium;
oppressive tone; and further audience questioning in order to stimulate interest in
the negative impacts of phone addiction, ultimately moving the reader to make
adjustments in their own lives.
Body Paragraph Pawel Kucynsky’s creates an oppressing tone in his ‘Image 5’. To develop this
tone, he uses color, posture, and weather. To begin, Kucynsky uses primarily
shades of beige and gray. This creates the effect that the world does not have
variety when everyone is on their phone, and also contributes to making the
items depicted look old. Additionally Kucynsky portrays each of the people in the
same posture: slumped over and defeated-looking. The few people that are
standing up straight are promptly ‘mowed’ down again by the lawnmower that
keeps people from becoming aware of their surroundings. Moreover, it appears to
be snowing in this piece. Many people associate snow with seasonal depression
and hence more screen time and time indoors. So, the wintry weather contributes
to the feeling of depression and oppression by phones.
Student Name: Jake Baird
Illustration 4: https://www.boredpanda.com/satirical-illustrations-polish-pawel-kuczynski/ #2
Rhetorical S: This was created by Pawel Kuczynsky, who was born in Poland. He’s a
Situation: satirist and philosopher who doesn’t care about the beauty in his work, but
rather in the message.
P: The purpose of this image is to show how people will see issues and rather
than helping, will simply watch and take pictures. It implies that people care
more about establishing a following and an online presence than they do
about actually helping people.
A: The audience seems t0 be bystanders who passively record, gaining
influence for a bad situation but doing nothing to stop it. There are a large
number of incidents where people record to try to get attention but could’ve
stopped something bad from happening, and this is targeted at those people.
C: The context of this situation is that there have been a large number of
brutal situations that those who observe it could’ve stopped, but instead they
simply have recorded it and presented it to the court of public opinion.
E: The exigence is that he is fed up with people who would rather gain
influence and be able to change a story than change the bad situations in the
world.
C: The choices the author uses are to use the imagery of mice being the press,
and the cat being the problem. Cats are well known as predators of mice, and
incredibly dangerous to them. However, the phrase “a game of cat and
mouse” also shows that cats will often let the mice run around and think
they’re doing something before being consumed. This shows how the press
are acting like they’re doing something when they’re allowing these problems
to happen.
A: This image uses pathos to evoke a sense of fear in the audience, and logos
to have the audience realize the very real danger they are in and figure out
appropriate countermeasures.
T: The author’s tone is a critical one, even angry, when addressing the
perceived issue of the press’ noninterference.
Thesis: In the second image of a collection of works by Polish cartoonist Pawel
Kuczynsky, the piece appeals to a sense of injustice, the symbolism of a cat and
mouse with the modern media, and appeals to the logic that if we don’t change
things we may be next, to demonstrate the societal issues that come from the
culture of watching but not interfering.
Body Symbolism is used in the second piece of this collection of works by Pawel
Paragraph: Kuczynsky quite frequently. The depiction of the media as mice watching other
mice be devoured and taking pictures characterizes them as fools and cowards
who prefer to get the newest scoop than save lives. In addition, the symbolism of
the mouse hole near the paws of the cat shows that now we’ve entered this state,
it’ll be hard for us to leave it. In this way, symbolism is used in the cartoon to
convey both emotions and logical reasoning.
Student Name: Olivia Backus
Illustration 5:
https://www.boredpanda.com/satirical-illustrations-polish-pawel-kuczynski/ #16
Rhetorical S: The illustrator of this work is Pawel Kucynsky. He is a Polish political cartoonist
Situation: and philosopher. He captures the problems of modern society in his cartoons. He
says that he does not care about the beauty of the work, but rather the message
behind his work and its purpose.
P: The purpose of this image is to show the problems that technology causes in
the lives of individuals. It is showing how technology isolates people in the real
world. The image is showing multiple individuals all alone on abandoned islands.
These islands are contained within multiple cell phones. This shows that
technology isolates individuals in the real world and drives us, as a society, apart.
A: The audience of this image is everyone who’s phones are a major part of their
lives, especially people who let technology become an addiction. The person
depicted in the image is all alone in a cell phone on a deserted island. The author
is thus addressing people that let technology become an addiction, isolating
them from society.
C: The context of this image is that we are living in a world where technology is
becoming increasingly important in the lives of people. The technology has
created a reliance on the internet and social media. Many people are prioritizing
their online presence over their real life experiences. Leading to people becoming
more isolated and lonely.
E: The exigence for this piece was Kucynsky’s exposure to societal and personal
issues. He was particularly inspired by the growing reliance on technology.
C: The author uses different sizes of phones to indicate that the situation
depicted in the image is a universal experience. The author also chose to use the
picture of someone alone on an island to symbolize loneliness and isolation. This
makes it so the audience feels as if the isolation experienced due to technology is
something that many experience, showing how reliance on technology is creating
issues for everyone.
A: The author is appealing to the viewer's emotions in this piece in order to open
the eyes of the viewer to the issues caused to society due to reliance on
technology. The composition of the work is set up in order to make the viewer
question the connection between isolation (on an island) and technology.
T: The tone of this piece is desolate and expectant. The author is using isolated
islands and people with hunched over posture to show the desolate and
expectant tone. The fact that the cellphones and islands are nowhere near one
another also expresses the desolate tone.
Thesis: In the sixteenth image from a collection of political cartoons by Pawel Kucynsky,
an award winning artist for his images depicting societal issues, Kucynsky creates
emotional appeals of isolation and desolation; and depressing tone in order to
increase awareness around how addictions to technology is isolating individuals
from society, ultimately motivating the viewer to question the way technology
has affected their own relationships with society.
Body Pawel Kucynsky creates a desolate tone throughout the composition of his piece
Paragraph: ‘Image 16’. In order to develop the tone Kucynsky uses symbolism and emphasis.
To begin Kucynsky uses simple symbolism to express the meaning and tone of
the piece. In the image he uses the depiction of someone on a deserted island
contained inside of a cell phone. This creates the effect that society and
individuals are becoming isolated as a result of an increased reliance on
technology. Also, Kucynsky repeatedly shows the person sitting on the island in a
hunched and waiting posture. Every person depicted in the image has the same
posture. This creates the effect that the isolation felt by technology is a universal
experience and not a solitary event. The posture of the people depicted in the
island and the symbolism shows the desolation created by technology.
Student Name:
Illustration 6:
Rhetorical S:
Situation: P:
A:
C:
E:
C:
A:
T:
Thesis:
Final Step:
Choose ONE thesis to expand on in a body paragraph. Together, use the suggestions on slides 4-6 on canvas to
analyze ONE of the choices/strategies.
● How does the particular choice/strategy contribute to the meaning and purpose of the artist?
● Slides 10-11 can help with transitions and rhetorical verbs. Please put the group illustration, thesis,
and body paragraph on the last page of the document.
Group
Illustration:
Thesis:
Body Paragraph:
