TOW #13 - Popular Tree and Electoral College

With the holiday season in full effect, one would hope that people would recognize this as a time to come together. However, with the recent and controversial results of this year's election, it seems to be pretty difficult to find peace from the many divides present in society. One of the political divides that currently exists is highlighted in a political cartoon by artist R.J. Matson that appeared in USA Today. The cartoon depicts the separation between two political parties, the democratic party and the republican party.  R.J. Matson illustrates the use of symbolism and juxtaposition of two ideas as a way to expose the reality of the 2016 election. The blue tree on the left is titled the “Popular Tree” and the red tree on the right is titled the “Electoral College”.  These two titles show the outcome of these two political parties in the election.  From the results, the popular vote was given to Hillary Clinton and the electoral college picked Donald Trump.  This idea is exposed through the use of symbolism by using the political parties representing tree’s and a title for each one.  This cartoon also illustrates juxtaposition as two ideas are being contrasted to show an over arching theme.  The democratic party has been associated with the color blue and the republican party has been associated with the color red.  These two trees are drawn next to each other to show the vast differences it had in this past election, which is something that we have seen before, but it was extremely unexpected. By contrasting these two parties, it shows the divide that is still among our nation as the holiday season approaches and as our President-elect Trump will soon be known as the official President of the United States of America. In my opinion, this cartoon did a great job of really making the argument simple and stand out as a way to grab people’s attention.  I agree with this cartoonist, but it is something we can’t change as it already happened, but it is something that in my opinion keeps me fighting for what I believe in.


http://www.usatoday.com/picture-gallery/opinion/cartoons/2012/09/18/daily-editorial-cartoons/1411813/