Trick 4

     Discussion of Cyana Chilton's Essay titled "Drugs to Death in a Political Cartoon"

     Now this was much more complicated than our previous assignments.  The first thing I did was get my view of the political cartoon listed inside of her essay and then compare it to her description.  This allows me to see how the author thinks and gives me insight into their style.   I could not have been more wrong or further off.  This was a very complicated read and I was totally taken aback by how much information the author got from this simple cartoon.  Chilton was seeing things and how they interacted that I would never have seen even if I had stared at it for a week straight.  The basis behind the image and her thesis was that the Mexican government was unable to do their job in protecting their country and economy from the drug cartels.  While from the image, I received that the cartels were responsible for many deaths in the country, and thinking that the deaths could literally be referencing people, it also had the chance to represent the country itself.  Or the economy.  With the pinata titled "Mexico" and the skulls spilling from it, this could easily cover several ideas.  And the amount that Chilton came up with was simply astounding.

     Chilton's main argument from her interpretation of the cartoon was that the cartels were solely responsible for the problems that the country was going through.  I don't necessarily agree.  I believe they are a large part, however, the inability for the government to either want to, or capable of actually doing something places some of the blame on their shoulders.  The reason I think that the cartoonist himself does not believe that the cartels are solely to blame lies in the cartoon itself.  You do see a large amount of skulls spilling out of the busted pinata, however it is not completely destroyed.  It is not split in half.  This represents that there is still a chance to fix the problem and that there is still hope.  At least this is how I interpret it.

     While Chilton does seem to believe that the cartels are the main problem, she goes on to bring up a point about another major player.  The amount of drug users in the United States.  Unfortunately she doesn't go into to much detail, but I think this warrants some space.  These people are the ones keeping the cartels in business.  They are the ones that allow the problem to continue to rot the Mexican people and government.  There's a strategy, when wolves are causing problems, you don't shoot the wolves.  You go after the rabbits.  When the rabbits are gone, the wolves will leave.   The strategy should be the same.  As long as they have buyers, the problem will always exist.

     Overall, the essay was a very interesting, and intense read.  The structure was sound, she started off by explaining the cartoon in her interpretation.  This is exemplified by the fact that she actually includes the cartoon on the first page within the same paragraph that explains it.  She follows this up by showing actual research into the subject matter.  This is of course important as it fills several key points, such as the logos and ethos together.  While this was a rather long read, combining elements together makes it easier for the reader to grasp more of the topic at once time and keeps their interests.

    To myself, this read was pretty important.  It represented multiple things.  As I stated above, it was a complicated read.  So it challenged me.  It also showed me that you shouldn't take the message of a cartoon so quickly and that you should strive to combine and understand as much as you can.  This was also a great example of structure and will provide an excellent reference in the future.  The author also taught me to always look for more.  All in all, very enjoyable.