Editorial Cartoon: Hate

Overview:

Activities will help students:

understand the use of dialogue in editorial cartoons
question why one group might blindly hate another group

This is the thirteenth lesson in the series "Using Editorial Cartoons to Teach Social Justice [1]."

Introduction

Dialogue, or the language spoken between people or characters, is sometimes used in editorial cartoons in the form of text in speech bubbles. Dialogue in editorial cartoons often uses the kind of language that the characters would actually use. For example, if the characters are children, the dialogue might include slang or if the characters have accents, the dialogue might reflect that. Dialogue is one way to capture a person’s true voice, as well as their strong feelings.

Editorial Cartoon

Examine the cartoon below.

Artist: Daryl Cagle. Reprinted with Permission. Teachers may purchase individual cartoons for other lesson plans at PoliticalCartoons.com [2]

How would you describe the dialogue in this cartoon?

What does the dialogue tell you about the artist’s message?

Activities

With a partner, answer the following questions: What are the different ways the word hate can be used? Keep in mind, you can hate vegetables, but you can also hate an entire group of people. How are these two forms of hate different? Share your responses with the rest of the class.
As a class, discuss the concept of hating another group of people:
1. What happens when one group of people hates another group of people?
2. In the cartoon above, two out of the three characters don’t even remember whom it is they hate. Do you think people sometimes forget why they hate a whole group of people?
3. What is the effect of this kind hatred on society?
Examine the dialogue in the cartoon. The characters use expressions like “ummm” and “I dunno.” Discuss:
1. What is the effect of this kind of dialogue?
2. What does this kind of dialogue tell you about these characters?
3. Who do you think these characters hate? Why?
Work with your partner to create a cartoon that points out the dangers of hating an entire group of people. Use carefully crafted dialogue to convey a powerful message.