Poordehghan 1

Pegah Poordehghan
Professor Batty
English 113A
21 October 2014
The Wrong Impression
The Holocaust illustrates the consequences of prejudice, racism and stereotyping on a
society. It forces us to examine the responsibilities of citizenship and confront the powerful
ramifications of indifference and inaction (Tim Holden). The Holocaust started in 1933 and
ended in 1945. In this time period about six million Jews were murdered and killed under the
command of Hitler due to their race. By far, the Holocaust has been one of the most talked about
historical racial issues even to this day. So many innocent women, men, and children were killed
just because of their race and beliefs. In the essay, Black Men and Public Spaces by Brent
Staples, the author gives his own personal experiences with being racially discriminated against.
Hypothetically the Holocaust and Brent Stapless essay are very similar to each other because in
both cases people are being misinterpreted due to their beliefs. Racial, political, and social issues
always create political cartoons to illustrate a message. My political cartoon represents what the
Jews had to go through, however it fails to illustrate what really happened. Although this
political cartoon has its own meaning, it fails to give an accurate meaning behind what happened
during the Holocaust, because it confuses the reader rather than informing them.
This political cartoon displays a historical racial issue. My political cartoon illustrates
multiple Jewish men in a line waiting to go into a gas chamber. Gas chambers were one of the
main ways that Jews were killed during the Holocaust. Jewish people were sent into gas
chambers that were filled with poisonous gas to die. In my cartoon there is a gas chamber with

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the number of how many people have been killed so far which was 5,999,999. It has one
entrance where a Jewish man is entering to, as well as an exit where a Jewish man is existing
from, which creates confusion for the reader. This was not how the gas chambers were used
during the Holocaust, there was no exit from them because people died in the chambers, so
therefore this political cartoon creates a distraction. The men in the picture are clearly Jewish
men because in the political cartoon they look like a traditional Jewish men by the way they are
dressed, and that is another way political cartoons can portray a message. Political cartoons
constantly exaggerate what is going on, and in this case it is by the way the men are dressed,
because generally not all Jewish men dress in their tradition clothing. Even back in 1933, during
the Holocaust, not every single person dressed in a traditional Jewish clothing. The picture is in a
comfortable zone, so therefore the viewer can focus on the complete picture as a whole. In the
political cartoon no one is specifically looking at the camera. The picture is in black and white,
and as a result it gives it a dull feeling and takes a lot away from the picture. The black and white
represents how the people were feeling back then because going into a gas chamber is not
anything to be happy about. The numbers that is on the gas chamber is very powerful, because it
shows how many people were killed during the Holocaust and this political cartoon clearly
illustrates that. The numbers being in the middle of the picture really grabs the viewers attention
and it is very effective, it makes the reader to mainly focus on the numbers.
The Holocaust, political cartoon, and the essay by Brent Staples all tie up together to
display a racial issue. In the essay by Brent Staples, he explains his personal experiences with
being racially discriminated against. He has been in so many different situations where people
just accused him of being a criminal when in reality he is an educated college graduated with no
intentions of harming anyone. It is how a society learns to view people based on typical

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stereotypes. One of the interactions Staples had was, She cast back a worries glance.the
youngish black manseemed menacingly closeshe picked up her pace illustrating one out of
the multiple times where he was accused of being a criminal (182). Even though Staples meant
no harm to the lady, she felt unsafe simply due to the fact of his race and his clothing. She
automatically thought he was a criminal due to his appearance. In Brent Stapless essay, it is
revealed that all black men go through similar situations of being accused of something they are
not, and at this point it is part of their everyday lives. This relates to the Holocaust and the
political cartoon because in both situations, both races are being victims. Specifically in both
cases, their surrounding do not think each race is good enough. As seen in the Holocaust, the
Jewish people were murdered because Hitler did not believe the Jewish population was good
enough, so therefore they should not live.
In the political cartoon, there is more going on in the bottom half of the cartoon, and as a
result it creates a heavier feeling. The entrance to the gas chamber is on the bottom of the picture
and that develops sadness. The way the men are standing, it creates a movement. It is easy to
imagine them actually walking toward the gas chamber. This political cartoons displays that the
Jews were willingly going into the gas chambers rather than being forced. This is not a reliable
cartoon that helps illustrate what happened during the Holocaust, and instead it is a false
statement. It is not a dependable picture because it portrays the Jews being killed in the gas
chambers as a cycle that continuously happens, and that fails to represent the message.
My emotion reaction towards this political cartoon is that it is very confusing and it is
contradicting itself because it is giving the opposite message. It illustrates the Holocaust as
something that still happens routinely. The verbal message is the number of how many people
that were killed during this tragic historical issue. The visual message of the cartoon is to show

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one way the Jews were killed and to a show a dull moment in history for the Jews.
In each political cartoon there is a message hidden, and the political cartoons exaggerate
the idea. Overall the Holocaust, political cartoon, and Brent Stapless essay all illustrate racism
in their own ways. However the political cartoon demonstrates the Holocaust as being a routine
cycle that happens constantly. This historical event is by far one of the most heartbreaking events
in history, and something that should never repeat itself. As students and humans we are
informed about history so it does not repeat itself, however similar issues happen constantly
around the world that need to stop. Even though not necessarily anything has happened to the
Jewish community since the Holocaust, similar issues have happened to other people. So
therefore there needs to be more awareness and as well as political cartoons that clearly establish
and create a stop to these horrific issues around the world.