Cartoon Analysis.

Name: Wai Yuen

Course: Composition II
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The cartoonist, David Horsey, use symbolism theme of a soldier and a wolf to illustrate the U.S military withdrawal from Iraq. He vividly depicts the western Coalition troops' situation in Iraq by placing the soldier inside a treacherous and hideous wolf's mouth. The soldier represents the western Coalition troops while the wolf represents Iraq. He is trapped inside the wolf's mouth and surrounded by its sharp teeth. His eyes are wide open and focused outside the wolf’s mouth as if requesting for external help from that situation. He has a helmet on his head to emphasize how hostile his environment is with situations such as bomb attacks being one of them. In the cartoon, we see the soldier within inches of the wolf's tongue, and if he advances further he may be rolled up by and engulfed by it. Consequently, he cannot withdraw himself due to the surrounding sharp teeth which can tear him into pieces. The wolf looks barbaric and ferocious, an image which is an analogous description of some nomad countries which apprehend international peaceful treaties. The cartoonist further scribbles “Iraq" on the head of the wolf to drive the point home about who he is referring to.

The phrase “Whatever you think of how I got in here, you have to agree the tricky part will be getting out." was the only statement by the soldier in the entire drawing. This statement carries a lot of weight. It shows that now the soldier accepts he made an enormous mistake by getting inside the wolf’s mouth and now getting out is becoming a problem. Though it only took 21 days for the coalition army, coordinated by Central Intelligence Agency Special Activities Division, to topple the Saddam Hussein’s regime and occupy Baghdad using military tactics such as missiles, tank and