Texas Political Cartoon Analysis

Texas is perhaps one of the most iconic states of America, with its large size (Second only to Alaska), large and progressive cities such as Dallas and Austin, and its nickname as the “Lone Star State.” What you may not know, is that Texas is also the Capital state of legal executions. Not only are they one of the biggest execution states in the USA, they are also infamous for executing innocent convicts. The point that the cartoonist is trying to make with their political cartoon is that Texas has executed an uncomfortably large number of innocents in the name of justice. The cartoon itself is an image of a family of three, traveling down the road toward Texas. As they reach the state line, they are greeted by a sign that read “Welcome to Texas, Execution Capital of America!!” with a lower caption reading “Please don’t ask if any might have been innocent.” To illustrate that point, the “T” in Texas has been replaced by a restraining table used to contain prisoners awaiting lethal injections. The cartoon uses symbolism to catch a reader’s attention with the replacement of the “T” in Texas, as well as uses exaggeration by asking the reader to not ask about how guilt the victims were. Lastly, the cartoonist used a series of captions to inform a

Of these two, the first can be seen in the caption “Execution Capital of America,” which is used to imply that not only is Texas executing a large number of prisoners, but they are executing the most in the entire country. And to build off of that statement, “Please don’t ask if any might have been innocent” is used to inform the reader that not every individual that is killed by the state government committed a crime. Through the use of these captions, the cartoonist creates a buildup, followed by a punchline, as this is death however, no-one is