The Panama Canal

The Panama Canal

         President Roosevelt really wanted to build the Panama Canal to improve the speed of our navy. However, he used some controversial ways to build the canal. The message of the cartoon is that Roosevelt was, metaphorically, digging out the people who opposed the idea and paving that way for the rich people who wanted this canal built. If a person that opposed the idea of a canal saw this, they would agree with the cartoonist that it is only benefiting the rich and no one else. One of the techniques that the cartoonist uses is symbolism. This is shown because Roosevelt represents the United States and the people in the shovel represent Columbia. Roosevelt is trying to get rid of any Columbian influence that may effect the building of the canal. Another technique is exaggeration. Roosevelt is much bigger than any of the other people in the cartoon, which may represent that he is more powerful than Columbia or the other rich people.This cartoon does agree with my position on imperialism due to the fact that one must find a way to get what they want to expand their sphere of influence and maybe even their country. After this, America wanted to expand their sphere of influence to China.

Citation: "American Experience: TV's Most-watched History Series." PBS. PBS, n.d. Web. 03 Feb. 2016. <http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/teachers-resources/panama-guide/>.