This colour cartoon taken from an issue of Playboy Magazine, an American periodical, was published in 1983. The scene must be set in the 17thcenturywhen the first settlers went to America. It is their first contact with the land and Indians (Native Americans).It aims at making fun of the Puritans’ narrow-mindedness.
The picture is clearly divided into two parts.In the foreground, there’s the deck of a ship on which the Puritans are standing, whereas in the background, there’s the shore with some Indians watching the newcomers. They are separated by a short distance of water. At the bottom, there’s a funny caption.
The upper partshows a colourful, cheerfullandscape, obviously during the Indian summer since the leaves are a golden colour. The place isabsolutely flamboyant. We can see some Indians, standing on the shore / by the sea watching theship drawing closer. They are dressed in bright, colourful clothes. The entire land is asymphony of colours conveying the idea of a peaceful, delightful, ravishing place / an earthly paradise /heaven on earth.
The lower part of the pictureshows afew men dressed in black who are standing on the deck of theship, watching the Indians and the landscape.They are carrying guns. There is also a lady whois holding a book in her hand, which must be the Bible.They all look severe / austere /disapproving / grim / stern / tight-lipped / unsmiling.From the way they are dressed, we can guess that these people are the Puritans whofollowed theearly pioneers in the early 17thcentury.
"It looks messy, but we'll straighten it out!". After reading the caption, we understand thatthesepeople don't admire /value the landscape much and have a low opinion ofthe people that they cansee. They mean that the place might be tolerable if things were put in order. They seemdetermined to straighten it up.Actually, the landscape is too attractive / lovely /pleasing / appealing. They are convinced that there is something wrong with it. It might be a place where the devil is at work! Therefore itmust be straightened up. These settlers seem to be intolerant / narrow-minded /prejudiced/biased.
Knowing the way Indians were treated by the settlers, wefeel a bit concerned about what is going to happen. So we definitely sympathise with the Indians.I like this cartoon very much because humour is sometimes the best way to put some messages across. Here, the author ridicules the blinded Puritans who, in the name of God, committed horrible deeds. This type of cartoon shows us that those who are civilized are not necessarily the ones we believe they are.