What do you think the cartoon (Fig) is trying to express? (Keep in mind that the telegraph, which Class 8

What do you think the cartoon (Fig) is trying to express? (Keep in mind that the telegraph, which Class 8

What do you think the cartoon (Fig.) is trying to express? (Keep in mind that the telegraph, which permitted instant communications for the first time, was then a recent invention.) Analyse different elements of the drawing. (Page 87) Class 8

Answer:

This cartoon shows Cecil Rhodes, a British businessman, standing with one foot in South Africa and the other in Egypt, holding a telegraph wire.

1. Speed of Communication: Before the telegraph, messages traveled between countries in weeks or months. The cartoon will likely show characters shocked or amazed that they can now send messages "faster than the wind." Visuals could include a character in London pressing a key on a telegraph, while someone in India or America receives it instantly.
2. Transformative Power: This cartoon might illustrate the telegraph as a powerful technology that continues to link previously remote sectors of the globe. It might depict a world being "shrunk"- the Earth seems smaller when people are able to communicate from continent to continent.
3. Telegraphy and Imperial Control: From a colonial perspective, the telegraph allowed the British and other empires to assert their control over colonies much more easily. A cartoon can depict a British officer relating orders from London to an officer in India instantly, with the commanding officer smiling - meaning he/she had total control.