Annotations:

• Use of comic effect and characterisation – representation the different social classes (poor and rich) and their jobs (business man in particular), creating strong visual impact, easy to understand, ironic
• Facial expressions: 
  • the business man: breathless, struggling, painful, whilst the other characters look peaceful and calm  – contrast between him and the others, emphasizing the critical situation (also shown by his hands which are tightly catching the quilt, which underlines his struggles)
  • The FED as the “doctor”: anxious, worried, terrified, sweat coming out from his hand – showing that he also cannot deal or help with this situation as it is too rare
• Sticking extra paper under the bed to draw the graph of the stock market of U.S – ironic, underlining the heavy drop
• The metaphor of presenting the stock market situation as in the hospital, whilst each country is the patient with different conditions is extremely powerful and clear, which makes this political cartoon successful in terms of conveying the information to its audience.
• Less text, strong visual – easy to understand, aiming for a wider audience (appropriate for various age groups and educational levels)

Thesis: The political cartoon conveys the critical situation of the American stock market through the strong visual characterisation and comic effect, underlining the dramatic drop and ironically comparing it with the other countries, which gives us an insightful look into the current world economy.