Salt Lake Tribune cartoonist Pat Bagley places into his cartoon Penn State a perspective on the Penn State sex scandal that many have pondered, but few have openly stated. Drawn for the lucky day 11/11/11, Bagley pulls upon large amounts of communal knowledge to give this possibly controversial cartoon its powerful message.
This cartoon is probably set in Beaver Stadium, the football field of Penn State. A priest in full attire, even with a Cross flying around his neck, appears to be playing in a game of football. This priest tosses something to a large, intimidating, but rather confused Penn State football player (as indicated by his jersey). Even the announcer shouts “and it looks like a hand off!” However, the centerpiece of this cartoon, and where the strength of its message comes from, is the unusual object being “handed off”: a young boy with the phrase “abuse scandal” on his back.
The greatest rhetorical devices used by Bagley to achieve his purpose are extensive symbolism and even greater irony. The priest clearly represents the Catholic priests accused and found guilty of abuse; the Penn State player symbolizes the confusion and general Penn State community that has been left to deal with this scarring issue. The small boy, as indicated by the letters on his back, is the sex abuse that seems to be “handed off” between the Catholic priests and Penn State community.
There is a certain amount of communal knowledge that Bagley pulls upon, writing in actually a temporal context in that he shows his immediate reaction to the subject of this cartoon: the Penn State sex scandal. Communal knowledge requires that one know of the previous sex scandals that involved Catholic priests, and of the scandals involving the head departments in Penn State Athletics. Intended for the readers of the Salt Lake Tribune, Bagley implies his purpose through the cartoon that this concept of “abuse” is not novel, and seems to be occurring in different places, almost as if it were being “handed off”.
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