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David Wu
Holly Batty
English 114A
15 October 2014
Essay B: Honorable 5th Column
We saw all these people behind the fence, looking out, hanging onto the wire, and
looking out because they were anxious to know who was coming in. But I will never forget the
shocking feeling that human beings were behind this fence like animals. The Japanese
Americans lives in the internment camp were miserable. Who should be responsible for this
tragedy? Dr. Seuss, one of the most successful cartoonists in American history, is the idol in a lot
of the American children hearts. However, his Anti-Japanese political cartoons during World
War II are racist and immoral. The cartoons not only promote the racial profiling on the Japanese
Americans, but also undermine the relationship between Japanese Americans and other groups,
perpetuating the racist ideology.
During World War II, after the Japanese army attacked the Pearl Harbor, the United
States of America declared war on Japan. At the same time, Americans hatred toward the
Japanese reached the peak. In 1942 Dr. Seuss, the chief editorial cartoonist of the New York
Newspaper PM, published two Anti-Japanese cartoons. Several months later, the U.S.
government ordered the removal of the Japanese Americans. Over one hundred thousand of
Japanese Americans were confined in the internment camp. Public opinion and willingness was
one of the factors that greatly influenced the governments decision. Political cartoon, such as the
one that Dr. Seuss created, was the spark that ignited the publics detestation and hostility
towards the Japanese Americans. Some people might argue that Dr. Seuss is innocent. He is

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patriotic, and he wants to show his support towards his country through cartoons. Nevertheless, I
maintain that Dr. Seusss Anti-Japanese cartoons are racist. He defamed the Japanese Americans
images and moralities. The cartoons should be considered racist based on the verbal and visual
elements.
In the first cartoon, the author uses ironic and offensive verbal elements and exaggerates
visual technique to aid racial profiling. For example, in the cartoon, Honorable 5th Column is
written on the house, which is used to give out bombs to the Japanese Americans. In reality,
Fifth Column means any group of people who undermine a larger group. The underling
message is that the author thinks that the Japanese Americans are the Fifth Column who is
going to attack the other Americans. The word Honorable suggests that other Americans
havent realized that the Japanese Americans around them are dangerous threats toward the
society. In addition, the phrase Waiting for the signals from home on the top of the cartoon aid
to make readers feel panic about their personal safety. It also provides an idea that the Japanese
Americans in the U.S. are the accomplices of the Japanese armies in Japan. Furthermore, Dr.
Seuss labels the land behind the Japanese Americans with California, Oregon, and
Washington. His purpose is to maximize the range of readers not just only California citizens,
but all Americans. I believe Dr. Seuss attempts to warn and suggest the other groups of
Americans to take action to remove the Japanese Americans before they start to harm the
Americans.
Visual effect is another essential factor that contributes to racism. It is used to demonize
the Japanese Americans. In the first cartoon, Dr. Seuss uses exaggeration to portrait a group of
Japanese-American terrorists. For example, in the cartoon, Japanese Americans are waiting in
lines to get bombs from a house. First of all, in the cartoon, every single Japanese American

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looks excited with creepy smiles on their faces. It suggests that they are delighted to take the
order to bomb the U.S. Dr. Seusss exaggerated drawing defames all Japanese Americans as a
whole group in order to let the readers hate the group. Secondly, the size of the group of
Japanese Americans is exaggerated. From the cartoon, we can see there are Japanese Americans
all over the mountains and plains. Dr. Seuss attempts to set up an overwhelming feeling for the
readers. Along this feeling, he wants to make a misleading suggestion that there is a huge
number of terrorists in Japanese Americans.
In the second cartoon, Dr. Seusss attempt to call the people to support the removal of
Japanese Americans is more direct. Technique Flag-waving is used to persuade the audience
that hating Japanese American is a patriotic action toward the country. For example, Dr. Seuss
capitalizes every letter in the title WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TODAY TO HELP SAVE
YOUR COUNTRY FROM THEM. The author not only uses the question to catch the readers
attention, but also tries to throw an idea: it is your responsibility to help remove the Japanese
American as the citizens of the country. The word YOU is larger than other words to
emphasize the personal connection between the readers and the Japanese Americans. This
message is also shown in the drawing. On the bottom of the cartoon, an ordinary person is drawn
with the word You on his back. Basically, Dr. Seuss supports patriotism can be the excuse to
racial profiling of Japanese Americans.
In The Mismeasure of Man, the ancient scientists are making judgments based on the
physical appearance of the black mans skull. The author argues against Biological
Determination, measuring individuals and groups intelligence as a single quantity. For instance,
the ancient scientist illustrated a black mans skull. Beside the black mans skull, the scientist
provides a young chimpanzees skull, to give the impression that the black man and the

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chimpanzee have similar intelligence. The author has rejected this kind of measurement. He
argues that it is imprecise and incorrect to categorize the groups as an individual or single
quantity. In similarity, Dr. Seusss drawing is racist. He portrays a Japanese American with a pig
snout, glasses, buck teeth, squinted eyes and a mustache similar to Hitlers. This action not only
defames the Japanese Americans appearances, but also creates a typical Japanese image, which
causes them to lose their personal identity as an individual figure. This suggests that all Japanese
Americans are the enemies of other Americans as a collective group. In addition, Dr. Seuss is
making a connection and comparison between the Japanese Americans and Hitler. His underling
message is the Japanese Americans share the same crime and evilness with the Nazi. This action
deteriorates both the image and morality of Japanese Americans. The author is judging the
Japanese American based on their physical appearances and identities of Japanese.
In conclusion, in Dr. Seuss political cartoon the author attempts to persuade the audience
to racial profiling towards the Japanese Americans. Although I agree patriotism is beneficial to
ones country development, racial profiling of one group is an inhuman way. Those immoral
implications still exist in todays society. People make stereotypes and are prejudice toward the
other groups based on their appearances and nationalities. I believe if we continue evading the
racism, people will repeat the tragedy such as the Japanese American Internment again.

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Work Cited

Dartmouth. "Dr. Seuss Draws Anti-Japanese Cartoons During WWII, Then Atones with Horton

Hears a Who!" Open Culture. N.p., 20 Aug. 2014. Web. 28 Sept. 2014.

Jefferson. "Dr. Seuss Sucks: 7 Racist Cartoons From the Doctor." Whosucks. N.p., 2 July 2007.

Web. 28 Sept. 2014.

Gould, Stephen Jay. The Mismeasure of Man. New York: Norton, 1996. Print.

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Appendix