Reflection

The main visual elements of this cartoon include a British man handing out treaties. There are other people next to him receiving the treaties and passing out more treaties. It might also be shaking hands. There is a woman crying on the side and a man who hasn't received anything. All of the people represent different countries. The point is that everyone is making alliances. The issue is that these alliances can't be kept because everyone except the woman and one man have made alliances with each other. It's too complicated because if 2 countries get in a fight, the others don't know what to do because they all have alliances. This also shows that some people have more hands reaching out to them than other countries. The cartoonist is trying to show that only richer countries get alliances. The cartoonist doesn't think this is a good idea because these alliances aren't going to always be kept. Even though countries that don't like each other may not have made alliances, they're still tied together by the other countries who've made alliances with both of them. I also think he's trying to show that the wealthier countries such as the UK have more allies because they have more to trade. The man on the outside is Turkey and doesn't have much to trade so he has no alliances. The woman crying is probably a poor country because she has no allies. This relates to the great powers game because just like them, most of us made alliances with most countries. When there was a war, the countries wouldn't know what to do because they were friends with both sides. In the end, the alliances had almost no effect because they were almost all broken. Also, the wealthier countries got the most allies. The cartoonist could have made his point more clear.