The Gap in the Bridge

Contribution by María Belen Antolini

CARTOON: “The gap in the Bridge”

By: Leonard Ravenhill

Date: December 10^th , 1919

I chose this cartoon because I believe this will enlarge the last topic we have seen, which was the US´s impact in the WW1. This cartoon refers particularly to the end of World War 1 and the creation of the League of Nations.

Background:

In 1919 Wilson had the idea of setting up the League of Nations. He was principally concerned with trying to achieve world peace and prevent this previous conflict to happen again. The US joined the World War 1 in 1917, three years after the war had already started. Hundreds of thousands of Americans soldiers fought during WW1 and a hundred and ten thousand lives were lost in a very short period of time. This had a knock on effect on the American views of getting involved in such an organization. Many felt that America should not get involved in this European issue which was thousand miles away from their country. As a result of this some American politicians began to appeal to the American public to stay out of the European affairs. Consequently, the idea of America being involved in the League of Nations was actually rejected by the American Congress, and as a result of this America never joined it.

The idea of the League was to achieve collective security to overcome border disputes and prevent another world war from occurring.

The 'Gap in the Bridge' cartoon tells us several important things. Germany was missing. Russia was missing (because of its communist government). The cartoon doesn't mention Japan (not an industrialised nation). The bridge idea is to show its ability to join countries and provide a means of communication. The importance of the gap is to suggest that the bridge will fall apart without the USA.

I will analize the cartoon by looking at its denotation (what we can see in the image) and its connotation (the effect on its audience).

DENOTATION: The bridge represents the League of Nations with the key stone missing.

CONNOTATION: The League is not complete and will collapse without the keystone.

Meaning: The League is weak.

DENOTATION: The keystone is the US and is not part of the bridge.

CONNOTATION: America not joining the League.

MEANING: Without America the League will fail.

DENOTATION: Under the bridge there is a deep dark cliff.

CONNOTATION: If the bridge collapses, the world will fall into disaster.

MEANING: Without the League, there might be another war.

DENOTATION: A sign says that the bridge was designed by Wilson, but uncle Sam is asleep.

CONNOTATION: Asleep has a connotation of negligence and inconsideration.  

MEANING: America is being hypocritical by failing to join.

As I stated before, the cartoon was published by the magazine Punch and the cartoonist is an English man. This was published three months before the US Senate finally voted to reject the Treaty and the League of Nations. This cartoon therefore was a criticism to the American position and delay in joining. It was an attempt to shame the Senate into joining the League by prophesying disaster if it didn´t.