Nate Beeler's Political Cartoon 'Help, We Re Drowning !'

Divided States of America
“In a matter of hours, the dry, sunny town that I call home was transformed into a delta of rubble and debris, a generic Disaster Zone” (Knufken, 2013). This is how Drea Knufken described her neighborhood after a horrible flood that took place in September of 2013. In a time where people are so focused on social media, exaggerated news, and fighting over who’s lives matter more, it seems that it takes a major life altering even such as Hurricane Harvey to unite the United States. Nate Beeler’s political cartoon “Floodwaters” and Drea Knufken’s essay “Help, We’re Drowning!: Please Pay Attention to Our Disaster” both show people coming together to help in trying times.
Ms. Knufken’s opens her essay by stating “As I

write this, Colorado’s Fort Range is in the middle of its worst natural disaster in about 100 years” (Knufken, 2013). This statement alone lets the audience know the severity of the disaster. The flooding that took place in Colorado caused massive amounts of damage to families and their properties across the state. Later into her essay Drea Knufken states “one of my out-of-town friends called to check on me that first morning of the flood” (Knufken, 2013). As soon as the flood hit mainstream media, people were in contact with those affected asking if they need help. She uses this comment to show that as soon as the flooding began, people were ready to help if help was needed. Drea Knufken’s essay does a fantastic job describing the damage done to her home town and how ready others were to help, but only after the storm hit. Similarly, Nate Beeler’s “Floodwaters” shows this same urgency to help after a major disaster.
Quite a few things stand out in Nate Beeler’s “Floodwaters”. The first of these things being the words “National Disunity”. The cartoon shows a red newspaper stand with a newspaper displayed in the front window saying, “National Disunity” in big bold writing and underneath Hurricane Harvey in much smaller text. As the water from Hurricane Harvey rises past the stand, it covers the headline of the paper. It symbolizes the turmoil across the United States being washed away in the time of need. People of all races and all beliefs see these people affected by the hurricane and put their differences aside to help save lives. The final frame of the cartoon shows this exactly. It seems as if today people have lost sight of what it means to be united. Both the cartoon and the essay have a similar goal and that is to show that people come to aid those in need.
Drea Knufken’s essay and Nate Beeler’s cartoon are both very persuasive in their own ways.

On one hand, the essay uses very descriptive language to portray this helplessness that the people of Colorado feel when their homes are halfway under water. The one thing they need is help from the outside world and Ms. Knufken shows that in their time of need people reach out to help. While writing her paper during the flood, it allows the reader to be transported into her shoes and imagine exactly what she is going through. Knufken writes “Six are dead. No, seven. I just read it in the news” (Knufken, 2013). Nate Beeler’s cartoon uses dull colors but a obnoxiously red newspaper stand. He does this to put emphasis on the newspaper headline. In doing so it draws the reader’s attention directly to the stand. In the last scene of the cartoon as stated before, the two families are reaching out to help the older couple out of the water and into the boat proudly waving the American flag, but only after the disunity is washed away by the flood. This shows that they only decided to help when the Hurricane was a bigger issue than their own personal issues. In being so persuasive, the two pieces use multiple rhetorical

devices.
One of the many rhetorical devices used in both the essay and the cartoon is pathos.

The essay specifically uses pathos to make the reader feel bad for the people Colorado. She comments, “I wanted to help, but the rain wouldn’t stop. All I could do, all any of us could do was watch and wait, watch and wait” (Knufken, 2013). At the same time relief is put into the reader when they know that people are there to help when the rain stops. In the cartoon, pathos is less prominent however, it is still there. The older couple is up to their necks in flood water with what seems like no hope. It makes the reader feel helpless for them but then there is the families there to help save their lives. The most obvious rhetorical device in both the essay and the cartoon is kairos. This term kairos means right time and Nate Beeler and Drea Knufken use it perfectly. Beeler sees this massive storm affecting millions, the turmoil across the country and makes a stunning cartoon. Releasing it right in the middle of the storm. In Ms. Knufken’s case she writes and publishes her essay during the storm showing people everywhere her

struggles.
Between Nate Beeler’s “Floodwaters” and Drea Knufken’s essay “Help, We’re Drowning!: Please Pay Attention to Our Disaster” it is clear that the United States is not as United as we may think. It takes a major disaster to bring the people together. The hate and distrust between citizens of America is extremely melancholy. A nation built on the principles of unity and freedom, is filled with hate, disunity, and distrust. However, when the time comes and a problem bigger than anyone single person strikes, people are there and ready to help despite their differences. As John Dickinson once wrote, “By uniting we stand, by dividing we fall” (Dickinson, 1768).