Gender Cartoons 

Choose one cartoon from ​this website​. Analyze it closely as you identify 
examples of each rhetorical appeal (ethos, pathos, logos). Then, explain 
the effect of the appeal on the intended audience.  
 
 
Comic Name & Country: Emilio Morales Ruiz, Spain 

Rhetorical  Examples and Explanation 

Appeal 

Ethos  In the comic alone, there isn’t much ethos present 

because the author is not shown in anyway other than the 
small ER initials in the corner. This sense of anonymity 
helps the comic’s message because it doesn’t present any 
of the base bias in judging what the comic alone is saying. 
All we are given is a child and some balloons and that’s 
what we go into it with. 

Logos  Like many, the interpretation of this comic can be based a 

lot on outside opinions that the reader has going into 
reading it. Statistically, many may know that men are at an 
advantage in many ways over women, including pay rate, 
access to education, job opportunities, etc. However, if 
you didn’t know that or the exact facts going into the 
comic, the fact that the blue balloon is higher than the 
pink balloon could be seen as completely an opinion. 
Therefore, the blue balloon being higher than the pink 
balloon can be backed up by real facts and statistics, but 
the comic doesn’t state these things directly. 

Pathos  I would consider the majority of the symbols in this comic 

to be there for emotional use. First, it can create emotions 
of sadness and disappointment when you see that the 
balloon with the woman symbol is below the balloon with 
the male symbol. This is one of the clearest things in the 
comic and it shows how women are often treated as below 
men or at a disadvantage. Then, as the child is alarmed at 
the difference in balloon height and goes to blow it up, it 
gives hope to the reader that the child wanted to fix the 
issue they were seeing. You can also see in the pictures 
that they are on a bit of a hill, and this could show how to 
see the issue in the world you may have to do a little work 
 and be open-minded to it. Many people choose to be 
ignorant of the problem even though it is right in front of 
their face, so the hill shows that to climb that barrier of 
comfort and see the issue, you have to do a bit of work to 
get there. Then, we can see that after the child blows up 
the balloon representing women, the nozzle to blow it up 
disappears. However, the one on the male balloon 
remains there. This is very sad and it shows how while it is 
possible to get on the same level, men, the gender set up 
to do good in the world, can always go higher. And if 
someone came over and blew up the blue balloon, the 
pink balloon still wouldn’t be able to get to the new level 
because the nozzle is gone.  
 
The use of ethos, pathos, and logos in this comic gives the audience, 
anyone reading, the viewpoint of how the world is set up for different 
genders. It shows how things are, and I think it can have a spark on the 
reader to make positive change so that the events in the comic don’t have 
to keep happening. Not only the blowing up of the balloon but the chance 
to always have equal opportunities and the chance of advancement for 
different groups of people. It can almost be seen as a call to action when 
looked at deep enough.