Homo Sapiens At Home By David Horsey

Published in 1988 by Seattle Post – Intelligencer, a black and white cartoon titled Homo Sapiens At Home is drawn by David Horsey portraying an overweight man in the center as the focal point. The naked man is sitting behind a pile of trash on top of the Earth accompanied with a dark background occupied with stars sprinkled about. In order to emphasize the focal point of the cartoon the artist uses negative space the background, and positive space the man. The positive space in a work of art is the area of interest, and is usually the subjects of the artwork. There are metal pieces, cans, toxic chemicals, and wrappers that envelop Earth. The man adds to the pile of adulterated trash by tossing a can behind him with his left hand and says “Man!
His exclamatory manner suggests he is disgusted by the polluted trash, which is supported through his gaze looking down onto the garbage. Irony is portrayed because the naked man is unaware that he is the one contributing to the pit through consumption. Producing an overall message that people disregard global issues around them even though they know it’s problematic. Since the man serves as a representation of the people, it shows that they mistreat the environment without pondering about the consequences that can develop. In the title of the cartoon there is a use of connotative diction: Homo sapiens, it addresses humans that have revolutionized and advanced to today’s society. However, in this case the word does not mean people that have advanced, rather it refers to people that have grown more
She discovers that to produce the stuff, Earth is running out of resources since about 40% of the water has already become undrinkable. Due to the fact that corporations and individuals are using more than they are supposed to, scarce resources remain available. Corporations have grown in size and power over the government, which allow them to skew how they operate. Industries use chemical toxics to make products that cannot be recycled and as a result add to 30% of world waste. Another unjustifiable practice is deforestation, 80% of forest trees are chopped down. Earth is losing 2000 trees a minute in the Amazon and will result in wasted communities. The speaker, whom also wondered why prices are so cheap, revealed that companies profited by keeping wages low. Along the system, someone from the society pitches in to create low prices by buying their own health insurance. Another major issue is overconsumption, Americans feel right if they go shopping. America is known to be a consumer country because of people’s “perceived obsolescence”. Mainly caused by working long hours and spending less time with family, national happiness is actually decreasing for the society. It’s like a chain reaction, when people come home from working long hours, they feel exhausted and as a form relief they use their time to watch TV and shop. The useless stuff they buy and keep in their