English Paper 1

The text is a comic strip by Andrew Marlton that was released in September 2015,

shortly after NASA discovered water on Mars and raised worries about the Mars

Rover's contamination. This comic satirises humans' egocentrism and

thoughtlessness as they produce ground-breaking discoveries while turning a blind

eye to the disastrous consequences. The cartoon appears to be aimed towards the

general people, or more particularly, the individuals and groups that cause the

destruction of not only their home world, but also other planets. The cartoonist uses

techniques and themes such as symbolism, anthropomorphism, sarcasm, speech

bubbles, and language/linguistic components to convey the unsettling truth of human

priorities.

Before delving into the comic strip, itself, it's worth considering the importance of the

cartoonist's pen name. Marlton may refer to himself as the "First Dog on the Moon"

since he conveys his views and grounds his satire on an informal, impartial, and

straightforward perspective of a dog via anthropomorphism. Furthermore, the

moniker would remind an informed reader of the first animal ever launched to space,

the dog Laika, who had met a tragic end as a result. Representing the viewpoint of

an animal that can't help but see and submit to people' shamelessly thoughtless

behaviours, and whose speech is incomprehensible to humans, plays out to be

incredibly useful in plainly addressing the idiocy of human goals and making the

readers feel ashamed. This is emphasised when the comic strip's writer refers to

himself as the first dog on the moon.

The anthropomorphism allows talking canines to portray otherwise mute bystanders

and victims of irresponsible human behaviour. The speech bubble from the two dogs
in the first panel — "They found flowing water on Mars!" — demonstrates this

anthropomorphism. "They" alludes to humans. The animals in lab coats in the third

panel may represent animals exploited due to human interests that outweigh the

ethics of scientific exploration; they represent their vulnerability to animal cruelty in

man's realm of experiments and discoveries. This interpretation is supported by the

third panel's speech bubbles, in which one dog screams, "You won't believe this!"

and the other answers, "Try me..." — The animal's reaction to learning that humans

have made another discovery that will cause its own set of issues might be regarded

as being fed up, disgusted, and annoyed. When the cartoon images of the dogs in

the third panel are examined, their faces show worry and dissatisfaction at what is

about to happen. In this way, anthropomorphic characters and symbolism are used

to present the absurd reality of human priorities in a way that tugs at the reader's

emotions while diminishing their sense of self-importance.

This anthropomorphism gives rise to the elements of comedy and, of course,

sarcasm. As shown in the sixth panel, the dogs appear to be copying and expressing

humans' disgusting insensitivity and priorities. A perfectly healthy and wealthy dog is

shown clutching a glass of water while staring at a phone and exclaiming, "$200

billion! "I'm curious what else we can buy for $200 billion." After reading about the

global bottled water industry's annual earnings, he is unaware that a clearly poor,

fatigued, and ill-looking dog stands behind him, holding a vessel over its head that

appears to contain water discovered after an arduous quest. The human trait of

being self-absorbed and insensitive is prominently displayed. After reading about the

global bottled water industry's annual earnings, the idea of dogs impersonating and

ridiculing humans in this way (along with the fact that humans are the sole cause of

the planet's destruction) in the face of the popular belief that humans are the most
intelligent species on Earth with the best logical and rational thinking abilities is

absurdly ironic, and laughably so. This forces the reader to recognise how

profoundly stupid human priorities and understanding may be.

Andrew Marlton generates thought-provoking thoughts through the ingenious and

suitable use of symbols, anthropomorphism, humour, speech bubbles, and

language/linguistic aspects. The worldwide challenges of cleanliness and clean

water are heavily debated, while the ignorance and pure idiocy of human priorities

are brutally mocked.