The Wasp — 1889 — page 177: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This political cartoon satirizes Reconstruction-era violence in the American South. Uncle Sam (left, labeled) questions why Mississippi residents only engage in fighting. The central figure—a bearded man in striped pants—appears to represent the South or a Southern leader, surrounded by armed men in military dress on the right and a woman in a bonnet on the left. The satire critiques how violence and militarism have become the dominant "example" or culture in the post-Civil War South. The cartoon suggests that Southern society has been so shaped by conflict that fighting is now its primary characteristic or method of problem-solving, rather than peaceful reconstruction. The "force of example" title ironically comments on how violence perpetuates itself.