“Rutherford had once been a famous caricaturist, whose brutal cartoons had helped to inflame popular opinion before and during the Revolution.” (Page 158)
The person described in this quote, although it does not directly reference him, bears a striking resemblance to the famous American cartoonist, Thomas Nast. During the later 1800s, Thomas Nast became widely recognized for his outrageous cartoons which criticized and praised the politics of the time. Because he presented various social and economic topics in a visual format, he was able to reach a large audience, and in consequence, he had a major impact on American culture and history. Orwell makes this indirect parallelism between Rutherford and Nast in order to demonstrate how, even though they come from different time periods, popular culture is contingent upon individuals who stray from the norm or do something revolutionary. This is even seen in the protagonist with his denouncement of Big Brother. With his later description of Rutherford becoming an “unperson,” though, Orwell also shows how even some of the most influential individuals can go unnoticed similarly to how Thomas Nast is nearly forgotten today.
"Thomas Nast." The Civil War. Web. 11 May 2010. http://www.sonofthesouth.net/Thomas_Nast.htm.
Thomas Nast. Digital image. Web. 11 May 2010. http://www.gho-englisch.de/Archive/2004/Feb_04/nast_thomas.jpg.
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