Purpose: Because this is a poster its purpose is to inform the viewer of something. The information given is not always accurate. In this case the purpose was to establish the Japanese as being a savage and villainous people, and to show that the Japanese were not totally human.
This artifact shows a Japanese soldier lunging at a white woman with a knife. The soldier is given apelike features in order to establish that he is less human than the people of the U.S. This artifact is unique because it portrays the Japanese as a savage animal. This was done to create a sense of American superiority over the Japanese, as well as a sense that the Japanese were attacking America. This artifact is significant because it shows the type of propaganda that citizens of the U.S. were bombarded with. The poster is a typical example of media that dehumanizes the enemy, and thus justifies opposition to the enemy. This type of Propaganda was common during WWII, and lent itself to U.S. belief that killing Japanese people was not morally wrong, as the Japanese were really not people. This justified the war to the American public.
