Purpose: Because this is an article in a magazine, its purpose is to convince the reader that the author’s point of view is accurate. In this case, the purpose was to convince the reader that all Japanese people are the same.
This artifact is a picture guide to telling the difference between a Japanese person and a Chinese person. The example of a Chinese person is portrayed as having more amiable features, such as a slight smile, while the example of a Japanese person is portrayed as being less friendly by features like his noticeable frown. This artifact states states that Japanese people have “flatter nose[s]” (3) than those of other races, and that Japanese people tend to be “short and squat” (3). The artifact stereo-typically profiles both the Japanese and the Chinese. This artifact is relevant because it displays the racism of the time period. Entire countries worth of people were profiled as being “tall and slender” (3) or as having “shorter legs” (3). This racism was important because it lowered the positions of both Japanese and Chinese people from people to animals to be studied. The artifact treats both Chinese people and Japanese people in a racist manner, but China’s treatment is slightly more respectful. The source refers to Chinese people in a non derogatory manner as “the Chinese” (3), while it refers to the Japanese in a disrespectful manner, simply as “Japs” (3). This shows that while the source treated both Chinese people and Japanese people disrespectfully, it was more disrespectful to the Japanese. This created the idea that Americans were superior to both the Japanese and the Chinese, and thus that the United States’ position in the war was “right” while Japan’s was “wrong”. This artifact was unique because it dehumanized both the Japanese people and the Chinese people. This again shows the anti-Asia racism present in the U.S. during the war.
