Visual literacy is used in everyday life. By reading and analyzing images in books, magazines, T.V and short films, we are able to make sense and understand how these pictures relate to the writing associated with them. The Red Tree a book written and illustrated by talented Shan Tan uses a variety of different visual literacy techniques which then create a story valuable to teenagers in todays modern society. By creating a distinct series of images using composition, social value and the reaction provoked. The picture book The Red Tree is a story about a young girl having an exceptionally bad day. This story line is not uncommon in children’s picture books however, what separates Shaun Tans book from the rest is his use of composition in his art works accompanied by minimal words which require a deeper …show more content…
A nameless young girl appears on every page, in every picture; in stand for ourselves as she passes helplessly through many dark moments, yet ultimately finds something hopeful at the end of her journey. The emotions conveyed through the images can relate to teens today as they may be dealing with similar feelings. Social isolation and the pressure to be someone you’re not is a constant struggle in the life of the teenager. While the unknown girl is going through her dark times there is one little sign of hope with her on every page which is represented by a vibrant red maple leaf. This sign of hope can relate to teenagers as there is always hope no matter how tough the times you are facing are. To the end of the book the young girl finds the light after all the confusing times she has faced, where she finds a large maple tree bloomed in her room covered in bright red maple leaves. Therefore, this picture book can relate to teenagers and their own problems that they face in todays society in the way they feel about these problems, as well as reassuring them that there is always
A transition is a process of changing from one form or circumstance to another. It can be challenging, confronting, exciting or transformative and has different outcomes or results for different people. Transitions are seen through the compilation of poems in The Simple Gift by Steven Herrick, they are evident in the picture book The Red Tree by Shaun Tan and are also in the film The Pursuit of Happyness by Gabriele Muccino. The Simple Gift has three main characters, an old hobo named Old Bill, a young homeless teen named Billy and a wealthy, privileged girl named Caitlin.
In the story “Time of Wonder” the writer and illustrator Robert McCloskey creates a mesmerizing picture book. Throughout the book he relates his message to the reader of taking time to enjoy the weather and nature. Likewise, the reader is able to experience these events directly with phrases such as “IT’S RAINING ON YOU” (McCloskey 10). One event the reader is able to conjure up is the ocean in Maine with the taste of salt on their tongue. Moreover, the reader visualizes the calm sea on a sunny day and fears the roaring wind before a hurricane.
In “Mother Tongue”, author Amy Tan makes the claim that more people should learn to embrace what may be a broken language as just another version of the language. Often those who speak with limited English skills are falsely determined to be lazy or unintelligent, and worse, as unimportant. Tan specifically makes her point about Asian-Americans and their families, using her own firsthand experiences to back up her claim which she made quite effectively. I agree with a lot of the points she makes in her article partially because most of the examples she gives I can relate to from my own observations. Mother Tongue doesn’t just have to be for speakers of “broken” English or Asian-Americans, it’s something that many other-Americans can relate
In her writing, Tan often describes her experiences as the child of Chinese immigrants, growing up in northern California and living in American culture. Tan explains how she has learned to embrace the many Englishes her mother speaks and how her background has also caused her to have different Englishes. While others classify her mother's English as "broken" she finds no fault in it. In Tan's view, just because something is broken does not necessarily mean that it is in need of fixing. In her essay, author Amy Tan addresses the connections between languages and cultures in describing the different Englishes her mother uses.
Jasper Jones Essay Jasper Jones, the iconic Australian novel, explores the main theme of morality and ethics, through a range of language techniques and conventions. As the story progresses, Silvey portrays Charlie’s constantly challenged notions of right and wrong, with the use of language techniques. The story is mainly written using first-person narrative perspective through the eyes of Charlie. Silvey exploits language conventions such as capitalization, spacing, dialogue, descriptive language, and imagery to create Charlie’s point of view and construct his thoughts on morality and ethics. Morality and ethics is a constant theme in the novel and is explored through a range of different language conventions and techniques.
“Janie saw her life like a great tree in leaf with the things suffered, things enjoyed. Things done and undone. Dawn and doom was in the branches”(pg 8). At the beginning of the book, the main character(Janie) is greeted by her best friend at her house. Her curious friend asked Janie what did she do while she was away.
Fahrenheit 451 has an astonishingly accurate future depiction of a society in which everyone is too distracted by technology, so they ignore most of the world around them. The community members are not aware of nature or other human beings, and they never take time to actually think deeply about life and ideas in general. Many high school and middle school teach this book in curriculums nationwide, because the addiction to technology and hatred of books portrayed in the book is beginning to be prevalent in our society. This book also glorifies individuality by admiring a girl who is different from everyone else. In the past, many parents have decided to challenge this book due to the violence, the religious discrimination, the foul language, and the references to drinking and smoking.
In A.S Byatt’s “The Thing in the Forest”, the author uses the elements of a short story to craft a dark, mature fairytale. The title of the story, “The Thing in the Forest”, in the sense that it foreshadows the main idea of the story. The audience expects more than just a "thing", as listed in the title. Byatt emphasizes through figurative language that the main characters, Penny and Primrose, are dealing with more than just a creature in the forest that affected them for the rest of their lives, and that with this use of symbols to express a larger meaning to objects in the story. A.S Byatt emphasizes more on plot and setting, characters, theme and symbols.
In the novel Jasper Jones the protagonist Charlie is faced with racial aggravation towards his friend Jeffery and his family. As the story progresses, even though they seem small at the time, these racial stereotypes have cruel and unfounded aggravation. Silvey uses a range of language techniques to emphasise how unjustified the racial aggravation is. Jeffery is considered a racial outsider by the villagers and this is evident by the way they treat him.
Yellow Raft In Blue Water Back long ago before we had books or even computers we socialized with each other, We sat around the dinner table or a fire and told stories from start to finish. We didn't just speak to tell the stories, we also used visuals such as pictures. The pictures were used to engage the audience into the storie. During the book Yellow Raft In Blue Water the author Michael Dorris covers many different topics, he goes over the struggle with racism, the power struggle, the struggle with appearances, and the struggle of an inescapable reality. The author Michael Dorris, who is Native American, writes this book so it focuses around the lives of three Native American women.
Picture book review: Stolen girl August 2015 ‘Stolen girl’ written by Trina Saffioti and illustrated by Norma MacDonald, is a touching, emotionally stirring picture book about the tourment a young aboriginal girl experiences when she was taken away from her mother, by the Australian government. The story takes place in a children’s home and is told with the use of small bursts of detailed paragraphs and intense, colourful and melancholy illustrations. Written for 8-10 year olds, the purpose of the book represents the experiences of children who were a part of the stolen generation in the 1900s-1970s. In this time period it was government policy in Australia that each indigenous Australian child was to be removed from their families as the
Neil Gaiman is a Hugo award winning British author of short stories, graphic novels, comic books, audio titles and films. Some of his notable works include ‘Stardust’, ‘Neverwhere’, ‘Good Omens’, ‘The Sandman’ series of graphic novels, etc. ‘The Ocean At The End of The Lane’ written by Neil Gaiman, is a book that is spoken through a child’s perspective, of the world around him. The book deals with the unstable emotions that the protagonist, a child goes through that eventually leads to a disconnect between his childhood and adulthood.
In the poem “Arctic Rhododendrons” by Al Purdy, colours and sounds, and the additional first person narration that the author includes in the conclusion, create an effective and powerful poem. Purdy employs colours and sounds frequently throughout this poem to create unique and striking pictures for the reader to consider. By bringing his own perspective into the poem, he takes a poem that could be read impersonally and turns it into something that the reader connects with. Through the use of created myth, Purdy constructs a passionate poem with his personalization and descriptions that contrast sharply to his poem “Trees at the Arctic Circle”. Purdy frequently uses colours and sounds throughout this poem to create unique and vivid images.
“Schoolteacher’s nephew represents a dismissal by whites of the dehumanizing qualities of slavery”. When Sethe is raped, schoolteacher observed how her body is exploited. The scars on Sethe’s back are so many that they resemble the trunk of a tree with its branches. Sethe bear scars on her back because she was whipped due to her try of escape. Amy Denver, a white girl that helped Sethe when she was running away from Sweet Home, calls the tree a chokecherry tree.
“Who am I?” This question has been swimming in Red’s mind until he discovers who he really is. Red: A Crayon’s Story revolves around a blue crayon who is supposed to be red; it says so on his label. However, every time he tried to draw red objects like strawberries, ants, and fire trucks, they turn out blue. The story is written from a pencil’s perspective, in which the said pencil is Red’s teacher.