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Page-by-Page Analasis of John Marsden's "A Prayer for the 21st Century" with a focus on the Relationship between Visual and Written Texts in the Form of a Book Review

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This book, entitled "Prayer for the 21st Century", is by famous Australian writer, John Marsden. It is an illustrated, poetic ballad, filled with metaphors and complex issues, written to send messages of hope and warning intended for the people of this new century, especially those that will shape it (our children), about the lessons learnt from the past, the importance of today, and the wonders of the future. The font of the text on the front cover, and throughout the book for that matter, is in an untidy scrawl that is both important - in that it is in a bold font and is a demanding colour (either black or white) - and is informal, imperfect, personal and human - in that it is handwritten. These aspects combine to show the picture-book …show more content…

In the illustration, is a Queen, symbolising success and all of the glory that was promised to come with it. The theme of promised success and the associated rewards that come as a result is continued in the picture of the map - which appears to be from a time of discovery and conquest of new lands. The various scientific diagrams are there in order to make the point that there will be an answer to all of our questions if we work hard, further emphasising the idea of effort leading to the much deserved and promised success. Upon the set of pages, two lines instead of one are written. These are; "May the stars that gave ancient bearings Be seen, still be understood." These lines urge people to remember the knowledge of the past, and be able to understand it. The picture itself is easy to link to the line (it is a picture of stars) however, due to the fact that it is done in the Aboriginal style, the picture's full meaning cannot be understood, except by someone whom knows how to interpret and understand the ancient symbolism of Aboriginal art. This introduces the idea that, for the knowledge of the past to be fully realised, it must be understood. The next page now returns to the idea of life as a journey, by calling the individual a traveller, introducing the concept that life should be safe for all, and that the "safe" people must find those whom have been lost, and help those whom have been forgotten. It does

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