Page-by-Page Analasis of John Marsden’s “A Prayer for the 21st Century” Essay

This book, entitled Prayer for the twenty-first Century, is by famous Australian writer, John Marsden. It is an illustrated, poetic ballad, filled with metaphors and complex issues, indite to send gists of hope and warning intended for the race of this freshly snow, p prowessicularly those that result fig it (our children), ab disclose 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 passim the book for that matter, is in an untidy scrawl that is cardinal important in that it is in a bold font and is a de pieceding colour (either stark or white) and is informal, imperfect, personal and hu adult male in that it is break compose. These aspects desegregate to show the range-book personality of the book that the text is really part of the art in the illustrations themselves, and that the deuce locoweednot be isolated on their accept and singled out as optical or written text. This mo tif is proceed throughout the book.The front cover of this book has a spray-patterned, grim oscilloscope, which has calm connotations. The red-hot as well as serves the purpose of increasing the salience of the bright orange look-alike of the boy in front of it, because the feeling contrasts violently with the background, and reducing that of the quiet green bounds of scrawled writing that fade into the blue of the background (the writing in the background is another example of where the course of meet between visual and written text is unclear). The boy is the clear focal imply of the pageboy, and indorses out from the eternal rest of the cover, do the lines of the poem hardly noticeable in comparison. This is to make the tear that words, like those in the poem, be not nearly as heavy as actions especially the actions of those who, like the child on the cover, leave shape the 21st cytosine.The title page has an earthy coloured, frond-patterned background wit h devil slew prints surrounding the text of the title and authors name. These handprints defy aboriginal connotations, and seem to hold some sort of wisdom from past ages. These visual elements combine with the lines in the text to reveal the nature of the poem that this is not truly a prayer to a god, tho a com objet dartd, request, and message of hope for this late generation. Itis a culmination of wisdom from the past centuries, for this new blow, and a reminder to the newer generations to remember the lessons of the past.whitethorn the road be stark for the journey. These words make up the counterbalance line of the poem and acquaint us to the first intellect of the poem, that keep moldiness be free. The belief of freedom world the chief(prenominal) message in this first line is emphasised by the word free in large, lowercase font, located directly above the line of the poem. This is a motif effective at showing the main point of the page, and is buy uped throu ghout the book (the main idea being emphasised by a large fronted keyword direct in the background) which is effective in emphasizing the main idea in the text. The background is a gravel-brown colour, emphasising the comparison of sustenance to a dirt road, a free road, a road that could lead anywhere.The picture on the odd page continues this idea of an unknown future, by comparing valetners itself to a river, natural laws to banks, and the individual as some one and only(a) travelling a massive a river in a boat. In this stream of action, no one knows what is or so the adjoining bend, except that around one of them, eventually, is the sea (death). The picture also continues the theme of abstract metaphors and symbolism, in that the picture is not really boats, only when freehand drawings of them. However, whether brio is a road or river, the point remains, it moldiness(prenominal) be free.The following(a) page has a very similar layout to the page forward it and i ndeed to every page in the book, with a line of text, a textured background, and a picture (some beats more than one) upon a figure page spread. The text on this page, may it lead where it promised it would, makes the point that life must de compriser the reward it offers. The blue in the background of the spot page is associated with hope and promise, and this promising blue is again use in the illustration. In the illustration, is a Queen, symbolising success and all of the glory that was promised to fall down 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 breakthrough and conquest of new lands. The various scientific diagrams be there in order to make the point that there will be an termination to all of ourquestions if we work hard, further emphasising the idea of effort leading to the frequently deserved and promised success.Upon the set of pages, two l ines instead of one atomic number 18 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 lax to link to the line (it is a picture of stars) however, due to the fact that it is do in the Aboriginal style, the pictures full meaning endurenot 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 archetype that life should be safe for all, and that the safe people must find those whom prolong been lost, and encourage those whom ready been forgotten. It does this in the lines, whitethorn every aircraft fly safely, May every traveller be found, The con cept of safety in life is emphasised by the colour of the background a calm, soft green. In the illustration, the audience is placed in the point of view of someone deep down of a safe aircraft, who is looking out of the window. Directly outface of the window, the set up is a serene blue but around the windows red, orange, and chickenhearted colours with danger connotations edges, another scene forms. A lone(prenominal) traveller, who could be anyone due to its ambiguous colour and unknown gender, stands lost and alone, serious and helpless upon the aircrafts wing surrounded by a temperamental sky with the only hope of help being from the person in the plane, who is the viewer of the picture.This calls upon the viewer, as a traveller of life safely at heart the walls of the aircraft, to help the lost person, to find the traveller and puts the viewer in the spot go down, devising the point that if you wont, who will?Upon the next page, the two lines read May sailors in cros sing the ocean Not hear the cries of the drowned. The same layout as in advance is used, except on this page, two pictures instead of one, are used. The background is blue, which has links to tears (cries), feeling blue, the ocean, and the uniform of a sailor. The first picture appears to be asymbolic representation of someone battling against lifes troubles (i.e. a sailor crossing the ocean), fish call from the sea as spirit up of the drowned, the dark sea thrashes and churns, while the yellow sky swirls above a small boat riding the crest of a wave.In the next picture, one of lifes travellers has heard the cries of the drowned, and conjugate them. However, in the background of this picture, there is land, showing that even at the castigate times, there is still hope. In both of these, the idea of the individual travelling the ocean or river of life, in a boat, is reintroduced. The main point do by the last two lines of this stanza, and their corresponding illustrations, is th at life has ups and downs, and not to relent and relinquish ones self to despair at ones lowest points, because, as was stated on the first page, is restated on this page, and is stated again on the last page, no one can know what the future holds.May gardens be trigger-happy, like jungles, May nature never be tamed, are the first lines in the next stanza of the poem.The pages harbor a yellow, earthy-brown, palm-frond-patterned background, which connotates nature and jungles. The picture, with its complete absence of straight lines, and blurred movement, makes the point that nature is never rigid and constrained, but free to do any(prenominal) it wishes. This point is reinforced in the bank less waterfalls, and the rounded fall faces. The people in the picture exist to draw attention to the race between nature and people, and says that the people of the 21st century, like those in the picture whom are neither trying to disrupt or control nature, must harmoniously co-exist with it nature, and not try to tame it, but to acknowledge its freedom, and grasp the fact that nature is not for valet to control, but is untameable, it is wild and free.May dangers create of us heroes, reads the next line. The background of this page is a splattered, cameo green, which, along with the mateship displayed in the picture, connotates war. However not all heroes are natural of violence, as is shown in the midshot (inviting the viewer into the scene) picture of a boy parachuting off the top of a haystack, and his friends cheering him on. The black and white photography, setting, and vesture of the peoplein the picture appear to be from an old time, a time of simple values, and simple heroics. At first glance, it appears that the boy in the picture is a hero because he did something that was dangerous, but this is not the case. He is a hero because he make people happy by facing the danger. This goes on to show the confessedly meaning of the line. That we must incessant ly have people that go out of their way, or face danger, to help others whom are in need. The boy symbolises that anyone can be a hero. That anyone, and everyone, must help those in need.May attentions ever have names reads the next line of the poem. The keyword in the background (fear) is hidden among tendrils of paint, first introducing the concept that, even though the name of the fear may be hidden, it of all time exists, fears always have names. The illustration is dark, with soft, runny brushstrokes that seem to obscure true meaning. At first, it appears to be a picture of fears, peeping between the trunks and branches of trees, but upon closer inspection, it is revealed that the fears are not fears at all, but people, experiencing that which we fear.The people in the picture are in agony, some cry at the side of a dead loved one, others just cry out in pure pain. Then, finally, the viewer notices a horseman in between the trees and realises two things. The first is the bu shelence to the Myall Creek Massacre and the next was that the fears were created by people, the fears have names, and their name is the evil of humankind. It asks us to remember our evil, and asks the people of this new century not to repeat the evils past committed, or else, like the symbolic fall upon the pictures left, peace will flee the world.The next page, and its two lines, May the mountains stand to remind us Of what it content to be youthful, now talk about the impermanence of youth, and the importance of the wise. There are again two pictures. In the first picture a star sign lined photograph great mountains, symbolizing the vast importance, knowledge, wisdom and escort of the old, stand in the background with rays of light falling upon them while in the foreground, a vast plane of rocks, younger, smaller versions of the mountains that dwarf them in comparison, stand to show the true importance of the memories of the old, in comparison to the inexperience of the yo ung.The heartbeat picture is asoft lined painting (symbolizing the impermanence of being young) of two youths embracing and in love. They are shown next to a shell, which puts them on a symbolic scale. It makes the point that, if these two youths are dwarfed by a shell, and a shell will be dwarfed by a rock, such(prenominal) as those seen in the picture on the opposite page, how tiny they are, how fleet their time as youth if they are to grow into the giant mountains, how tiny their memories and experiences in comparison to the mountains. It is through this symbolic scale that the illustrations remind us of what it means to be young.The final lines of this stanza reads May we be outlived by our daughters, May we be outlived by our sons. This line is different from the rest of the poem in that its meaning is straightforward and obvious, and that this line is actually a prayer for the long and happy lives of our children. The pictures add to the text, in that they are pictures of p eople from different social groups, and that they join united at the edge of each picture, showing that it refers to the full(a) people of the 21st century, they are not our children in a tangible sense, but are the children of beneficence. It prays that, even though there will be hardships in life, as is mentioned many another(prenominal) times before and is symbolised by the black and white colour scheme of the older children, the new generation, as with the generations before them, must live through them, and continue as is symbolised in yellow colour of the background of the page to shine on like the sun, outliving those before us.Historys importance is again brought up in the final stanza, with the opening line being May the bombs rust away in the bunkers, May the doomsday clock not be rewound, The lines ask the new century not to use mankinds evil, even though they do and always will exist they then ask humanity not to repeat past mistakes, even though we will always ha ve the potential to. The background is patterned by gears, and the emphasised keyword this time is rewound, displaying that the main idea of these lines is to make the point that we must never repeat our past mistakes. The gears are also part of the doomsday clock, which is simply referring to time and history itself.The picture shows text from what appears to be newspaperarticles, which refer to injustices throughout history to the indigenous peoples of Australia, which hold some of the greatest evils of this surface areas history. The many pictures at the top of the image show the faces of the many sufferers of evil, from a small child, to a grown man. The theme of war is again brought up with the word bombs in the first line, and the image of a man from Picassos Guernica, a painting about the suffering of innocents as bombs dropped on their city. For many people, that day was their doomsday. It once again brings up the issue that humankind itself is what causes people the most pain and suffering. Overall, the pages ask the people of the 21st century never to use humankinds evil again.The next page continues the theme of war, with a reference to the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in the Second terra firma War. The line reads May the solitary scientist working, Remember the holes in the ground and the single, hand drawn illustration, is of a large and sinewy solitary scientist in his own solitary world, admiring and awestruck of his solitary discovery while behind him his discoveries break over a desolate plain on which the only survivors are a small, helpless man and woman, silhouetted against the bleak white light throw across a vast landscape, and upon them from evil inventions that exist to destroy. It asks the people that will shape this new century to remember that every single action has consequences, and that knowledge can just as easily be used for the evil of bombs, as it can be used for the good of solidifying cancer. It tells people to l ook into the past, in order to shape the new centurys future for the better.May the knife remain in the holder, May the green goddess stay in the gun, These penultimate lines continue the theme verbalised in the first stanza, that even though we have the potential and the means to carry out evil, the people of the 21st Century must never do so. The page is extremely straightforward in relation to the pictures the bullet is being put into the gun and must remain there and the frame of reference has been skinned with a knife however, in the skeleton picture, the body is made up of many different cut up body parts, do the new point that we should not use evil upon anyone, indiscriminate of who they are, or what they believe in.The final lines of this prayer are as follows May those that live in the phantoms Be seen by those in the sun. Upon the pages surrounding these lines, are two pictures, one of footsteps on a beach with a mans shadow crossing their path the other of a silho uetted man running along a beach with a beam of cheer floating on the waves of the sea. Both pictures are in black and white, emphasising the ideas of shadows and sun. The blue background is the same textured blue as at the very first page of the poem, and is sea-spray like in appearance. The theme of these final two pages, is very simple, to help others, and this idea can be seen throughout the illustrations. The picture of the footprints, reminds of the Christian story of how Jesus carried the man over the sand, and through lifes shadows. This makes the point that, sometimes, others need to be carried through hard times. The shadow crossing the path of the footsteps represents a dark time in the life of the person that made them but this umbrageous part is only a mere fraction of the whole, a symbolic representation that life does have deep darkness, but for the most part, it is light.The next picture across, the one of the runner, continues this idea and also adds to it. This t ime, the sea is used s a metaphor for life, and, as first mentioned on the page about sailors, the sea can be in many states. The repetition of the motif of both light and shadows making up life is displayed on the surface of the sea, where the thick beam of light shines and glistens, while at the edges, shadows and darkness can be seen. However, yet again, there is more light in the picture than there is shadow.The illustration of the silhouetted man running along the beach, making his own path in the sand, appears at first glance to show that he himself is in a shadowed stage in life. However, on close inspection something appears to be in his arms, if you look very closely, you can see that he is carrying something. This man is not the Christian Messiah this man is an ordinary person, showing simple, yet powerful heroics as mentioned earlier in this book. He further demonstrates that we all can be heroes, even without obvious physical dangers, just by fate someone. This final line is a hope. It is a hope that maybe, just maybe, in the 21st Century we can all stand and walk together, in the light of the future.This simple yet honest poem of hope and fear effectively reached out to, and appealed to me, the target audience and a child of the 21st Century. It was deep and complex in some places, yet simple affluent to be understood by the intended reader. It is a thought touch read to be understood more and more with wisdom and experience. like a shot it is just a question, first posed in the photograph of the boy on the front cover one side of his face in darkness, the other in light as to whether this generation of young rocks will grow up, remember the past, not repeat its mistakes, and one day be tall mountains. Then we will write a new prayer, for a new century.Bibliographyhttp//www.johnmarsden.com.au/home.htmlhttp//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Marsden_(writer)http//www.judyoz.com/ccp0-display/john-marsden-books-tomorrow-ellie-novels-australian-ficti on.htmlhttp//www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/m/john-marsden/