Saint George and the Dragon-an Analysis of Visual and Textual Impact on Its Children Readers
Wentao Wang
RHET 250
Prof. Kuo
Essay 4
12/07/2012
SAINT GEORGE AND THE DRAGON-an analysis of visual and textual impact on its children readers
Maxim Gorky once said: “Books are stairs of human progress.” They are always one of the significant parts to establish human civilizations. Throughout thousands of years, a book could elaborate an entire life of a heroic warrior, could tell a beautiful story of love, could record a series of unknown facts that happened in history, and they even could build up the cultural beliefs to strengthen human beings. It is undeniable how mysterious and powerful a book is. Today, with the progress of human civilization, children’s books seem to become closely bound up with children’s daily lives. Those books deliver various information and feelings and motivate children to think individually and broadly. However, due to the permeation of different cultural information in a book, different values of a book may be presented to children. A picture book called SAINT GEORGE AND THE DRAGON, which tells a folk tale about how a hero killed a dreadful dragon to save people’s homeland, is a typical one presenting bravery to children. The narrator, Margaret Hodges, tries to retell this well-known story by using some detailed descriptions of the spiny journey with gorgeous, meaningful illustrations by Crina Schart Hyman. There is no doubt that both of them endow this old-fashioned tale with new life to encourage a new generation about how people are brave to fight against with vicious power. However, this retold story seems to overblow on the individualistic heroism, which may lead children to an unbalanced outlook on life and values.
Unquestionably, the illustrations in this book improve a lot about telling this heroic folk tale to help children understand it more directly. Mrs. Hyman tries to be unique to use the border frame as a picture slide show window to put various scenes into it. She decorates these frames by drawing some
RHET 250
Prof. Kuo
Essay 4
12/07/2012
SAINT GEORGE AND THE DRAGON-an analysis of visual and textual impact on its children readers
Maxim Gorky once said: “Books are stairs of human progress.” They are always one of the significant parts to establish human civilizations. Throughout thousands of years, a book could elaborate an entire life of a heroic warrior, could tell a beautiful story of love, could record a series of unknown facts that happened in history, and they even could build up the cultural beliefs to strengthen human beings. It is undeniable how mysterious and powerful a book is. Today, with the progress of human civilization, children’s books seem to become closely bound up with children’s daily lives. Those books deliver various information and feelings and motivate children to think individually and broadly. However, due to the permeation of different cultural information in a book, different values of a book may be presented to children. A picture book called SAINT GEORGE AND THE DRAGON, which tells a folk tale about how a hero killed a dreadful dragon to save people’s homeland, is a typical one presenting bravery to children. The narrator, Margaret Hodges, tries to retell this well-known story by using some detailed descriptions of the spiny journey with gorgeous, meaningful illustrations by Crina Schart Hyman. There is no doubt that both of them endow this old-fashioned tale with new life to encourage a new generation about how people are brave to fight against with vicious power. However, this retold story seems to overblow on the individualistic heroism, which may lead children to an unbalanced outlook on life and values.
Unquestionably, the illustrations in this book improve a lot about telling this heroic folk tale to help children understand it more directly. Mrs. Hyman tries to be unique to use the border frame as a picture slide show window to put various scenes into it. She decorates these frames by drawing some