The Guardian Angel is a graphic novel written by yours truly, about a Teddy Bear trying to save a Little Girl from her nightmares. The book opens up on the Little Girl sleeping with her Teddy Bear, which is represented by a brown bear. The Girl wakes up in terror as she is visited by a nightmare. The Teddy Bear wakes up and attempts to help The Girl, but is too late. The scenery then transitions to one of a hellish nature and they are both visited by a creature that looks to be not of this world. While in a state of confusion, the creature manages to sucker punch the Teddy Bear, knocking him unconscious. The creature proceeds to kidnap the Little Girl and leave the Teddy Bear otherwise unharmed. The Teddy Bear awakens to find The Girl gone. However, he is able to hear her screams of terror from far away due to supernatural Teddy Bear logic. The Teddy Bear follows the screams and after a while, comes across a cave echoing with a mysterious chanting. The Teddy Bear continues to follow the sounds. Upon exiting the cave, three Candy …show more content…
Corn People dancing around The Girl, who is bound up and roasting over a witches pot comes into view. At first the Teddy Bear is confused, but immediately jumps into action, scares away the Candy Corn People, and saves The Girl. The Girl then points the Teddy Bear in the direction of her nameless captor. The book then switches over to the first person view of the Teddy Bear. The readers, watching through his eyes, as he ventures towards the monster who captured his human. On the next page, you see a castle, stairs, and finally the creature who was responsible for all of this. You see the monster sitting on his throne accompanied by his guards. The Teddy Bear challenges the creature to one more battle, and wins. In the end, the Teddy Bear and The Girl go home moments later and fall back asleep. However, something is different. The readers witness The Girl start to turn into the very creature that kidnapped her. Now it is suspected that the Candy Corn People were not there to roast her alive, but to curse her. In this book, our hero has lost, for now. There are eight characters within this book. The protagonist being the Teddy Bear, the secondary character being The Girl, the primary antagonist being the Alien creature, the three secondary antagonists being the Candy Corn People, and lastly the Alien’s guards. The guards are the exact same race as the primary antagonist, therefore I will not be discussing them beyond this instance. The Teddy Bear is the protagonist of the story and is illustrated as a brown bear because mother brown bears are known to be fiercely protective of their young. As it is a mother bear’s job to protect her cubs, it is every Teddy Bear’s job to protect any child from monsters that would prey on them in the night. The Teddy Bear also represents a guardian angel watching over The Girl. Thus the book’s title is referencing the Teddy Bear. If aliens came to earth right now, humans would not know what to do with them. We would not be able to communicate and we wouldn’t know anything about their culture. We wouldn’t know if they are here to harm or befriend us until it’s too late. We wouldn’t be able to classify them as anything but as an alien, and humans are afraid of that which they don't understand. This is why the green Alien is the antagonist of the story and represents the scariest elements of any nightmare, those being the parts we cannot comprehend. I chose candy corn, to depict the Candy Corn People. Candy corn represents innocence, something that would make a child feel safe. In a nightmare, however, these innocent things can become turned and twisted into scary images. While creating the Candy Corn People in the online tool, Storyboardthat.com, I encountered a glitch that almost forced me to start over on a particular page. After over an hour of work, I saw that I could not remove the glitch, so I simply worked around it. The glitch caused the background of one panel to become severely distorted with the limbs of my newly created Candy Corn People. To fix my problem, I overlayed the mess with a black square filling up the entire panel and created a thought bubble that said, “Get Back Up.” When the readers are first introduced to the nightmare world, it is very dark, and hell like. At that moment, I wanted the readers to come to the immediate conclusion that something was terribly wrong. As the Teddy Bear travels through this world, her surroundings begin to look gray and lifeless, I did this to keep the reader's attention on the Teddy Bear, as well as the “chanting” she heard from the distance. Something, I feel would take away from this part, is if I added distractions that the reader’s attention could be drawn to instead of the “chanting”. To keep the reader’s attention where I wanted it, I chose an area of the nightmare world that was rather bland. Finally, the Teddy Bear emerged from the cave and arrived at a magical looking Candyland which, looked like It would be from a good dream, but you soon realize that it has been twisted by the nightmare creature. I chose this setting because it reminded me of a good dream I had as a child that quickly morphed into a nightmare. Candyland is the embodiment of everything that deceives. It represents anyone that will make you feel safe at first, but will be quick to take advantage of you when you are at your most vulnerable. The nightmare world in the story shows how unpredictable dreams can be. At one point in a dream you can literally be in hell, and in another, wandering aimlessly in a cave that leads to Candyland. The hell part of the dream could explain a scary or sad part in a dream, the cave could represent a “nothing special” dream and Candyland is the manifestation of all your hopes and desires. There are a number of non-sensory images in this book.
For example, on page 1, the word nightmare is used to show the transition between the real world and the nightmare world. Page 2 depicts the Alien sucker punching the Teddy Bear and knocking her out with a big “POW”. The word “POW” is a non-sensory image used to help describe the actions of the Alien. Turning the page, another non-sensory image is used to show that the Teddy Bear is seeing stars and is unconscious. Further on page 5, the Teddy Bear emerges from the cave and a thought bubble with images depicting confusion, this shows that the Teddy Bear is confused by her surroundings. There were numerous sensory images in the story as well. The safe space of the room and the bed where The Girl fell asleep is a stark contrast to the sensory images in her dream which included fire, a boiling pot of water, and a staircase that appeared too tall to climb just to name a
few. Throughout the making of this book, I chose colors, fonts and shapes to best mold the progress of the story. Regarding fonts, I chose a single font style for thought bubbles which helped to bring more emphasis to the illustrations. My primary focus throughout the book regarding thought bubbles was to implant small nonsensory images or pictures within them to better expand on the Teddy Bears emotion or thought process. This is because the tool I was using, storyboardthat.com, had some limitations. I was only able to manipulate the pose of the Teddy Bear and had very little control over her facial expressions. I used a multitude of different colors within the story. For example, the Alien was dark lime green to represent ugliness and disgust, and the Candy Corn People were bright orange, yellow, and white as if to say that bright colors can fake friendliness. The scenes in the story went from dark, to bland, and to bright and colorful; but even as the scenes got less dark and evil, the Teddy Bear was still trapped in The Girls confusing nightmare.
Sensory Imagery: make the reader envision objects and settings in the book with greater detail.
It’s important for the reader to imagine the full picture of the object. For example, describing the locations, the colors, shape, and any other characteristics will help the reader will imagine the scene in their head or the scenery. Goldberg uses William Carlos Williams poem “Daisy” as an example to show how he is being specific. In the poem he describes how a daisy looks, the season a daisy grows in, and other details about a daisy. Williams put your imagination and your six senses to work with the poem “Daisy”. For example, Williams uses the description “round yellow center” to describe how the center of the daisy looks. He tries to capture every detail of a daisy in his writing, but he didn’t only describe a daisy; he also describes the location of the
the cage, and when the door closes the cage is released and she dies. The author explains
“ The horizon was the color of milk. Cold and fresh. Poured out among the bodies” (Zusak 175). The device is used in the evidence of the quote by using descriptives words that create a mental image. The text gives the reader that opportunity to use their senses when reading the story. “Somehow, between the sadness and loss, Max Vandenburg, who was now a teenager with hard hands, blackened eyes, and a sore tooth, was also a little disappointed” (Zusak 188). This quote demonstrates how the author uses descriptive words to create a mental image which gives the text more of an appeal to the reader's sense such as vision. “She could see his face now, in the tired light. His mouth was open and his skin was the color of eggshells. Whisker coated his jaw and chin, and his ears were hard and flat. He had a small but misshapen nose” (Zusak 201). The quotes allows the reader to visualize what the characters facial features looked like through the use of descriptive words. Imagery helps bring the story to life and to make the text more exciting. The reader's senses can be used to determine the observations that the author is making about its characters. The literary device changes the text by letting the reader interact with the text by using their observation skills. The author is using imagery by creating images that engages the reader to know exactly what's going on in the story which allows them to
In Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God, Jonathan Edwards created the emotion of fear by using imagery and figurative language to persuade his audience. He used imagery and figurative language so the wrath of God is more fearsome and gave you a mental picture of hell in your head.
In “Nightmare” from Out of the Dust, Billie Joe wakes up from a nightmare, trembling in fear from a nightmare about the dust storms and her inability to play the piano. The poem is filled with symbolism, used to build up anxiety and uncertainty, and for Hesse to elaborate on her thoughts. “Through a howling dust storm, my lowered face was scrubbed raw by dirt and wind” dramatically demonstrates a mood of panic and distress. As the suspense builds, Hesse uses imagery to exhibit uneasiness and describe the situation even further, “dust crept inside my ears, up my nose, down my throat.” Many instances of figures of speech are used, such as similes, personification, and metaphors. After trudging through the dust, not caring about anything but
Ken Kesey, the author, offers many examples of imagery through the Chief’s detailed narrative of the story. Appealing to the sense of sight, Bromden, describing the reactions of some invalid patients, says: “the Chronics woke up to look around with heads blue from lack of blood” (214). A touch imagery is present when the Chief describes McMurphy’s hands: “I remember the palm was smooth and hard as bone from hefting the wooden handles…”(23). After killing McMurphy, Bromden’s narrative appeals to the sense of sound when he expresses he “heard the wires and connections tearing out of the floor” (310). Guessing that fall is coming and using the sense of smell, Bromden states: “I ca...
Imagery is used by many authors as a crucial element of character development. These authors draw parallels between the imagery in their stories and the main characters' thoughts and feelings. Through intense imagery, non-human elements such as the natural environment, animals, and inanimate objects are brought to life with characteristics that match those of the characters involved.
One of the most stunningly powerful features of John Berendt's Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil is the vivid imagery used hroughout the book. Berendt has a way of making everything he writes about come to life. The reader doesn't merely read about Savannah, he lives it. The characters that are represented in the book come to life as the book progresses. Their actions take form before the audience's eyes. The characters are not, however, the only things brought to life by Berendt's vivid style. Savannah itself becomes real to the reader. The detailed settings make the city more than just a background for the story. It is an integral part of the tale. All of these aspects come together to make Midnight less of a book and more of an experience.
Imagery is made up of the five senses, which are sight, hearing, touch, smell, and taste. The first sense of sight is seen throughout the whole poem, specifically in the first two lines, “I had the idea of sitting still/while others rushed by.” This sight she envisions is so calm and still and the perfect example of appreciating the little things that life has to offer. Through the use of these terse statements, she allows it to have more meaning than some novels do as a whole.
Hughes uses several examples of sensory details in order to recall his experiences of the night. For instance, he describes his aunt
objects in the story with visual descriptions to give focus to the reader's imagination. In the story,
Descriptive imagery is also dominant in line 29 “She clawed through bits of glass and brick,” allows the reader to vividly picture the mother frantically digging through the crumbling remains of the church in search of the daughter she holds dear to her heart. Clearly picturing the frantic mother the readers can feel how dramatic the situation is and the devastating, emotional impact it will have on the mother’s life. The descriptive imagery adds to the dramatic situation by allowing the reader to picture the mother and bu...
The writer uses imagery, because he wants to let the readers into his mind. By describing the scene for the readers, makes the readers fell like they were there. Therefore, it gives us a better ability to emphasize with him.
The visual description of a text is the perfect way to wrap the reader’s senses into the story.