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Review Of Shaun Tan's Book 'The Rabbits'

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Throughout school I have learnt about the discrimination First Nations Peoples (FNP) have faced and much like the constellations of stars, it is never ending. Reality hit once I did some research for school and discovered the Beyond Blues study, Discrimination Against Indigenous Australians, which highlights the impact of racial discrimination on FNP. Australian youth, is this the society you want to grow up in? Together we can take a stance against racial prejudice in Australia and spread the constellations. Evidently, childrens’ picture book ‘The Rabbits’, written by John Marsden and drawn by Shaun Tan in 1998, explores the invasion of Marsden’s land by rabbits. The story is an allusion to the First Fleet, which occurred in 1788. 15 years …show more content…

Oliver parallels Marsden as it too takes the perspective of First Nations. The concept of colonialism covered in Olivers text is shown through the quote “We’re ancient and chained from the stains that remain.” Olivers’ metaphor discusses the impact of colonization, referring to Indigenous Australians’ as stained from the effects of genocide and assimilation, as well as signifying their long-lasting culture. Similarly, ‘The rabbits’ discusses the neglect of traditional way of life for First Nations, through the quote “They only know their own country.” Marsden represents neglect and erasure of FNP, showing the Eurocentric values the rabbits held. Along with this, Marsden also discusses the concept of environmental degradation through the quote “The land is bare and brown and the wind blows empty across the plains.” Throughout the book, the audience sees bright and saturated colours before the rabbits came, but as they slowly colonise the marsupials the colour scheme grows monochrome with greys. This visually impacts the us to feel sad for the marsupials as they see how FNP have been affected by

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The Rabbits is a thought provoking picture book, written by John Marsden and illustrated by Shaun Tan. The book tells the story of Australia’s colonisation through colours, pictures and words. The book centres around two species, White Rabbits, who are invading a country, and Numbats, who are being invaded. The Rabbits book is based around the British invading Australia and the Indigenous' people's experiences and feelings about it. By replacing people with animals in the book, people are separated from what they think happened, and there is no cognitive bias.

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The Rabbits John Marsden and Shaun Tan 'The Rabbits' is a picture book written by John Marsden and Shaun Tan that uses anthropomorphism to convey a story of colonisation. Despite the small amount of text in the book, it seems to offer many deep meanings. Because of this, Marsden and Tan heavily rely on their illustrations to convey themes using this such as symbolism, motifs, characterisation, and colour. By doing this, they make the book relatable not just to Australian Indigenous people, but to Indigenous people from all over who have had to experience colonisation. The clear depictions make the concepts understandable to all people Colonisation is investigated heavily through the book by use of characterisation.

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In the book ‘The Rabbits’ by John Marsden and Shaun Tan, the text featured on the double spread highlighted exposes the caution the Numbat elders possess about the Rabbits, using words as warnings such as “be careful” and that the elders “warned us [Numbats]”. This suggests the hesitancy of the Numbats because of the Rabbits being so unknown and the fact the species cannot communicate. Moreover, the text also showcases the use of personal pronouns the Numbats employ when talking about the Rabbits. This hints that the Numbats are friendly and welcoming towards the rabbits, despite the Rabbits being an unknown species. In addition, Marsden and Tan’s depiction of the British colonizers coming to the new land uses recurring motifs of native animals

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Personal pronouns such as ‘them, we and us” are emphasised heavily to show a segregation between the Indigenous people and the European settlers. In addition to this, it’s included to inflict an accusing tone upon the rabbits, portraying that the rabbits are the only ones at fault to the audience. Tan emphasises the idea that in their efforts to learn, European settlers are destroying the land in which aboriginals lived in with harmony for generations by juxtaposing an illustration of cows attached to milking machines and labelled what parts of meat they will be together with branded sheep, with a barren piece of land and an empty pond full of dead fish. Tan uses size and position to convey the power of the European settlers with their guns and weapons in comparison to the Indigenous people with only their spears for protection. He chooses to use a double spread to construct a picture of the European settler arriving during the beginning of the text.

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