Matchbox Diary Fleischman

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Recommended: Stylistic essays on the use of metaphors

The Matchbox Diary, written by Paul Fleischman and illustrated by Bagram Ibatoulline. The story is about a great grandfather who recounts his life story to his great granddaughter through his collection of matchboxes. The great grandfather uses items collected and stored in the matchboxes as his diary because he was illiterate when he was a child.
Paul Fleischman starts the story by informing the readers that the two main characters in the story is newly acquainted; and that lay the foundation for the great grandfather’s need to tell his life story to his great granddaughter. The narration is featured in dialogues between the two characters; the great grandfather and his great granddaughter. The great grandfather recounts his life experiences …show more content…

The illustrations on page 9 and page 21 communicate a warm and reciprocal relationship between the two characters with the little girl looking up at her great grandfather while he looks down on her. Readers feel their connection by following an invisible line between the two characters in the illustration. The illustration on page 16 shows the great grandfather cranked his neck to look up at the wealthy people on the upper deck while the people on the upper deck looking down at him; indicating a clear difference in social status between the people on the two decks of the ship. There are also differences and contrast between the characters in the same illustration; which include their clothes, the facial expressions and the body language. It concludes to the readers the atmosphere and emotions experienced by the different class of people in the same ship (10); (12).
The Matchbox Diary is an excellent example of how visual texts interrelated with written texts are utilised to deepen and intensify the meaning of a story. Although the narration does not directly describe the great grandfather’s and his family’s emotion and feelings; the illustrations convey a much deeper emotional meaning to complement the written text. The story carries a subtle message of how the great grandfather’s tenacity, resilience and his parents’ unconditional love helped him overcoming adversities and obstacles in life, and, in the end, he has found his own gold in America (10); (11),

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