my analytical commentary!!
In Flanders Fields is a children’s picture story book written by Norman Jorgensen & Brian Harrison-Lever. The book describes a ceasefire on Christmas during WWI and its purpose is to show the humanity in soldiers on both sides of the battlefield. The authors want the reader to understand that the soldiers in the war were people, “not just names on dusty records” and provide an insight into their experiences. Its formal register implies that it is intended for a mature child audience learning about WWI and history.
In Flanders Fields connects to an audience of older children with some prior knowledge of WWI events through inference and semantic fields. The authors choose not to mention that the text occurs during WWI or that there is even a war, instead, they use words belonging to the semantic field. The text references “no-mans-land” and the “trenches”, words commonly associated with World War I. The audience is expected to have prior knowledge about the context to use inference to interpret the meaning. The book implies recipients cannot receive mail because they have died but it is not implicitly stated, instead they say that “many letters and parcels have to be returned to the mail sack.” In having an understanding of the book’s historical setting, the audience can interpret this meaning themselves, provoking a more empathetic response. The final scene includes silent night being sung by the soldiers on both sides. It begins in German with “Stille Nacht”, the audience is not expected to know German to understand this but would be familiar with the rest of the Christmas carol, found in the text in English, interpreting it to mean silent night. The use of inference in this context is to connect the audience to the text. Expected familiar knowledge of the Silent Night carol allows the audience to envision the scene. In Flander Fields, aims to connect the audience through semantics by using inference and phrase related to World War I.
The author strives to engenders humanity in World War I soldiers, this is achieved through use of adverb, adjectives and onomatopoeia. Adjectives and adverbs provoke ideates of movement, taste, touch and smells. Visual aspects are mostly depicted by the illustration but movement is instilled through descriptions, like how the tin cups “shake uncontrollably”. Touch, taste and smells that can’t be described through images, “strong scalding tea” and “the cold morning air”. The audience is then able to picture themselves in this situation, imbuing their own humanity into the characters. Onomatopoeia is found throughout In Flanders Fields, “screeching” and “crunching” describe the sounds in the environment. In combination with other describing words and illustrations it describes the environment, this aiding the function. The text also conveys emotion through description. Actions are done “cautiously”, “sadly” and “helplessly”, sharing the emotions experienced by the characters. The audience again, can envision the scene, but also provokes a sense of empathy. In Flanders Fields engenders the events of World War I and uses description through adjectives, adverbs and onomatopoeia to allow the readers to see the story through the eyes of the characters.
The language used in the text is indicative of a children’s picture story book. The authors use language as an aid to imagery and, therefore, uses more simplistic syntax and phonological patterning. The text consists of mostly declaratives in the form of simple and compound sentences as further explanations, like "he lifts up his helmet up", to what is described through the illustrations. The syntactic patterning is also used to contribute to create a rhythm in the text, a common feature of children’s story books. Rhythm is further enhances through alliterations such as "the silk scarf”. Phonological patterning is a key feature of the form and is used to make the text more rhythmic and easy to follow with the visual stimulus. Alliteration and syntactic patterning gives the text a sonorous quality, defining the form as a children’s picture story books