The Rabbits John Marsden Analysis

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The Rabbits written by John Marsden and illustrated by Shaun Tan is a truly exceptional picture book of such great storytelling and allegory. Recounting the historical event of the coming of modern Australia from a particular view, this book is filled with extraordinary depictions and wonderful characters that mimic the culture of Australia today. As a book that leaves a haunting memory in everybody’s mind, the Rabbits is a rich promotion of cultural awareness, suitable for all ages, genders and ethnicities. An allegorical tale about colonisation, told from the point of view of the native animals. We see their initial curiosity, darken into bewilderment and, then fear at what the future holds, as the rabbits, just keep on coming. With both the authors being Australian, you can’t help but link it with the European colonisation in the 1700s and the accompanying introduction of Rabbits a previously alien species, into the continent. However it could just as easily be applied to any, country that has been colonised.Sparsely told, just like, The Red Tree, it allows the reader, to make the links, and decide on the ultimate meanings contained within. It could be taken as a simple tale from an alternative point-of-view, but it could…show more content…
They build their own kinds of houses and introduce their own animals. When the native creatures (bush babies, perhaps?) fight back they loose because there are too many rabbits. The rabbits destroy the land and (in the worst and most heart-wrenching scene in the book) they, "Stole Our Children". Rabbit driven planes fly away with little baby creatures in kites trailing behind as they parents run along the ground, their arms extended. In the end, the land is bare and all the animals are gone. In a final picture, a native creature sits across from a rabbit next to a tiny puddle that reflects the stars, the ground littered with trash. The animals asks, "Who will save us from the
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