America has gone through serious hardships with different race groups, including African-Americans, Hispanics, Middle-Eastern’s and even women. In“The United States Constitution: A graphic adaptation” created by Jonathan Hennessy and Aaron McConnell, there are two panels of substantial importance. Through these two panels the reader can note the difference in color scheme as well as the symbols chosen by Hennessy and McConnell. Through the use of several colors and distinct symbols, this graphic adaptation depicts the inequalities that have been seen throughout American history; as well as the development of America.

The two panels chosen have a difference in color scheme. This difference serves the purpose of portraying the inequalities that existed in America before. On the first panel, it shows two groups of people. On its left side America’s minorities are depicted in a red-orange color scheme and is made up of African American slaves, poor people, and women. This group is being led by an elder man holding an hourglass and a scythe. On the right side of this same panel, a homogenous group of white and wealthy men are depicted in a blue-green scheme. This group of men is standing in front of the vault with the American flag enclosed inside of it. The color scheme is important here because there is a clear depiction of two different groups. These groups tell us who the minorities(left) and who the wealthy(right) are. If the panel were to show both groups with the same exact color scheme, then the image would be implying unity or equality. However, the image is showing a contrast between the two groups with different color schemes. On the second panel, on its left side, is the same vault shown opened with two American officials proudly marching the American flag out of it. Off to the right side of the second panel is a small crowd made up of women, children, as well as men. This small crowd also depicts an Arabic man pledging to the American flag. The color used for the crowd and the American officials is also important in this panel. The creators of this graphic made sure to represent unity among the onlooking crowd with a uniform purple color scheme. While illustrating unity among the American people with a purple color, the illustrator also marks a difference between the crowd and the officials through the use of color. This difference is illustrated through the crowd being in a purple color scheme and the American officials in green.The fact that the officials are in a different color is due to their rank in American society.

Another element of this graphic is symbolism. Symbolism is heavily used, for instance; the American flag inside the vault in the first chosen panel depicting a division among the American society. This separation between the minorities and the majorities and the fact that the majority has taken ownership of the flag shows that the minorities were denied their rights as Americans. The depiction of the American flag inside the vault also symbolizes the way America was shamefully hiding its identity because of the inequalities among its society.  This signifies that America is not the best country as it actually seems to be. Externally, the United States seems to be a country that has a fantastic economy, outstanding benefits for people who want to work, and a great infrastructure. However, internally, there is a division among society that is contradicting the U.S. Constitution, which says, everybody is set equal. This means that everybody should be treated equally and that nobody should have advantages over anybody. Thus, as America is not showing it’s superiority among the American society. Therefore, the American flag being kept in the vault shows the hidden identity of America. The fact that these people have rights does not matter. Once the flag is out of the vault its appearance is much more different. Once it is out, as shown in the second panel, it is neatly depicted, being held nice and tall, with no wrinkles on the corners as shown when the flag was stored in the vault. This neat representation of the flag symbolizes that the rights of all the people matter. It then stands for liberty and freedom for all. This panel is symbolized as rather unified, they are illustrated peacefully. Unlike the previous panel which depicted tension and division among the American people.

In final analysis, the author implements a variety of colors in order to distinguish different messages. The power of using different colors is impressive because no words are necessary to describe the problem. As well as symbolism, the author implements various symbols that identify the different people and the different identities portrayed in America “The United States Constitution: A graphic adaptation” by Jonathan Hennessy and Aaron McConnell contribute to the depiction of the inequalities seen throughout America’s development.
