Jonathan Hennessey and Aaron McConnell are American graphic artists who have done it again with a masterpiece.  They have previously worked together before and they decided to work together for a third time on the graphic adaptation of “The United States Constitution.”   In just a brief little two-page excerpt from the graphic novel, tons of literary brilliance is put on display and shown.  Tons of different colors in scenes, different characters, different points of view and different symbols are shown and they are electrified at the fact that they are all pointing towards the same theme of freedom and equality.  One symbol more specifically is the safe that is featured in the third to last scene and the second to last scene.  This safe that is depicted represents, privilege, and fear in the first strip and in the second strip it represents the fight and unification. The flag that’s inside of it represents what America is all about and that is freedom and liberty.

In the first scene that the safe is depicted in, there is around 7 or so white males guarding a closed safe from what appears to be an angel and his followers of many different descents and backgrounds.  The angel is holding an hourglass which basically symbolizes that time is running out and sooner or later everybody will be able to enjoy everything that the safe has to offer.  The angel also seems to be holding a scythe which definitely symbolizes that they will get to this freedom that the safe has by any means necessary and are not afraid to fight for it.  The facial expressions and the body language and the mannerisms/positioning of the white males are in a defensive position and have looks of fear in their eyes.   They are trying to hold back to the old way of life as much as they can.  They were so used to them being the only ones with privilege and they do not want to share that privilege with anyone else but everyone else is not a white male is gaining on those freedoms and is very close to attaining those same freedoms and being on the same equal level as the white males.  The text says that “only members of the group could vote or be elected to office,” which is basically saying that only white males could do anything that was involved with the government (Hennessey 203).  The visual text does not really describe what is going on in the illustration but it moreover narrates the image like it was a teacher teaching history class.  The flag is shown in this scene kind of outside the safe flapping in the wind.  The reason the artists made it appear like this is so that they could get the meaning across that American is yearning to be free for all but there is a small group of privileged and entitled white males that want it all for themselves.  The overall colors in this scene are also very meaningful. The very right side is a dark blue and as it gets closer towards the middle it fades into a light yellow orange color.  These colors and the fade away of the colors can represent a many of different things, but through a close interpretation, it seems that the blue represents all of the freedom that can happen and should happen, and the orange-ish represents the change that is about to take place and that’s going to happen.  This scene is kind of like the before picture of a weight loss commercial that uses before and after photos of different people. 

The second scene with the safe is a scene that differs widely from the first scene.  It’s basically a flip flop of the first scene.  Almost everything is the exact opposite of that in the first scene.  The safe is now on the left side of the picture and the people are on the right.  There is no more people trying to keep the flag to themselves it is now shown being held by two veterans outside of the safe.  This represents the change that has happened and how progressive America has become.  One of the people holding the flag appears to be of African American heritage and the other it is unidentifiable, but the fact of the matter is, is that everyone is now equal and all of the privileges and freedoms that were given to the white male are now accessible to any creed or color and the true nature of the constitution has finally taken place.  The safe is opened which shows all of the shared freedoms that every citizen of the United States of America now has.  You see a very diverse group of citizens off to the right of the comic strip and if you look close enough you’ll see a few citizens not holding their hands over their hearts.  This symbolizes their feelings that they wish things had never changed and how they will never honor or agree with the new system/way of things.

The images that are displayed in these two comic strips are definitely some of the more powerful ones out of the excerpt that has been given.  The images displayed in these two scenes totally appeal to the emotions of the reader.  In one scene it shows the fight to get these freedoms to everybody and in the next scene it shows the aftermath of it and what happened once those freedoms became accessible to everybody. It impacts the reader on an emotional level and on a 

diagnostic level.  These images leave many questions to the reader as well and some of the unstated arguments in this is, did the flag want to come out of the safe?  Is that why in the first scene it looked like it was trying to escape the safe. By portraying the flag and the safe in the way that the author did, he is trying to get his point across that America has always wanted to be free to everybody regardless of their color and religious beliefs, but there was a small group holding it back from reaching its full potential of freedom for all.

By closely looking and analyzing these two scenes in this comic excerpt, it is obvious that freedoms were not always given to everybody even though they should’ve been.  Freedoms were something that were earned by all kinds of Americans and that speaks larger volumes than if they were just given out.  When everybody has all of the same freedoms that everyone else has, that’s when we go from just being America to the United States of America.  When we are all united as one people under one constitution as equals is when America will get to its fullest potential.  We are not at that point yet but we are definitely getting a lot closer to reaching that point for all.
