In the excerpt of The United States Constitution: A Graphic Adaptation by Jonathan Hennessey and Aaron McConnell, many visual motifs are important to creating the overall theme of the graphic novel, one of the most being the repeated theme of outdatedness. This theme is most relevant in the two middle panels on the second page of the graphic novel. The first scene depicts two different groups of people in a violent stance facing one another. One group is full of minority individuals like senior citizens, women and African Americans led by an angel like figure while the other group is all white men. The authors wrote this scene to show why certain updates, like removing slavery and allowing women to vote, were added to the Constitution, therefore making it up to date. The panel shows a wide view of the scene, probably to show all of the multiple elements that are happening at once. The group of minorities are in a brighter, yellow color while the group of white men are in a dark blue color to show that the men are in the dark to the bright future ahead of equal rights. The characters’ gaze in this panel is focused completely on the other group. Because of this, the authors are showing that the characters felt very strongly about the issue at hand.

The second panel goes hand in hand with the first. While the first shows a tense scene of American citizens fighting, the second shows a lot more unity. Each citizen is standing together, some with their hands over their hearts, while two officials reveal the American flag for everyone to honor. This panel is suggesting a future in which the Constitution is updated enough that each citizen has equal rights to their neighbor and each is equally protected by the government. There is also a wide view in this panel, again to show all of the elements that are happening at once, like how each different person looks. The color in this panel is different from the first though. The officials are in a blue-green color while the citizens are in a purple color. Perhaps these similar colors are to show that, unlike the very contrasting colors in the first panel, people are starting come together as a nation. They may still disagree, the colors are still different, but purple and blue are very similar to the yellow and blue prior. The gaze in this panel is also different from the first. Instead of violent eye contact, each character is looking directly at the flag to symbolize unity among American citizens. 

These two panels completely represent the idea of changing the Constitution so it is more relevant to today’s society. The before and after scenes encompass what the authors were trying to say: all citizens can be included if Americans recognize others as individuals. Other panels in the graphic novel do depict this theme, but not as well as the panels described above. The reader might have assumed, after reading the first page of this excerpt, that the graphic novel would be about how wonderful the Constitution and American government in general is. Each happy scene with different words from the Preamble make the reader feel like everything is okay, with examples like an old man receiving social security and a group of many different kinds of people voting. This assumption is wrong, though, after looking at the panels described above. The authors added this in the beginning to show what a great country America is and could be with updates that have already been added, like women’s suffrage and the 13th Amendment. The entire graphic novel works with the motif of outdatedness. Each panel has great elements that lend themselves to the theme of the novel. Written by John Hennessey and Aaron McConnell, The United States Constitution: A Graphic Adaptation uses the motif of outdatedness to show the ways in which the Constitution was updated to make America a better place for all of its citizens. 
