Author: Dave Eggers
Illustrator: Shawn Harris
Mixed media: Construction paper and India ink
Liberty and freedom from oppression are not things you get or grant by standing around like some kind of statue. No! There are things that require action. Courage. An unwillingness to rest.
I have never traveled to visit the Statue of Liberty. I’ve seen pictures taken by friends or on postcards. I’ve seen it on movies and television when celebrating July 4th. Never have those pictures incorporated the new perspective of the Statue of Liberty that this book portrays. The main focus is, her right foot!
The first thing that I noticed was when taking off the book cover, the book cover was totally different from the front cover. Below is the image of the front cover. What I notice is that as described in the book, the Statue of Liberty is holding a book that has the date of July 4, 1776 in Roman numerals. As you read this book, you are technically holding a book that is representative of what the Declaration of Independence means. As a reader and citizen of the United States, it is important to understand the historical background of freedom in the United States and that promotes that everyone has rights to "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness" while reflectively thinking about what the Statue of Liberty represents as well.
Throughout this book, Dave Eggers wrote the sequential development of how the Statue of Liberty came to be. He started with incorporating details in who and where it began, how it was made, and what it looked like previously. As a reader, after reading through this book, Dave Egger's approach to talking about his main theme of immigration and support for immigration took time. He wasn't automatic in what the Statue of Liberty represented and what we as citizens should know and feel proud of what she represents.
Did you know that the Statue of Liberty was originally a copper color, but since copper turns green when it is oxidized, that is the color most have known her only to be!
There were so many other facts that I learned about the Statue of Liberty such as:
-She weighs 450,000 pounds
-She is 150 feet tall
-The Statue of Liberty had to be reassembled in the United States after it was already assembled in Paris
-The Statue of Liberty was transported in 214 separate boxes in order to be reassembled in the U.S.
-In the U.S., it took 17 months to rebuild
-The book the Statue of Liberty is holding has the date of July 4, 1776
-Her seven points on her crown is representative of the seven continents and seven seas in the world
-Her torch represents the desire for freedom
-HER RIGHT FOOT IS LIFTED AND LOOKS LIKE SHE IS GOING TO TAKE A STEP
This last fact is something that I never knew. When reading through this book, I also looked at the pictures that were representing these facts. The medium combination throughout the book was colorful and sometimes portrayed a collage look with the more loosely edged pictures. All of the illustrations were bold in color and organization where most of the pages involved two page spreads of illustrations to go along with the text. As Dave Egger started to explain what the Statue of Liberty represented, the illustrations became two page spreads of the aspect he was describing. However, when Dave Egger wrote about what people only talk about the Statue of Liberty, the inclusion of illustrations of people with different ethnicity, race, age, and gender represented different imagery that requires a critical lens. Looking at the picture below, this two page spread states,
“People talk about her unusual headwear. They talk about her gown, which seems a very heavy kind of garment, and would likely result in serious lower back issues.”
Shawn Harris didn’t include another illustration of the Statue of Liberty’s crown or overall look as a whole on these pages. Rather the illustrations are of people discussing these topics about what they see on the outside of the Statue of Liberty. The written text is describing that people are not known to talk about what the Statue of Liberty was originally meant to represent for the United States and what she represents to society now which is being a continuous symbol of welcoming immigrants and refugees that are seeking freedom. Looking at the illustration specifically, I noticed that on the second page there are three people that represent different things. On the left, a man who appears to be Muslim is being given a harsh look by a young girl who is on the right. In the middle of these two characters, there stands a man who is White, that is looking upward as though he is gazing at the Statue of Liberty as they are discussing her garment.
The look that the girl is giving to the Muslim man I believe represents that in the world people have stereotypes of other races and ethnicity. With these public sentiments today being more vocal through media and social media, I believe that the inclusion of this illustration with text allows readers to deeply think about what they think about topics related to immigration. Students who discuss this will have varying opinions, but I believe that it is important that as a national symbol for the United States, why as citizens are we not upholding the fact that we welcome people from other countries.
After all, the Statue of Liberty is an immigrant, too. And this is why she's moving. This is why she's striding.
As stated before, the reader of this book is directly representing the Statue of Liberty by holding a book that is a replica of what she holds. After reading this book, it is important for a reader to develop opinions and beliefs on what citizenship means to them, specifically in the United States. Along with this, a reader could deepen their knowledge in determining how the U.S. is oppressing certain populations of people and how this goes against our own Declaration of Independence.
Eggers, D & Harris, S. (2017). Her Right Foot. San Francisco, CA: Chronicle books LLC.
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