I have always defined myself as first and foremost, an artist. Ever since I had the ability to hold a pencil, I have been developing my identity in the world of design and imagery and mastering the ability of conveying messages through the effective use of pictures paired with text. I was particularly inspired by the illustrator of "Voices in the Park" and his use of symbolism in his work which directly related back to the context of the story. Thus I have decided to take a closer look at the parts of the illustrations I may have missed during my textual analysis of the book.
As I analyzed, I developed a list of oddities that remain consistent through some of the images in the story. Some I can explain and make sense of, some have completely mystified me. The list is as follows:
Voice one:
-The alligator in the background shadows
-The faces in the trees
-The eye depicted in the shadow of one of the trees
-The flaming tree behind the path as the mother and son exited the park
Voice two:
-Mary Poppins flying around in the background
-The elephant in the forest
-King Kong on the skyscraper
Voice three:
-His mother's hat is everywhere, initially. Her shadow overpowers him.
-The people on a double bike going in opposite directions
-Each railing post behind the statue is also the silhouette of a face
Voice four:
-The giant strawberry in the background, crowned streetlamp
-Why is her father in the boy's mother's clothing?
-The giant pieces of fruit throughout the forest
-Gorilla faces in the trees
-The entire picture with the fountain (very strange indeed)
-Inside the bandstand it's daylight, outside it's dark
I have connected more complex meanings with some of the imagery I discovered, such as the mom's shadow over the boy represents her oppressive presence in his life and the decorative and fantasy-like perception of the world the girl of voice three maintains. However, what is with that alligator? Why does Browne include optical illusions the way he does? Are they just for show or do they all imply some deeper purpose, like the mother exudes the same charm and wit as an alligator, or the father is strong and mighty like King Kong in the image he is found on a skyscraper?
The artist inside me loves Browne's style and mystery, but the writer inside me desperately wants to figure out the symbolism of the more obscure and hard-to-define elements included in his pictures.
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I also saw some of the odd artwork but definitely missed a lot of the illustrations you have found. I believe the flaming tree behind the path as the mother and son exited the park symbolized the anger the mother had with the son.
The other little oddities seemed to make no sense to me also. I can't even imagine that each one of these have a symbolized meaning. Maybe Browne wants it to be a mystery and just through it in there for fun? Just as some Disney movies throw in "sexual innuendos" even though they have no value to the movie. Just a thought.
I was equally intrigued by the illustrations in this book. I found a lot of the same things curious. You led me to see a few that I didn't originally notice though.
I do have a new thought about the odd illustration though. After reading through the stories several times I started to think that the different things in the drawings were just meant to enunciate the fact that everyone has their own point of view and their own perspective of the world/situations. For example, the girl sees the park with all of those crazy things like large strawberries but if you keep in mind that she is a young imaginative child, it makes sense. That's just the thought I got out of some of the illustrations.
I enjoyed looking at Browne’s artwork as well. The big thing that I noticed was the abundance of hats throughout the story; due to the crowned lamppost and queen in the background of voice one, I attributed the characteristic of matriarch to the mother. Her hat can also be found on her scarf in voice number four, which made her seem rather full of herself.
I also questioned King Kong’s presence in voice number two, but I actually found an article on Browne. Anthony Browne uses gorillas in many of his stories. He has written King Kong and The Willy Series, both of which have gorillas as characters. Browne said that gorillas reminded him of his father, who died while he was still a child. Browne’s hidden hats are also a common theme in his stories. In The Willy Series, Browne hid bananas throughout the story. This allows the story to not only be humorous, but it also keeps students engaged while they try to look for the hidden items throughout the story.
http://www.childrenslaureate.org.uk/show/feature/preview/Copyright-policy-and-privacy-statement#copy
I personally loved the artwork throughout “Voices in the Park”. I think that the artwork not only captures the eye, but also sways the mind just as you have pointed out. I think that finding meaning in these illustrations is always going to be different depending on the person who is reading it and their personal experiences and opinions. The alligator is shown within the first voice, Charles’ mom. Alligators are looked at as fierce with tough skin. In my opinion, I think this may be adding to the author’s portrayal of Charles’ mother as being strict or having a tough exterior, such that she does not allow for others to hurt her. This is completely my opinion though, and the author may have meant something completely different by this or nothing at all. I also thought that the flaming tree was signifying Charles’ mother’s anger towards him after she finds him playing with a “rough-looking girl.” I also believe that the people on the double bike going on opposite directions may portray the relationship between the parents. It may be stating that Charles’ mother and Smudge’s father are in the same place at the same time, but live very different lives and are often headed in completely different directions.
Some of the illustrations are hard to find meaning in though. Some of the illustrations that you pointed out I still have trouble connecting to the story. I do not understand what the elephant in the forest or what the gorilla faces in the trees could imply. I do believe that many of these interesting illustrations are simply the author wanting to play with your imagination or his personality coming out within the pictures. In the article link shown below, the author, Anthony Browne, explains why the characters are gorillas. He states that it was simply an accident, but he liked the way it looked and thought it made the book humorous. This solidifies that often these types of illustrations can have no deeper meaning at all, that is, until the reader finds one.
http://www.embracingthechild.org/abrowne.htm
I didn't even realize how great Voices in the Park was until we got together as a class. Things I noticed were different than what my classmates noticed. The point is, there is just SO much to look at, and there is so much interpretations that can be made from each individual illustration. Perhaps this was the author's point.
One of my group members pointed out a lot of adult illustrations - in particular the scene where the father and the daughter were walking to the park (from the father's perspective). She pointed out that there was a needle (that looked like it was intended for drug use), and an anarchy symbol. These images are very mature and adult, and may not even register to children. It made me realize how multidimensional this book was, and how it broke down so many boundaries. Sure, it's a child's book, but there is so much that perpetuates past childhood that can be appreciated by all ages. I think that is one of the key things that sets this book apart. It appeals to so many people from so many different walks of life and for so many ages.
I looked at the artwork as an extension to the story. It appeared as if the things that thoroughly were not expressed in the text could come out through the pictures. Just like you said with the mothers shadow shown over the little boy, which could show that the little boy has no freedom and the mother is always on his back.
I think the reason why he used such interesting pictures and art techniques were so that the reader can fill in the blank with what the author can not express. It also shows the author the different perspectives of the characters and how they viewed situations.
The illustrations in this book intrigued me, as well. Before this class I never looked at the pictures in the book as a part of the story telling process, but more as a visual as to what was going on. However, like the many symbols you mentioned, we wouldn't know HALF the amount of information that the author is giving us without seeing the illustrations. The symbols that certain things represent, as well as the background information we get (such as the socio-economic status of the two families) would be impossible without the pictures. I have never looked so closely at illustrations before, and it makes me want to go back to some of the childhood books I used to read and see if there is any other hidden agenda behind the basic story I was used to hearing over and over again.
I have never been more perplexed (or even perplexed I should say) by a picture book such as Voices in the Park. I had the task of writing an intertextual response for this story. For those of you who haven’t done an intertextual response yet, part of the assignment is to research the author, including looking at other works by the author or any interviews that have been conducted. I came across a great interview by teachingbooks.net in which Browne discussed his work on Voices in the Park. Browne pointed out certain touches in the book and his reasoning behind them. One of the most intriguing items he pointed out was the scene with the two dogs running together with the statues. Browne painted the pedigree dog’s tail onto the mutt’s tail and vice versa to show their equality. Stemming from this, I began to notice that many other pictures with the dogs have been painted symmetrically to represent a sense of equality. He also stated why he made the text different for each character. The mother’s text was supposed to represent a type of font that would be used in a classy newspaper she might read. Scout’s father’s text would be found in a tabloid. From that, I guessed that the children’s text would reflect their hand writing, Charles’ being nice and neat and Scout’s being a messy scrawl reflective of a poor education.
There are so many other elements that can be analyzed and explained. I feel like a ten page paper could be written for Voices in the Park based on analyzing alone! For anyone who is interested in the interview, check it out at http://www.teachingbooks.net/content/Browne_qu.pdf.
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