The Tale of Peter Rabbit and Voices in the Park

1298 Words3 Pages

Moebius definition of intangible and invisible covers the vast array of human emotion and experiences from love to death through to responsibility and a truth beyond the individual. Corroborated by Bader’s comment that they about sensations and emotions provoking a shift in the reader’s paradigms. This essay will look at how Potter and Browne convey these ideas using Moebius codes and exploring their concept of love and relationships. Concluding with how Potter and Browne illustrate their views on childhood. Voices in the Park has no publishers numbering thus for clarity the page numbers quoted are strictly numerical as in a novel (1-30).

Picture books unlike novels have a very limited amount of words to inform the reader about the characters and the plot (Scott )(ou dvd no7). The use of a picture to complement and enhance the story is paramount, combining with the experience of the reader to disassemble meaning from the picture (Nodelman, 1999). Moebius quantifies this inherent ability into the elements of colour, perspective, position and size with finally line and capillary to create a code. It is possible to use this code to explore and evaluate some invisible and intangible concepts in Voices in the Park and The Tale of Peter Rabbit.

In Voices in the Park, Browne uses colour to convey the disposition of each of the four voices linking them to the four seasons. In the fourth voice, the colours are jewel like and fun enhanced by the fun fair elements of the pictures translating into a fun buoyant summer character of Smudge. Whereas in the second voice the first four pages (p8-12) the colour is darker portraying a depressed character echoing a winter persona. The picture in p9 echoes this depression with the decay of an urban...

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...it lacked the instructional aspect of its forerunners like Aesop.

It is very easy to agree with Moebius statement that ‘good’ picture books contain some form of invisible and intangible concepts that keeps the reader returning. In Voices in the Park it is very easy to see Moebius idea due to the ability of technology to create detailed and complex books. In contrast, Potter has produced a book that more subtle in showing this relying not on technology like Voices in the Park but working within severe limitations. Blending page turns, text, colour to create understandable concepts. Goodman comments that some would argue that these elements in pictures interfere with and detract from the text, and thus undermine the confidence of the reader. An extrapolation of this idea is that preconceived ideas and pictures of another spoil the reader’s entrance to literacy.

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