Analyzing Image-Language Relations in Picture Books - Book Report/Review Example

ANALYZING IMAGE-LANGUAGE RELATIONS Your name Institutional Affiliations Introduction: The picture books are very important source of education for childhood and children literacy. As Painter (2007) asserted, picture books are most powerful for they provide major tools that teach children on the relationship between words and images. Furthermore, they are regarded as ideological tools which present a significant feature in children cultures and social values. Children are always interested in the picture books; they are as well capable of making a right interpretation and correct analysis of complex images in the books. Moreover, (Bull & Anstey, 2002) stated that, most of young readers are capable of analyzing picture books in depth that may help in expanding knowledge of the educators. In the paper analysis below, I am going to compare and also analyze some pictures from two narrative books. Come Away From the Water, Shirley” is the title of the first story written by Burningham (1977) and the second story is “We’re Going on a Bear Hunt”. Written by, Rosen. Through the language, images and the interaction, both books construct a family ideology. To be more specific, both stories in the picture books concentrates on the family importance and the ways in which adventure requires proper planning and the effects of adventure after turning tragic. Each picture illustrates the emotions and feelings of family members after their adventures turns to a disaster. Moreover, the pictures also touch on the nature and human conflict when nature turns tragic to human beings. The picture books also illustrate the relationships in the family specifically between children and parents. The stories target young children with ages ranging between 4 to 8 years old. Analyze the relationship between visual and verbal text in the book “We’re Going on a Bear Hunt”. The texts are complemented more by good pictures. A good picture widens and enlarges its reference, further; it provides the readings that are never expected by the author. In his book Bear Hunt, Michael Rosen said that, he thought of a line of queens and kings setting out and goes to hunt. Nevertheless, Oxenbury creates an ordinary family that squelch through mud and also tiptoe in the cave, they dash back under bedclothes. Finally, the wordless image of the bear trot by the sea, a very lonely dusk figure is all her own. Mostly, the small children don’t think about characters or settings as an invention. Unexplained elements with the drawings of out of scale lend nervousness to cosiest stories. This chaos might be internal and the picture books loneliness, bad dreams, fears, separation anxiety will find their visual analogues. The picture allows the viewer to look on the manner in which the visual picture subverts the verbal one. The focalisation in the book offers a manner of exploration whereby the meaning marks a very dependent on viewing point. The provision of the metafictive conversation, the best example is the inclusion of the well known piece of art and the inter-textual pictures; they give participants exploration opportunity in exploring surreal and then look for the hidden meaning that is used in the set up and juxtaposition with text. The manner in which the books visual against verbal narration with the sense of impending danger as illustrated by the author. Helen Oxenbury illustration subverts the author’s intentions by discarding ladies and knights of the original job vision; she then substituted them with a family jaunt through the long grass and imagination. The books plot of picture tend to be very fast paced and simple. They book relied mostly on repetitive patterns which are suited to rhythmic nature of the picture book design. Moreover, the illustrations often assist in the development of storytelling plots. The book picture use different kinds in the imagery and particularly on the visual and auditory images e.g. the onomatopoeia. Analyze the relationship between visual and verbal text in the book “Come Away From the Water, Shirley” This picture book with very sophisticated content are often having very few words, these are classic picture books like coming away from the water Shirley (Burningham 1977). The story of adventure which include Shirley, a picture narrative with no words beings shown on right hand page. Birmingham, is the same as a postmodern authors of picture books, he creates a puzzle with verbal text opposing Shirley’s story. The mother’s banal verbal commentary is illustrated through realistic pictures on left hand pages; the author enriches the viewer or observers understanding about Shirley’s need of escaping and living in a fantasy world. The mother also speaks stereotypical clichés of sad and unimaginative and old generation. The picture shows her sitting, serving coffee from thermos flask and knitting. On the other part, the father was smoking his pipe and a newspaper on his hands then falling asleep. The setting on the sea side is empty, it suggest that they also live in empty world. The father and mother passively sat in their old and folding beach chairs and they seem to be watching a film (Burningham, 1977). They do not see anything about Shirley as exciting, cinematic play. Shirley’s adventure rotates in a very dangerous pirates and the buried treasure, a dog was her only friend against a very rich and contextualized background of the golden sands, wild skies and dark seas. When the children guess why Shirley disappears into her own fantasy world of fighting the pirates and then stealing a treasure map, when they are asked to fill details about the adventures, they learn to interpret gaps and read between the lines. This pictures book is considered to be a multi-layered and the observer or readers are also invited to always re-read them and by that, they tend to discover new things. Young readers are always in control of the story; therefore, they out-perform the instructor in discovering new clues in the pictures. Further, they gain pleasure in insightful response to the literary texts. According to Burningham, (1977), the pictures in the books with no verbal or very little text do offer many opportunities or chances for the creative work in language such as invention of speech balloons like “Look! Here’s the treasure!! Help me! Come on, let’s dig! It’s heavy! It’s gigantic! It’s gold!! Careful! Whoops...” creating and re-creating: the enacting and construction of meaning is through writing a new dialogue. The book, “come away from the water, Shirley” is formally anti-authoritarian and open, also ambiguous text and thematically. The teacher or instructor may be forced to introduce the delightfully ironic nursery rhyme that matches with the theme of the picture in the book. Describe how images and language interaction are used by the authors in come away from the water, Shirley by John and we’re Going on a Bear Hunt” by Rosen when it comes to family ideology The books classic rhythmic stories of families on “bear hunt and come away from the water Shirley” , families full of optimization, the families set out which spur themselves on with oft-repeatedly refraining shows that the families are tight and the authors then match the images in the books perfectly and it brings out an amazing story (Burningham, 1977). The interactions between the images and language in the books allows the observer to read and compared or visualize matching the language used. For instance, in the picture in the book Going on a Bear Hunt shows or allows the observer to understand what is going on through the body language. They are running away from the bear thus the picture shows the danger the family is in. It makes the observer to understand the importance of family unity to in overcoming problems. On the other hand, John in his book, come away from the water, Shirley gives the images whereby Shirley is adventurous and the parents are giving no attention to her. The language used or the picture language shows Shirley as creative as she fought the pirates to have the treasure. It also portrays the parents as old according to the type of seats they have. Conclusion: Therefore, the formation of images in the picture books always represents ideological family positions. To be more specific, they tend to look on the importance of belonging and learning experienced by a child following the traumatizing adventure in the caves and forest in the search and hunt of bear. In the analysis, the focalization, ambience, social distance, power relationship, color scheme are deconstructed and relationship is shown between interpersonal, ideational and textual concepts. It is seconded by (Serafini, 2010) who ended up quoting that, “the perceptual processes and the importance of considerations for understanding of the meaning viewers and readers construct at a time of transactions with multi-modal texts”. “We’re Going On a Bear Hunt” “Image one” Ideational Meaning: Image Analysis Verbal Analysis Visual-Verbal Relations Process type/s: The image displays six different scenes where a distribution of normality has occurred. Participants are facing problems in different areas. This shows a narrative story, as drawings are somewhat fantasy along the non-existence of text section divisions. The images contain several nouns along with participants’ names: Mainly, Cave, Snowstorm and Forest. As they form a song. The participants’ names are not mentioned apart from having a father taking an adventure with his four children. The main word that has been used as a verb is ‘Back’ which the father pronounces. There is a connection between visual and verbal relations as the father shouts “Quick! Back through …” while the bear is following them. Moreover, the places’ names are defined in the image such as trees and grass for ‘forest’. Therefore, a complementary relationship is formed through out the use of different words that describe the places such as Splash Splash for the river image. Circumstances The family is running away from a bear and they are going through 3 various areas. Namely, Cave, Snowstorm and forest. The father is normally looking at the escape path while his four children vary as they look forward toward the way sometimes and other time they look back at the bear, who is always looking at them and try to hunt them down. The father is shouting the direction that he and his children should take to escape the bear, which is their way back home. Moreover, nouns that describe the sound of the six different areas have been presented. For example the father said “HooooWooooo” to describe the sound of a snowy storm. Interpersonal Meaning: Image Analysis Verbal Analysis Visual-Verbal Relations Contact/Focalisation The reader observes the story from a direct view over a cross of frames. The father and children in the picture are in close contact. The father tries to direct his children on the way to escape Despite the fact that children are seeing the way to escape including caves, snowstorm and forest, their father still guides them that they should escape through caves, snowstorm and forest Social Distance The story has a close social distance for instance between father and his children. As seen in the picture, father and children have close social distance. This is because even when the bear is almost catching them in the cave, the father tries to protect his children by showing them safe direction. As seen in the picture, father and children are in close social distance. This is because the children follow all instruction given by their father. For instance, all children run through cave when instructed by their father. Power This story passes powerful message to the reader. This image challenges all parents to be caring for their children even in times of danger. For instance, the father in the picture does all he can to ensure safety of his four children. Due to increased cases of parents leaving their children in times of danger, this image uses both visual and verbal relations to encourage parents to be courageous and assist their children. For example, the father holds hand of his child and even tells them the route they should take for escape for instance “Quick! Back through the cave” Involvement This story involves readers significantly. When looking at the dangerous places where a father and his children had to go through for their safety including caves, snowstorm and forest, the story catches the readers attention leaving him with a question of what they could have done in that circumstances In order to involve the reader fully, the story uses visual and verbal communication. This helps the reader to fully understand what is happening, maybe predict what will happen next, and think of what he could have done in that circumstances to save his children. Modality The story uses different methods including visual and verbal to pass message across. There is an image of a father and his four children running away from a bear. This image brings to life what the readers read and provide them with a chance to reflect on what they are reading. The use of visual and verbal images for instance a father telling his children to run through cave helps the reader to view the story as being real and present, hence understanding it quickly. Ambience The story has severe ambience for everybody running for his/her life. As seen in the image, it is a severe atmosphere with everybody running for his life. The reader is left worried of what will happen if the bear catches one of them. Although the ambience in the story is severe, the reader get hope that the father and the children will escape as they are capable of running and communicating. This helps to reduce tension among the readers. Textual Meaning Image Analysis Verbal Analysis Visual-Verbal Relations Salience This story is prominent as it deals with issues that affect our daily livelihood. Hunting is part of daily livelihood for many people. Also, there are many cases where animals chase as shown in the image. Hence, this image presents what the reader has encountered or have seen hence, making it more salience. The use of visual-and verbal communication facilitated salience of this story greatly. This is because the reader is capable of reading and observing what he is reading. Information Value This story has valuable information. This image shows us what happens in to the people or communities living in jungles. It shows how they are attacked by wild animals, bear in this case. By reading and seeing what people living in jungles goes through as seen in the image, this information will help us come up with proper means of protecting people living in jungles. Framing This story is framed in ancient times. As shown in the image, this story is framed in ancient times. This is revealed by the presence of caves. The use of visual and verbal communication in this image show that this story was written or portrays ancient times where human relied on hunting and fathers went with their children to hunt as seen in the image. Reading path This story has a straight reading path. With the use of image, the reader can easily read and understand what the story is about. Reading path is even made straight further and eased by the use of visual and verbal images, the reader understands the story easily “We’re Going On a Bear Hunt” “Image two” Ideational Meaning: Image Analysis Verbal Analysis Visual-Verbal Relations Process type/s: The image displays six different scenes where a distribution of normality has occurred. Participants are facing problems in different areas. This shows a narrative story, as drawings are somewhat fantasy along the non-existence of text section divisions. The images contain several nouns along with participants’ names: Mainly, mud, river and grass. As they form a song. The participants’ names are not mentioned apart from having a father taking an adventure with his four children. The main word that has been used as a verb is ‘Back’ which the father pronounces. There is a connection between visual and verbal relations as the father shouts “Quick! Back through …” while the bear is following them. Moreover, the places’ names are defined in the image such as trees and grass for ‘forest’. Therefore, a complementary relationship is formed through out the use of different words that describe the places such as Splash Splash for the river image. Circumstances The family is running away from a bear and they are going through 3 various areas. Namely, mud, river and grass. The father is normally looking at the escape path while his four children vary as they look forward toward the way sometimes and other time they look back at the bear, who is always looking at them and try to hunt them down. The father is shouting the direction that he and his children should take to escape the bear, which is their way back home. Moreover, nouns that describe the sound of the six different areas have been presented. For example the father said “SplashSplash” to describe the sound of a river. Interpersonal Meaning: Image Analysis Verbal Analysis Visual-Verbal Relations Contact/Focalisation The reader observes the story from a direct view over a cross of frames. The father and children in the picture are in close contact. The father tries to direct his children on the way to escape he even carries one on his back when crossing a river. Despite the fact that children are seeing the way to escape including mud, river and grass, their father still guides them that they should escape through them and even carries one child on his back so as to help him cross the river. Social Distance The story has a close social distance. For instance the father is closely related and escapes with his children. As seen in the picture, father and children have close social distance. This is because even when the bear is almost catching them in the river, the father tries to protect his children by carrying them on the back so as to help them cross the river. As seen in the picture, father and children are in close social distance. This is because the children follow all instruction given by their father. For instance, all children run across the river and mud when instructed by their father. Power This story passes powerful message to the reader. This image challenges all parents to be caring for their children even in times of danger. For instance, the father in the picture does all he can to ensure safety of his four children. Due to increased cases of parents leaving their children in times of danger, this image uses both visual and verbal relations to encourage parents to be courageous and help their children when in danger. For example, the father carries his child on back and crosses him across the river and even tells them the route they should take for escape for instance “Back through the river.” Involvement This story involves readers significantly. When looking at the dangerous places where a father and his children had to go through for their safety including mud, river and grass, the story catches the readers attention leaving him with a question of what they could have done in that circumstances In order to involve the reader fully, the story uses visual and verbal communication. This helps the reader to fully understand what is happening, maybe predict what will happen next, and think of what he could have done in that circumstances to save his children. Modality The story uses different methods including visual and verbal to pass message across. There is an image of a father and his four children running away from a bear. This image brings to life what the readers read and provide them with a chance to reflect on what they are reading. The use of visual and verbal images for instance a father telling his children to run through the river helps the reader to view the story as being real and present, hence understanding it quickly. Ambience The story has severe ambience because everybody is running for his/her life. As seen in the image, it is a severe atmosphere with everybody running for his life. The reader is left worried of what will happen if the bear catches one of them. Although the ambience in the story is severe, the reader get hope that the father and the children will escape as they are capable of running and communicating. This helps to reduce tension among the readers. Textual Meaning Image Analysis Verbal Analysis Visual-Verbal Relations Salience This story is prominent as it deals with issues that affect our daily livelihood. Hunting is part of daily livelihood for many people. Also, there are many cases where animals chase as shown in the image. Hence, this image presents what the reader has encountered or have seen hence, making it more salience. The use of visual-and verbal communication facilitated salience of this story greatly. This is because the reader is capable of reading and observing what he is reading. Information Value This story has valuable information. This image shows us what happens in to the people or communities living in jungles. It shows how they are attacked by wild animals, bear in this case. By reading and seeing what people living in jungles goes through as seen in the image, this information will help us come up with proper means of protecting people living in jungles. Framing This story is framed in ancient times. As shown in the image, this story is framed in ancient times. This is revealed by the presence of mud, grass and bear. The use of visual and verbal communication in this image show that this story was written or portrays ancient times where human relied on hunting and fathers went with their children to hunt as seen in the image. Reading path This story has a straight reading path. With the use of image, the reader can easily read and understand what the story is about. Reading path is even made straight further and eased by the use of visual and verbal images, the reader understands the story easily “Come Away From The Water, Shirley” “Image one” Ideational Meaning: Image Analysis Verbal Analysis Visual-Verbal Relations Process type/s: The image displays six different scenes where a distribution of normality has occurred. Participants are facing problems in different areas. This shows a narrative story, as drawings are somewhat fantasy along the non-existence of text section divisions. The images contain several nouns along with participants’ names mainly children. As they form a song. The participants’ names are not mentioned apart from having a father asking his daughter why she can’t go and play with other children who are playing within their vicinity. The main word that has been used as a verb is ‘play’ which the father pronounces. There is a connection between visual and verbal relations as the father shouts asks his daughter why she can’t go and play with other children while other children are sailing boats in the ocean. However, the places’ names are not defined in the image despite the fact that numerous places including ocean can be seen. Therefore, a complementary relationship is not formed through out image as there is no use of different words that describe the places such as ocean. Circumstances The father is asking his daughter why she is not going to play with other children who are playing in boats in the ocean. His daughter is sitting next to him while other children are playing in the ocean. Hence, since the father knows benefit of playing especial when his daughter was not anything, he asked her why she can’t join other children who are playing in the ocean. The father is asking his daughter why she can’t go and play with other children playing near where they are. Other children are playing in the ocean on the boat. Interpersonal Meaning: Image Analysis Verbal Analysis Visual-Verbal Relations Contact/Focalisation The reader observes the story from a direct view over a cross of frames. The father and the child in the picture are not in close contact. This is because the child is not doing what is expected of him and don’t listen or follow his father’s instructions and advice. Despite the fact that the child is seeing children of her age playing in the ocean, she can’t go and join them. Instead, she sits with his father. Social Distance The story lacks a close social distance. For instance the father and the child are not in good terms as the child is not doing what is expected of her, a fact that leads her father to ask her a question. As seen in the image, father and the child are not in close social distance. The girl is anti-social and don’t relate to his father as expected. She don’t want to play with other children Father and the daughter are not in close social distance as the girl is always supposed to be asked to things including playing with others. This provides his father with hard time hence destroying distance of their social relation. Power This story passes powerful message to the reader. Good social relationship between parents and children, and children and children is important. Hence, as seen in this image, parents should teach their children good social behaviours so as to help them interact with others freely without being asked or reminded as seen in this image. However, while some children might be antisocial, talking to them nicely will enable them to overcome this habit. For instance, we can ask them to play with others as seen in this image. Involvement The reader is involved in this story significantly. With the child not willing to play with others and deciding to sit with his father till she is asked to go and play with other, the story leaves the reader with many questions that he ought to answer. The use of visual and verbal communication in this story provides the reader with humble time to reflect on the characters of his own child hence responding positively to the story. Modality The story uses different methods including visual and verbal to pass message across. There is an image of a father and his daughter, and other children playing in the ocean. This image brings to life what the readers read and provide them with a chance to reflect on what they are reading. The use of visual and verbal images for instance a father telling his child to go and play with other children helps the reader to view the story as being real and present, hence understanding it quickly. Ambience The story has good atmosphere because children are playing all over. In this image, the atmosphere is good with children playing everywhere. This leads a father in the image to ask her daughter why she can’t go and play with other children playing around there. Although the ambience in the story is good, the reader sees need of teaching his/her child social behaviours so that he can willingly play with others without being asked or told as seen in the image. Textual Meaning Image Analysis Verbal Analysis Visual-Verbal Relations Salience This story is prominent as it deals with issues that affect us currently. Antisocial behaviour among children is common with many children prefer sitting with their parents other playing with their age mates. Hence, this image presents what the reader has encountered or have seen hence, making the story to be more salience. The use of visual-and verbal communication facilitated salience of this story greatly. This is because the reader is capable of reading and observing what he is reading. For instance, he can see other children playing, and a father asking his daughter why she can’t join other children playing around. Information Value This story has valuable information. This image shows us what happens among children living in different parts across the world. It shows how they develop strange habits and behaviours including not willing to play with others in this case. By reading and seeing how parents and their children are interacting, this information will help us come up with proper means of enforcing social behaviours among our children. Framing This story is framed in ancient times. As shown in the image, this story is framed in ancient times. This is revealed by the presence of boats- ancient means of transport. The use of visual and verbal communication in this image shows that this story was written or portrays ancient times where children felt secure only when they are with their parents. Antisocial behaviours were therefore common in this era as shown in the image. Reading path This story has a straight reading path. With the use of image, the reader can easily read and understand what the story is about. Reading path is straightened further and eased by the use of visual and verbal images since the reader understands the story fast and easily. “Come Away From The Water, Shirley” “Image two” Ideational Meaning: Image Analysis Verbal Analysis Visual-Verbal Relations Process type/s: The image displays six different scenes where a distribution of normality has occurred. Participants are facing problems in different areas. This shows a narrative story, as drawings are somewhat fantasy along the non-existence of text section divisions. The images contain several nouns along with participants’ names mainly shoes and tar. As they form a song. The participants’ names are not mentioned apart from having a father telling his daughter to put a any filthy tar on her new nice shoes.. The main word that has been used as a verb is ‘get’ which the father pronounces. There is a connection between visual and verbal relations as the father shouts asks his daughter why she can’t go and play with other children while other children are sailing boats in the ocean. However, the places’ names are not defined in the image despite the fact that numerous places including ocean can be seen. Therefore, a complementary relationship is not formed through out image as there is no use of different words that describe the places such as ocean. Circumstances The father is telling her daughter to put filthy tar on her new nice shoes. Despite the shoes being new and nice, the child still wants to go a head and paint them with filthy tar. Hence, father being aware that it will destroy shoes, he tells her not to do so. The father is telling his daughter not to put filthy tar on her new nice shoes. Other children are playing and fishing in the ocean on the boat and ferry. Interpersonal Meaning: Image Analysis Verbal Analysis Visual-Verbal Relations Contact/Focalisation The reader observes the story from a direct view over a cross of frames. The father and the child in the picture are not in close contact. This is because the child is not doing what is expected of him and don’t listen or follow his father’s instructions and advice. Despite the fact that the child is aware that the shoes are new and nice, she is waiting to be told that the shoes don’t need to be painted with filthy tar. Furthermore, she can’t go and play with her age mates in the ocean despite the fact that she is seeing them. Social Distance The story lacks a close social distance. For instance the father and the child are not in good terms as the child is not doing what is expected of her, a fact that leads her father to ask her a question. As seen in the image, father and the child are not in close social distance. The girl is anti-social and don’t relate to his father as expected. She doesn’t want to play with other children as well. Father and the daughter are not in close social distance as the girl is always supposed to be asked to things including not to paint filthy tar on new nice shoes. This provides his father with hard time hence increasing distance of their social relation. Power This story passes powerful message to the reader. Good social relationship between parents and children, and children and children is important. Hence, as seen in this image, parents should teach their children good social behaviours so as to help them interact with others freely without being asked or reminded as seen in this image. While some children might be antisocial, talking to them nicely will enable them to overcome this habit. For instance, we can ask them to play with others or tell them what they should not do as seen in this image. Involvement The reader is involved in this story significantly. With the child not willing to play with others and deciding to sit with his father and paint filthy tar oh her shoes, the story leaves the reader with many questions that he ought to answer. The use of visual and verbal communication in this story provides the reader with humble time to reflect on the characters of his own child hence responding positively to the story. Modality The story uses different methods including visual and verbal to pass message across. There is an image of a father and his daughter, and other children playing and fishing in the ocean. This image brings to life what the readers read and provide them with a chance to reflect on what they are reading. The use of visual and verbal images for instance a father telling his child to put filthy tar on his shoes helps the reader to view the story as being real and present, hence understanding it quickly. Ambience The story has good atmosphere because a child has new shoes and tar, though the tar is filthy. In this image, the atmosphere is good with a want to paint filthy tar on her shoes. This leads a father in the image to worn her daughter against putting filthy tar on her new shoes. Although the ambience in the story is good, the reader sees need of teaching his/her child social behaviours so that he can do right things without supervision or warnings. Textual Meaning Image Analysis Verbal Analysis Visual-Verbal Relations Salience This story is prominent as it deals with issues that affect us currently. Antisocial behaviour among children is common currently with many children preferring to sit with their parents other than playing with their age mates. Hence, this image presents what the reader has encountered or have seen hence, making the story to be more salience. The use of visual-and verbal communication facilitated salience of this story greatly. This is because the reader is capable of reading and observing what he is reading. For instance, he can see filthy tar and shoes, and a father asking his daughter not to get any of filthy tar on her shoes. Information Value This story has valuable information. This image shows us what happens among children living in different parts across the world. It shows how they develop strange habits and behaviours including not willing to play with others in this case. By reading and seeing how parents and their children are interacting, this information will help us to come up with proper means of enforcing social behaviours among our children. Framing This story is framed in modern days. As shown in the image, this story is framed in ancient times. This is revealed by the presence of ferry and increased fishing activities in the ocean. The use of visual and verbal communication in this image shows that this story was written or portrays modern days where children feel insecure when playing with others or when away from their parents. Antisocial behaviours are common in this age as children like to go out with their parents alone. Reading path This story has a straight reading path. With the use of image, the reader can easily read and understand what the story is about. Reading path is straightened further and eased by the use of visual and verbal images since the reader understands the story fast and easily. References Burningham, J (1977). Come away from the water, Shirley. London: Random House Read More