‘Into the Forest’,
the picture book by the illustrator Antony Browne, starts its plot from the
cover about a boy entering the dark forest.
It gives an immediate association with the fear and negativity of the unknown
world. The symbol of gloomy forest represents danger and awaiting of
challenges.
Browne Anthony (2005). Into the Forest. Walker Book Lt., London
The subject of the
story narrates about the boy missing and finding his father trough the journey
into the forest visiting not well grandmother by the mother’s advice.
In the picture
book are presented two dimensions of the framed time – the present and the
future – in where the protagonist encaunts emotional experience.
Opposites of black
and colourful drawings make the visual surprise, especially in illustrations
where the reader’s eye spots grim, but nicely made by fine the fine line black-white
trees, that antagonizes the painted main character.
The first
illustration tells about awakening up of the boy in the storm at night and
hides a visual ‘glue’ about fear, troubles and loss. The composition detail of
the soldier with the gun on the right side might be the symbol of the family
break or parental conflicts that touch child in the unexpected way.
The next day shows
that the father is missing and the mother cannot explain clearness of the
situation. Colorfoul drawings made in small panels like ‘close ups’ indicates
about the boy’s obsessive waiting. Glued notes ‘Come home Dad’ straightens
persuasion of loss and highlights in bright colours sharpness of the anxiety of
the child.
The boy’s journey
incorporates intertextuality from fairy tales about Hansel and Gretel, Jack,
Cinderella, Little Red Riding Hood. Symbolic aggregation of known personages exhibits
negative feelings (disappointment, despair, fear) and indicates about the contemporary
families’ dysfunction as disputes, single-parents families, and divorce.
The most beautiful
is visual scenes with the red coat and the beautifully sunny, smiling face of
the grandmother. The boy put on the found read outfit to warm up himself and
the red colour adds more power to show the boy’s fear. Equally the pantagonist turns in to the Red
Riding Hood without changing his gender affirming that the fear of loss in
universal for all humans. Illustrations of the grandmother are really emotional
and the rich colour pallet renders right the warm emotion of happiness.
At the end of the
story we know that boy again becomes the part of the united family again and he
is surrounded by warmth and love.
The picture book ‘Into
the Forest’ represents the modern viewpoint and explains how dysfunctional problems
in family might be interpreted by the individual perception emphasizing the
importance of fostering classical values.
