Analyzing - The Secret Life
- In my opinion this image represents the story as a whole. A baby represents the beginning of life and throughout that life he finds love because we often associate love and belonging with the meaning of life. However, this particular picture finds the character by himself, isolated from the world - his setting is nature. In our culture we often associate disconnecting from the rest of the world and forming a communal with nature as an opportunity to "find ourselves." The interplay between the narration "Must discover by himself" and the symbolism of "man" being in nature by himself is an excellent metaphor. In fact, the "man" facing away from the reader shows additional independence as another metaphor for "finding himself."
- This image supports the ending by portraying the individuals looking for the meaning of life by finding a partner to share life with. Humans often fear dying alone and finding a special someone to live life with is often what we hope the "secret of life" is. However, at some point in time we find ourselves scared that will lose that special someone to someone else or that they will pass on from this life before us. In this time we forget to find out who we really are.
- In this image, the individual has broken off from her love. She may be happy and content with her love but she hasn't found "the secret of life." Instead she is looking heavenward. In our culture when we are lost or trying to find meaning we often search the heavens for that meaning, which ultimately means we are still not looking within ourselves and searching for our inner strength.
- The individuals in each image of the story are a repetitive element. Whether the image is focused on the baby as the "beginning", the individuals find the meaning of life hidden in genetic reproduction (aka having a baby), two people come together for companionship, the individual is searching the heavens or nature for "oneself"- each individual represents a key element in life itself and this is repeated throughout the story.
- Another element that is repeated throughout the story is the artwork. The images are very soft. There are no harsh lines and colors tend to bleed into each other. It is hard to tell where one color ends and the next begins. This fluid artwork tells a story within itself. The secret to life isn't supposed to be harsh. It is there, it is within us and life can be as beautiful as we want to make it.
1 comment:
1. Identify the image that in your opinion is the most effective in developing the story as a whole. and explain why it was effective. Did the image and written narrative interact in a way the created irony, metaphor and/or metonymy?
I agree with Jamie that the last image is the most effective image. The wandering i feel shows uncertainty but willing to go forward searching for what is next.
2. Explain how two or more elements in the illustration help support and develop the story.
On page 3 I feel the element of the girl looking into the sky shows how the secret for each human is so vast and unknown like the universe. So the girl looking to the unknown represents the unknown of her discovery. The sky represents the vast differences every humans path is to discovering who they will be.
3. Identify two elements that are repeated throughout a majority of the images. Explain how these elements support the story.
The image focus is normal off center in each photo besides the first photo. I feel the off centers focus helps the poem of discover as your eye is moving along the page like the people in the poem are moving along life. The people in the image I feel are also repeated. All are show on the 1st page but then each shows up again on the following pages. I feel this shows each characters progress through their own personally discovery.
4. Does your peer's picturebook convey a different interpretation of the poem from your own? How? Why?
The difference is Jamie showed the path of 3 people to finding their selves. I showed 1 person finding themselves. I feel we both went in completely different directions but still were able to get the message across through our images.
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