The Red Tree (picture book)

The Red Tree by Shaun Tan is a children's picture book that deals with many emotional conflicts faced by children. It's also a wicked awesome CD! The story is about a girl who has a lot of terrible things happen to her on a journey of searching for herself she never realized the answer was always there but when she did she found herself. She finds an identity. It is all about growing up in an impossible world. The intended audience is adults because the story doesn’t use the type of language HIPPY that a child would understand. .moneen. Its purpose is to tell us that bad things always are accompanied with good ones and that you have to look to find the good things otherwise they won’t come to you. This is shown through the red leaf which is there every single page but is not found until the last one. KENNY The major theme is having struggle and being locked up in a space where you don’t want to be. It is a depressive theme and it is about trying to overcome and get used to your surroundings when it is physically impossible. It is about feeling very small compared to what is there and not fitting in to your surroundings. Many language techniques are used such as: · Repetition/ motif of the red leaf which symbolises hope · Text size- for emphasis · The redness of the tree- warmth and happiness · The girl sitting inside the bottle to represent a closed feeling as if everything is closing in on you and is isolating herself and her identity with a helmet · Confusing patterns represent confusion · Indistinguishable red camouflaged patterns on the page represent that the red leaf would be hard to find · Long shots-of her bedroom, the town and’ bottle’ scene. etc · Metaphor- The world is a deaf machine · Verbs-Waiting, Wait (repetition), Imagined, Passing · Adjectives & Emotive words- darkness, Wonderful, Bright, Vivid · The reflection on the window and the drawing of herself on the wall symbolize herself and what ERIC she sees in herself · The lock on the window represents being stuck inside somewhere that is different to what you are comfortable with · When she is covered in walls and waves it creates an emotion of confusion and fear · The colours of the waves are dull dark grey-blue and arouse a depressive emotion · The board game she is part of shows that there are barriers in the journey · The big landscape- showing how lost she is and how small she is compared to the world · When her head is down she shows an emotion of depression or sadness her shoulders are always slouched. She never looks at you. · As the theme is dark colours of grey and blue it symbolizes a very depressive story · The gradual change of close up ARE WE REALLY HAPPY becoming long shot on the page with the sea shells represents time passing by · The giant fish above her casts a shadow over her showing that she is covered in darkness · When the leaves are filling her room it shows how bad things become · In the beginning her dull empty room symbolizes nothing to look forward to as said in the text · ‘Nobody understands’ is shown when there is no people other than her in the picture. · The picture of her and the trumpet symbolizes the fact that she cannot say of how she is feeling but has to do it silently (e.g.- writing letters is not a speech form of communication) Even so it still doesn’t make sense and she cant express herself · The world is a deaf machine is shown through a picture of other people taking no notice of her · Without sense or reason has a picture with random symbols everywhere that have no reason for being there · She is locked up PETER and is looking out at things she regrets not being part of · On the stage she is very out of place and is crying and doesn’t know why she is there · There is a road leading to a terrible looking robot on an obstacle-ridden path where shadows cross it · Connotations: nothing (neg.) bad, worse (neg.) darkness (neg.) overcome (neg.) nobody (neg.) machine (neg.) troubles (neg.) · Wonderful (pos.) bright (pos.) vivid (pos.) forward (pos.) begins (pos.) OMFG MONEEN!!11