Stuart Little By E. B. White
The Use of Illustrations to Tell a Story Stuart Little written by E.B. White is a story about a mouse who is born into a family of humans. Throughout Stuarts story he goes on adventures of all kinds, through his adventures he is introduced to love, and tragedy. Throughout the book E.B. White has used illustrations done by Garth Williams to enhance the mood, tone, visualization and significance of an event. I have chosen to focus on the image on page seventy-four I choose this image because it shows how Stuart is handling/perceiving life at that moment in his story. The illustration on page seventy-four shows the apartments, and towers, trees, the road and the sidewalk seem huge in Stuarts neighbourhood. Right near the centre of the drawing
is Stuart Little tiny compared to everything else. Williams is exceptional at using contradicting shadow and light. Stuart’s home, which he is looking up at; is light and larger with little to no shading on it. Whereas, the street where he will begin walking is dark due to the shadow of a large tree. By William using a shadow on the road he is illustrating the dark, mysterious and sometimes scary adventures that Stuart will embark on. Stuarts home is light illustrating the comfortability and safety of the home he is leaving. In this illustration everything is drawn to a proper scale, this leaves Stuart seeming tiny compared to the rest of his world. The world is a “big place” (White, 75) that leaves Stuart lost on where to start on his search “for a lost bird” (White,75). In the illustration Stuart is the only human character present, by having Stuart alone it is showing readers not only the reality of Stuarts size, but; shows the moment that Stuart is leaving his family, his comfort and embarking on this adventure alone. Stuart says “Good-b, beautiful home” representing that he wont see his home, and family again, he is alone. I believe that illustrations in a book are very important, it allows for my perception on the story to become a reality. Whether or not there are images in the book as readers we create illustrations in our heads as we read. Readers value, expect and/or create their own images because, illustrations give the words a sense of meaning, through representing the style, tone and mood of the story.
is Stuart Little tiny compared to everything else. Williams is exceptional at using contradicting shadow and light. Stuart’s home, which he is looking up at; is light and larger with little to no shading on it. Whereas, the street where he will begin walking is dark due to the shadow of a large tree. By William using a shadow on the road he is illustrating the dark, mysterious and sometimes scary adventures that Stuart will embark on. Stuarts home is light illustrating the comfortability and safety of the home he is leaving. In this illustration everything is drawn to a proper scale, this leaves Stuart seeming tiny compared to the rest of his world. The world is a “big place” (White, 75) that leaves Stuart lost on where to start on his search “for a lost bird” (White,75). In the illustration Stuart is the only human character present, by having Stuart alone it is showing readers not only the reality of Stuarts size, but; shows the moment that Stuart is leaving his family, his comfort and embarking on this adventure alone. Stuart says “Good-b, beautiful home” representing that he wont see his home, and family again, he is alone. I believe that illustrations in a book are very important, it allows for my perception on the story to become a reality. Whether or not there are images in the book as readers we create illustrations in our heads as we read. Readers value, expect and/or create their own images because, illustrations give the words a sense of meaning, through representing the style, tone and mood of the story.