Sheila Rae, The Brave by Kevin Henkes and Willy the Wimp by Anthony Browne are two picture books that examine the themes of personal development and possibility to change through the prism of bravery and strength as opposed to weakness and cowardice. The change in the characters of Louise and Willy, which represents the key component of the books’ themes, is greatly expressed through illustrative elements’ use.
Book jacket of Willy the Wimp is the picture of Willy in the process of changing his personality: while running in the park, and doing other exercises that shows the character in the middle of his change in the story. These are the obstacles Willy will have to go through to achieve his goal of personal growth. His scared eyes express that the change is not over yet, as he does not look happy or confident about his strength. The surrealistic image is actually taken from the middle of the book; however, it is framed differently, as well as uses brighter colors and plays on contrast. The contrast between green background and red sport suit of the character helps to emphasize the process of Willy’s change from wimpy and coward individual to aggressive and strong male. At the same time it hints about his contradicting nature that will be revealed in the end of the book, as despite the change the character still preserves his shy and gentle personality. Additionally, this theme is realized through the contrast between aggressive red color of the suit with the pink shoes and gloves. The blue color of Willy’s shadow also hints about his weakness at the beginning of the story. However, Willy is running from this blue shadow that is chasing him, and at the same time it can be interpreted as the movement from cowardice to braveness and strength. This movement is seen in the directions of straight lines of the road the Willy is running on.
In the book jacket of Sheila Rae, The Brave the theme of personal change is also expressed with the help of colors, style, shapes and symbols. Generally, the watercolor illustrations of the cover page are soft-colored, but still they remain a little brighter than the illustrations inside of the book. As the main character is Sheila, she is shown marching with the flag, where the title of the book is placed. The color of the flag is blue, and its highlights the changing nature of bravery and hints that even the bravest person may feel scared. It is the deepest and the brightest color in the picture, while the rest is quite mild with the major part of the jacket in neutral white. The flag is also decorated with little pink mouse’s head that symbolizes the tenderness of weak Louise with the hint of future change, as it is depicted over the flag and over marching Sheila. This location of the little mouse prompts about personal achievement of Louise that will save her sister. The composition of the picture is very similar to Willy the Wimp, as both characters are moving from left to right that may be treated as the movement towards development. However, the picture is framed to show how the change will be limited in time and extent. The second picture is taken from the beginning of the book without changes with the only addition of the frame to express the controversial character of bravery, as opposed to weakness that has changed to strength in the story. In this picture Louise is shown in the beginning of the road at the end of the story to remind that every person is capable of personal growth and overcoming difficulties. The dynamic picture with shapes and lines is also the reminders of change that is possible for Louise.
In Willy the Wimp colors, shapes and lines and lines play an important role in maintaining and developing the theme. Willy wears colorful clothes that actually tell a lot about his character: light green pants, patterned sleeveless jacket and white shirt are all mild colored implicitly show that “Willy wouldn’t hurt a fly” (Browne 3), as he looks very kind and harmless. Willy is opposed to bullies and other gorillas, each of whom has an aggressive red element in their clothes, such as red pants or red hat, that shows strength and power over Willy (Browne 5,7). At the same time red color does not mean aggressiveness and abuse, but rather is a symbol of masculinity and strength, because as Willy is developing and growing his sport clothes change from yellow and pink to deep red. At the beginning his gentle figure that is smaller nearly than every other character in the book and it shows his vulnerability and weakness. Later as he gets stronger the colors and shapes help to express the difference between the old Willy and the new one. For example, in the scene, where Willy is looking at his new strong body in the mirror, he seems happy and empowered (Brown 23). His body’s shape is so big that he cannot fit into the small mirror, while his red sportswear strikes with his strength. Little black and white picture of gentle and harmless Willy is put near the mirror for a contrast to show his change from weakness to strength. It looks like it is past that will never come back because of its color and frame. At the same time, it serves as a reminder that it is the same person and hints that there is a part of Willy’s character that preserves his gentle personality. As Willy develops and becomes bigger, the colors of his old clothes also get brighter to show how this change is affecting his emotional and not only physical well-being; his posture and shape, as well as the lines of his movement radiate with the pride and strength (Browne 27). Before he gets stronger his body and eyes were always leaned to the ground and seemed more static even when he was moving (Brown 3,5,8). When he gets braver and stronger, his back is put in a straight line, his eyes are looking ahead and the illustrations get far more dynamic.
In Sheila Rae, The Brave the theme of personal change from weakness to strength is realized in the personal development of secondary character Louise with help of shapes, lines and colors. First of all, it should be mentioned that the role of Louise in the illustrations is more vivid and serves as an enhancement to a text, as in her case the illustrations extend the meaning of the text (Wolfenbarger and Sipe 274), as Louise appears nearly at every picture in the book, while she is not so frequently mentioned in the text. The pastel pink color of Louise’s dress implies her femininity and vulnerability (Henkes 5). In the later pictures she also looks very childish, because of her dress colors. However, in the last pictures pink color serves as a reminder of her previous fears and expresses the contrast between her cowardice and bravery. The second important element is shape, as Louise is the smallest mouse that is shown in the illustrations and it is highlighted by her behavior, as she is always hiding or closing her eyes when she is scared. This shape meaning is further emphasized by the little toy she always takes with her, and this toy represents her vulnerability and fear, her weak part of the character. Her roundish shape makes her very static, especially in comparison with Sheila. However, when she rescues her sister, her static nature is changed to dynamism: she straightens up, jumps and moves confidently (Henkes 25-28). She takes the lead role, and the dynamism of her movement is shown in her straight posture and the lines of her hands and legs (Hernes 28). It even looks like her shape is changed and Louis becomes bigger to show how dissolution of her fears and weaknesses has also influenced her image.
All in all, illustrative elements of colors, shapes and lines play an essential role in Sheila, the Brave and Willy the Wimp, as with their help the theme of personal change from cowardice to bravery is realized and the possibility of the weak character to become strong is expressed.
Works Cited
Browne, Anthony. Willy the Wimp. Walker Books, 1984, N. pag. Web.
Henkes, Kevin. Sheila Rae, the Brave. Scholastic Inc., I993, N. pag. Web.
Wolfenbarger, Carol Driggs, and Lawrence R. Sipe. "A unique visual and literary art form: Recent research on picturebooks." Language Arts 84.3 (2007): 273. Web.
