Voices in the Park by Anthony Browne

Voices in the Park by Anthony Browne

 

 

Summary

 

Browne’s Voices in the Park is a short narrative that focuses on four individuals that visit a given park and allow that reader to interact with the environment through their individual perceptions and thoughts. Browne employs four characters in the publication and they are Mrs. Smythe, Charles who is the son to Mrs. Smythe, Mr. Smith and Smudge who is Mr. Smith’s daughter (Browne 10).

 

The main ideas presented by the author center on the impact of one’s personality on the immediate environment and this forms the arguments for the publication. Mrs. Smythe is a mean individual whose egocentric practices lead to child neglect towards her son who is developed as a lonely individual in need of attention. Mr. Smith is a depressed parent and both he and Charles are rejuvenated through Smudge’s cheerfulness towards them.

 

Browne’s main position in his publication centers on the influence of peer-to-peer relations as those transversing across the age factor and how they affect the overall wellbeing of individuals; nature too is included as an imagery of the moods end emotions present in the narrative (Browne 27).

 

Critical Evaluation

 

Browne’s publication accords various font types within the narrative for each of the identified characters. A large font is accorded to Mr. Smith and Mrs. Smythe as an imagery of their adulthood and physique while Charles is accorded a small size because he is a child; Smudge’s voice is typed in blotchy font because of her bubbly and joyous character traits (Browne 31).

 

Browne admitted to have accorded the various fonts as an amplification of the various personalities evidenced in the publication and therefore, this will be very useful in the research in testing the validity of the formulated research questions: Do font types help reflect character’s personalities? Do different types help enhance readers overall interpretation of the story/characters? Ultimately, how does font type affect the story?

 

 

 

 

 

 

Works Cited

Browne, Anthony. Voices in the Park. London, UK: DK Pub., 2002. Print.