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Red Tree Notes

The Red Tree by Shaun Tan explores themes of isolation and hope through symbolism, color, and text, targeting older audiences who can analyze its deeper meanings. The recurring symbol of a red leaf represents hope, while illustrations depict feelings of confinement and confusion, emphasizing the struggle with identity. Tan's artwork ultimately conveys that hope persists even in dark times, reinforcing the book's message that is less accessible to younger readers.

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xuxueying906
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6 views3 pages

Red Tree Notes

The Red Tree by Shaun Tan explores themes of isolation and hope through symbolism, color, and text, targeting older audiences who can analyze its deeper meanings. The recurring symbol of a red leaf represents hope, while illustrations depict feelings of confinement and confusion, emphasizing the struggle with identity. Tan's artwork ultimately conveys that hope persists even in dark times, reinforcing the book's message that is less accessible to younger readers.

Uploaded by

xuxueying906
Copyright
© All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd

The Red Tree, also by Shaun Tan, focuses on the themes of

isolation and hope through the employment of techniques such


as symbolism, colouring and interplay with text.

This picture book is also directed more towards older


audiences as it required high level analytical skills to unpack
the confronting issues. Tan employs a recurring symbol in The
Red Tree; a red leaf on each page, to represent that hope will
always be there, even when there seems to be none.

Tan’s illustration “Wonderful things are passing you by” utilises


colour and metaphor to illustrate hope within self-isolation. He
uses vibrant colours in what seems to be a festival that the girl
is looking up at, while the window she is trapped behind is a
duller green. She is also in the dark, cloudy part of the
illustration, depicting sadness looming over her head. The lock,
with “regret” engraved on it, prevents her from following the red
butterflies which symbolise freedom. The entire illustration is a
metaphor for the girl isolating herself. Tan places his symbol of
hope, the red leaf, on the outside to denote that while hope is
out of reach at the moment it is always nearby. Younger
readers could not be expected to interpret the depth of the
illustration, exemplifying that the book is aimed at older
readers.

In this illustration, “Self Portrait”, from The Red Tree, Shaun


Tan employs the structure of the text, symbolism and
metaphor, to reinforce the message of the text “[you just don’t
know] who you are meant to be”. The words on the left are
scattered and unstructured thus providing an illustration of the
girl’s confusion about who she is or what people expect of her
and so her identity is scattered in her mind. In this illustration an
incomplete drawing of herself is depicted which signifies that
she doesn’t truly know who she is. By drawing herself
colourless and empty Tan suggests the girl feels empty as if
she blends in more than she stands out. Tan includes the
symbol of hope, the leaf, in the illustration; its constant
presence near the girl suggests that hope is never too far away.
The theme of identity in the illustration shows that The Red
Tree is aimed at older readers, not young children, as the latter
cannot sympathise.
Tan’s final The Red Tree illustration presents the epitomic red
tree in the centre of the girl’s room; the ultimate symbol of
hope. The vivid colouring of the tree is contrasted by the dull
colouring of her bedroom to represent how hope can shine
through the darkness, while the utilisation of a tree as a symbol
shows that hope can grow. The illustration serves as a
reminder that the world is not as bleak as it may seem to be,
and ties together The Red Tree’s central message of hope
always being nearby. Young readers could not truly appreciate
this message as they cannot completely grasp metaphors,
showing that this book is directed towards older readers.

Shaun Tan

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