Cool with It
The dominant visual imagery in the accompanying illustrations is that despite the text describing what should clearly be a very traumatic change in Treehorn’s life, he seems to be absolutely unaffected either emotionally or psychologically. He is aware that his clothing has grown roomier on him, but the illustration suggests no anxiety. Even though he continues to grow small over the succeeding days, he still goes about doing everything just as he did before he started shrinking, like watching TV, eating cereal for breakfast, mailing off for boxtop offers from the cereal boxes, and going to school. In none of the illustrations is there any visual imagery at all suggesting an ironic juxtaposition to the text. The verbal description of a kid being relatively cool with suddenly shrinking is confirmed by the deadpan depiction of Treehorn’s little face. This imagery suggests that the anxiety which is created in kids who develop more slowly than normal is the result of external pressures placed upon them rather than developing organically out of their own discomfort.
A Homogenous World
Another use of visual imagery in the accompanying illustrations subtly suggests that kids perhaps don’t really see individual differences in adults in the way that they notice differences among kids. Although not exactly duplicates, there is a distinct physical similarity between Treehorn’s mother and his teacher, and between Treehorn’s father and the school bus driver. Notably, these similarities are not as strongly implied in the case of the principal and his secretary. The driver of the bus is explicitly identified as Treehorn’s “friend,” and elementary school teachers have long been considered mother-figures for young kids. This imagery hints that kids view the world in a more homogenous manner in which most adults tend to all look alike. This is imagery that once again, suggests that the concern placed upon developmental divergence in childhood is overstated by adults.
Mom and Food
Treehorn’s mother is pictured in nine illustrations (not counting one in which just her and her husband’s feet can be seen) and of those nine images, all but one show her either in the kitchen or at the dining room table. The opening scene has her ignoring Treehorn’s discovery that he’s shrinking because her attention is focused on the cake she’s baking. The scenes at the dining room table portray her as being more concerned with her own interests than her son’s actual condition. The only illustration where she is not solidly identified with the domestic duties of preparing food is the final one in which she is selfishly focused on getting Treehorn to comb his hair because company is coming over to play bridge. She fails to notice what the text has just informed the reader: that Treehorn’s face, ears---and yes, his hair—have suddenly turned green. These illustrations combine with the text to become persistent imagery demonstrating that Treehorn’s mother is disconnected from him emotionally and thus presents a possible interpretation that his literally growing smaller is a reflection of how little genuine attention he is receiving from his mother. This suggestion is made visceral with two illustrations of Treehorn eating breakfast. Despite the concrete connection made in the visual imagery between his mother and food, in both illustrations showing Treehorn eating breakfast, his meal consists entirely of cold cereal from a box.
Treehorn is Going to Be Okay
The story ends with the revelation that his sudden shrinkage is directly connected to a board game called “The BIG Game For Kids to Grow On.” Just before he started shrinking, he had been playing the game and was required to move back seven spaces. As he starts playing it again a few days later, he realizes that by moving his game piece forward, he starts becoming bigger. The imagery of where this revelation leads offers insight into Treehorn’s mind that shows him to be the most well-adjusted person in the story. “So he moved the piece ahead slowly from one space to the next, getting bigger with each space, until he was his own regular size again. Then he put the spinner and the pieces and the instructions and the board back in the box.” Rather than taking advantage of the opportunity to develop faster and bigger than the norm and potentially exploit that advantage for nefarious purposes, Treehorn is psychologically ahead of schedule and is perfectly fine with who he is in every sense.
