Food
Treehorn’s mother is seen cooking food, eating food, or cleaning the refrigerator in all but one of the illustrations featuring her. In the opening scene in which Treehorn first realizes he is shrinking, her attention is entirely focused upon the cake which she later serves as dessert that night. She does not offer any advice to her son about his getting smaller and, in fact, usually either overlooks it entirely or views it only through a selfish perspective focused on how it affects her. The only advice that can even remotely be considered motherly advice on the subject of her son’s shrinking is the utterly pointless non-sequitur to “Finish your carrots, Treehorn.” As a result, food becomes a symbol of parental self-interest representing anything that takes attention away from their children.
Bad Logic
Treehorn’s father is initially as oblivious as his wife to the sudden change in his son. He quickly pivots to a state of denial when informed that Treehorn is getting smaller. Upon having to grudgingly admit that his son is shrinking, he leaps to the conclusion that his son has control over this strange situation and therefore he might be doing it on purpose. This leap in logic symbolizes the thought processes that often impacts a parent upon realizing their child in lagging behind the norm in development. The initial reaction is usually denial and when that becomes impossible, it is very often dismissed as intentional or somehow something the child can control. The father’s suggestion that Treehorn is getting smaller “just to be different” is symbolically equitable to the suggestion that a child with dyslexia has control over the ways letters in a word get jumbled.
Moshie
Moshie is another kid that the narrator describes quite specifically as “one of his friends” in reference to his relationship to Treehorn. When Treehorn asks Moshie for help in mailing a letter because he can no longer reach the mailbox, however, Moshie responds more like a bully even to the extent of calling him stupid several times. Moshie is symbolic of those who make themselves feel bigger by verbally belittling others.
Dog Whistle
Treehorn likes to send away for prizes offered on the boxtops of his favorite cereals. The offer on the box of the cereal he is currently working his way through is for a special type of whistle that only dogs can hear. He doesn’t actually have a dog himself, but likes the idea of having a whistle that only be heard by dogs. In fact, he likes the idea of having a whistle even dogs can’t hear it. The whistle symbolizes Treehorn’s utter lack of judgment about the worth of things other than the pleasure he can find it. Even a whistle that makes a sound he can’t even hear is of worthwhile to him despite it not meeting expectations of a what a whistle should do.
Treehorn
Treehorn’s name is symbolic because it is unusual. The unique aspect is only mentioned once, by this friend the bus driver who, failing to recognize the much smaller than usual Treehorn, assumes he is his younger brother. He questions why parents would give two kids the same name and concludes it is possibly because they could not come up with any other name once they had come up with Treehorn. This particular aspect of his conclusion directly comments upon the symbolic nature of the name. He is suggesting that the parents used up all their originally and innovative thinking in naming their son and, by suggestion, that creativity is actually embodied in their son. The name therefore symbolizes all the inherent qualities of personality that make Treehorn completely unique.
