Show and Tell: Description

This week I brought in a book of cartoons done by Sam Gross, of The New Yorker Magazine fame. I have a decent size collection of comic/ cartoon type books; I have always had an affinity for toons. My favorite artist is Gary Larson of The Far Side, I have all of his galleries and he has greatly inspired my own drawing. I brought in Gross’ book titled: An Elephant is Soft and Mushy. It is a gallery of work published by Avon Books in 1982. Thinking about what to bring in for the assignment I found myself looking through my bookshelves. I knew I would find something cool there. My copy was pressed between a book on how to design Celtic Knot work and a book on pottery. When I read the binding I pulled it out and read the title. I quickly perused the pages and thought it would be perfect to bring to class, not just for the assignment but because it’s a really cool book.

Elephants aren’t soft and mushy. Everyone knows an elephant isn’t soft, I have never touched one but when you look at it you can get a good idea that the largest land mammal does not feel like hot mashed potatoes. An elephant is hard, an elephant is rough, an elephant is thick, an elephant is strong and an elephant is wrinkly. Could an elephant be soft and mushy?

While looking through the book, which is very funny, you will see the comic that relates to the title. It is a drawing of an elephant with several men feeling and grabbing different parts of the beast. The men are blind, this is evident because they are all wearing dark glasses, and each one has a word bubble above their heads. One guy is clutching its tail; he says, “An elephant is like rope” another is holding the elephants leg saying, “an elephant is like a tree trunk.” 5 blind guys, five separate body parts being felt and five different descriptions of what they perceive as an elephant. However, off to the side one of the guys is feeling a pile of the elephant’s poop and he says, “An elephant is soft and mushy.” Brilliant.

In a cartoon as simple as this, one page, no color, simple drawings, Gross makes an excellent point. Description has no specific answer; it is all about perception. This comic/title makes you think. Vision has an enormous impact on how we perceive things, obviously but what if you were able to see things differently? An elephant is not just a beautiful yet imposing creature, it is like a tree truck, it is like rope and it is his poop.

Another element that I found cool was the sunglasses on the characters. How does the reader know they are blind? Nothing says they are blind, it is not written or stated or anything, the dark glasses imply something to the reader and it is up to you to decide these are blind people. The subtly and cleverness of this comic are great examples of description for creative people. The message is clear, although it expects the reader to think, simple and fun to read.