AN ARCHETYPAL EXPLORATION INTO THE USE OF PICTORIAL AND ANTHROPOMORPHIC ILLUSTRATIONS IN SELECTED NIGERIAN CHILDREN’S TEXTS

Abstract

This study, an archetypal exploration into the pictorial and anthropomorphic illustrations of selected Nigerian Children’s texts, peruses Olajire Olanlokun’s Mother Horse and Akachi Adimora’s Asa and the Little Stream in order to ascertain the psychical effects the aforementioned aesthetic features have on the child reader. The study aims at showing that Nigerian Children’s texts can be viewed from an angle beyond the traditional aesthetic and didactic parlance. Thereupon, the study adopts the Jungian module of psychoanalysis whereby the Mother archetype is espoused. Thus ten randomly selected children within ages five to twelve were sampled through an unstructured interview vis-a-vis two reading clubs in Yola, Adamawa State. Observation technique was deployed to ascertain the level at which pictorial and anthropomorphic illustrations affect the child’s psyche. The study presages that the inevitable presence of pictorial and anthropomorphic illustrations suffused in Nigerian Children’s literature are not only expedient condiment in the dissemination of the information contained in the texts, but that pictures and anthropomorphism as contained in children’s texts, offer familiar symbols that exert psychical effects on the child’s developmental process. The study concludes that the identification and imprint of the mother archetype as represented in the selected texts are affectively piqued and soldered in the psyche of the child through the endearing charm of the pictures and anthropomorphism.