On Harold’s ‘translucent reality’: a philosophical and religious interpretation of Harold and the Purple Crayon

ABSTRACT

In this paper, one of the most popular children’s picture books, Harold and the Purple Crayon, is examined in terms of philosophical and religious viewpoints. Harold, a young inquisitive boy, seemingly travels in his world in which he finds himself dealing with various situations. Harold’s adventure with his purple crayon reminds us the fundamental philosophical question: What is real, and what is not? The author introduces a new philosophical term, translucent reality, to better understand Harold’s and any other stories in which reality and unreality cannot, and should not, be clearly distinguished. The author proposes that David Johnson Leisk’s story be interpreted as a reformulation of the story of Adam in the Abrahamic religions through an existentialist lens as the story of humanity’s creative recreating itself and its journey in an undetermined environment.

KEYWORDS:

• Harold and the Purple Crayon
• translucent reality
• David Johnson Leisk
• Crockett Johnson
• imagination
• creativity
• narrative

Acknowledgement

The author wishes to thank Denny A. Clark for his valuable suggestions.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

ORCID

Burhanettin Keskin http://orcid.org/0000-0003-0820-0130

Notes on contributor

Burhanettin Keskin is an associate professor in early childhood education program at the University of Mississippi, MS, USA. He teaches classes on cognitive and language development and issues in early childhood education. His research interests include sociological and philosophical approaches to childhood and the use of theory in childhood studies.

Notes

1. To speak of ‘earthly’ and ‘celestial’ is another way of talking about translucency; the celestial is the ‘beyond’ toward which the ‘here and now’ points; it is what is seen ‘through’ what we experience. It is that which is ‘more than’ what is directly encountered.

2. If one looks at Harold ‘flatly’, without translucency, ‘he is alone. He does not have anybody to consult’. However, once he, his world, and his story are recognized as translucent, it is clear that he is not alone. He already functions in relationship to the ‘beyond’, in relationship to the ‘more than’. He is not a solipsist – and translucency is the way that becomes clear. His production/projection of an ‘external consciousness’ is the result of his already-existing experience of traveling in a meaningful direction.

3. In Quran, there is no explicit reference to the forbidden fruit but ‘“the tree” forbidden to eat from’ (see 20:120).

4. It is important to note that the notion of going from the Garden to earth is Qur’anic one, not a Biblical one. Both Judaism and Christianity have generally viewed the Garden as an ‘earthly’ location. The Muslim and Jewish interpretation of this notion, does not communicate the sense of ‘sin’, but the ‘fall’ is into ‘human condition’, which is full of life as we know it, filled with vagueness and unintended consequences of decision making, along with a sense of magnificence and purpose. This condition very much fits Harold's story. Regarding the royal, ruling, kingly element of Harold, the notion of humans as God's vicegerent (Islam) or representative (expressed by the term ‘image of God’ in Genesis) conveys the idea that humans ‘rule’ on behalf of God, and are, thus, responsible to God (i.e. humans are to be ‘translucent’ to something which is ‘beyond’ them, and are part of a much larger ‘whole’, which cannot be clearly defined or explained).

5. Christian iconography of this story has generally portrayed the fruit as an apple, but neither the Bible nor Qur’an claim this.

6. Again, this is a common Muslim interpretation, not shared by most Jewish and Christian interpreters.

7. See ‘Harold and the Purple Crayon: The line as a generative force’ by Phillips (2008) for an intriguing comparison between a poet and Harold.

8. These images are available at http://www.k-state.edu/english/nelp/purple/biography.html.