How+the+Woodpecker+Nearly+Drowned+the+Whole+World

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This image is very interesting to me for several reasons. Like most artwork from the Harlem Renaissance period, strong shapes and lines are used to create the image.

There are several striking aspects to this image such as the man in the foreground with slits for eyes. It almost appears that this man is being left behind and will not be taken on the ship, since there is already one man aboard. The man on the ship is directing the animals and deciding who and what gets to enter the ark, almost like the Noah, or Nora, figure.

I selected this artwork to go with “How the Woodpecker Nearly Drowned the Whole World” for obvious reasons. This image is depicting the ark, which the woodpecker would have been aboard. It is interesting that the title of the story is “How the Woodpecker Nearly Drowned the Whole World” to me because the reason the ark was built was because the whole world was already being drowned and only a select number were going to be saved.

I also wanted to try to figure out if woodpeckers symbolized anything in southern literature and found a few interesting facts.

The woodpecker is the state bird of Alabama.

And symbolically woodpeckers have some religious significance. Woodpeckers have been used to [|symbolize] bringer of protection and good fortune and some say the woodpecker can tell the future and presage the weather.

In some ancient German cultures woodpeckers were used to symbolize lightening and thunder. Lightening for the bird’s ability to tear through trees, like a bolt of lightning. And thunder for the loud pecking noises. This can be tied back to the image again, where large bolts of lightning can be seen ripping across the page.

The image of a woodpecker has also been used to symbolize a Christ figure because it eats worms, which are sometimes symbolic of the devil.