That's certainly one possible interpretation!

Notice also the clothing, facial expression, and body position.

"Color has an effect on us all: it communicates meaning in its very being, irrespective of image or theme."

from: Sister Wendy Beckett. The Story of Painting. New York: Dorling Kindersley, 1994, p. 375.

"My mother always had the three children with her for a time in the late afternoon. My little brother Ellie adored her, and was so good he never had to be reproved. The baby Hall was always called Josh and was too small to do anything but sit upon her lap contentedly. I felt a curious barrier between myself and these three. My mother made a great effort; she would read to me and have me read to her, she would have me recite my poems, she would keep me after the boys had gone to bed, and still I can remember standing in the door often with my finger in my mouth, and I can see the look in her eyes and hear the tone of her voice as she said, 'Come in, Granny.' If a visitor was there she might turn and say, 'She is such a funny child, so old-fashioned that we always call her Granny.' I wanted to sink through the floor in shame."

from: The Autobiography of Eleanor Roosevelt. Boston, MA: G. K. Hall, 1984, p. 8-9. [ original copyright 1937]

This is an excerpt from a discussion on Eleanor during a distance education course on Gender and Culture in Children's Picture Books

From:
Eloise Costello (rcostell@home.com)
Date:
Sunday, March 28, 1999 10:34 PM

I saw the delicate blending of the artistic and textual elements evident on each page. I'd like to comment on the choice of the color blue when ER went to Allenswood. I looked in my notes from the Cupid and Psyche Course and found Guerin's, A Handbook of Critical Approaches to Literature. In the section about archetypes, blue is described as "usually highly positive, associated with truth (true blue as you said), religious feeling, security, spiritual purity (the color of the Great Mother or Holy Mother)." When ER went to Allenswood, she began to discover her true self that had been buried for so long, to realize her potential and to develop confidence.

Eleanor by Barbara Cooney is a wonderful insight into the youth of an intelligent, articulate American woman. I have always loved biographies and historical fiction because you can have a delightful readingexperience and learn so much at the same time.

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