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Jack Sprat Could Eat No Fat
Elephants - Allusion to Body Image?
This illustration depicts Jack and his wife as elephants. Were elephants chosen
for this rhyme as a criticism of their size or their dietary habits? Mrs.
Sprat is shown a bit fatter than Mr. Sprat, even though they are both elephants.
They sit sideways at a table obviously ready to eat but with no food there,
and they too hold a clean platter image between them. In this illustration,
as in the previous one, the Sprat's attire is equally semiformal, making
no commentary to diet affecting life circumstances or personal grooming.
In his black suit, Jack stands out against the softwarm colors of the rest
of the image. One wonders what the illustrator had in mind with the artwork
above their heads. Is the use of apples over the male and pears over the
female a reference to stereo-typical body-type images? What do the sheep
symbolize? Are they the depiction of the kind of meat that might be shared
without having to show herbivores eating meat?
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