Blatherskite

Foolish gibberish

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I am a Children’s Librarian living in the Portland, Oregon area. When I am not Children’s Librianing I like to play with cameras and film. I also like playing the ukulele, knitting, sketching, and hiking.

More on my monkey header

Well, I dug out the book that I was talking about, “Big Secrets” by William Poundstone, as promised. According to this book, the monkey image is taken from The Children’s Apperception Test (CAT). Children are supposed to make up a story to go with the picture. The stories that the children make up help the examiner figure out the child’s personality.

There are some really strange images in this book. I was thinking about scanning them in but I am kind of afraid of breaking copyright (I hope that just having the monkey image above isn’t breaking copyright laws..hmmm). All of the images depict animals in human situation. For example, there is a picture of an adult dog with a puppy over it’s “knee”, spanking it. There is a toilet in the background. Another picture depicts a pregnant cat with an apron. All of them are really rather creepy, I think. I wonder what that says about me ;).

So, the idea is that children make up stories that are about themselves. I suppose the child doing this excercise would identify with the child monkey in the picture. The book states, “The picture inspires thinly veiled autobiographical stories of misbehavior and punishment or treachery at the hands of grownups.” So the two monkeys on the couch are talking about the little monkey behind his back. The Monkey speaking to the child is either punishing the child or making a strong point, it depends on how it’s interpreted.

So Mandrake, in light of all of that, it’s interesting that you identified with the adult monkey speaking to the child… I guess I will just leave it at that 🙂

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7 responses to “More on my monkey header”

  1. ManDrake Avatar
    ManDrake

    Doesn’t seem too strange. It reminded me of my mother and her family judging how she raised me. To this day they consider that she did it wrong, because we grew up and left home. She’s the only one in her family of 6 to raise college graduates and we aren’t dependent on her for our existence. It’s amusing though, drags up a lot of emotions I didn’t know I had on the subject. Must be a new moon or something, everything is getting an emotional response from me the last couple of days.

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  2. Moni Avatar
    Moni

    Gosh, I didn’t mean to drag up emotions..The image does, do that, though, doesn’t it? I wish I could remember what I thought when I first looked at it. I think I had weird feelings of people talking behind my back or something, being that I can be a little paranoid :).

    I might switch out this one and use some of the others in the book. They are so strange and interesting.

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  3. Frank Avatar
    Frank

    Hey there…I want to see that Monkey Header, but it must be white-on-white. I’m using Firefox 1.0.2 and have turned off popup blocker. Just wanted u to know. All the rest is cool…like the SF pix.

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  4. Anonymous Avatar
    Anonymous

    I don’t think the female monkey is the little monkey’s mother. And I don’t think she’s chiding the little monkey because the little monkey seems attentive and even wears a thin smile. Also, he’s leaning into her hand. And she’s holding him up, leaning toward him too. Maybe they are playing a game or she is telling him a story.

    It’s weird because now when I look at the female monkey. She seems to be scooting the little monkey’s rumpus in sort of a mock spank, but it seems playful, not stern. The little monkey certainly doesn’t seem to mind it. He’s not frowning or pulling away from her. If anything, he seems entertained. I think the female’s pointing is part of the story or game because she’s looking down, and not in the direction that she pointing. It’s part of the play. She’s definitely not saying, “Go to your room!”

    I don’t think the little monkey’s parents like the stories she’s telling or the game she’s playing with their son. So, they’re whispering to each other about how she corrupting their child or maybe they’re making fun of how zany, fanciful, and impracticable are the things she telling their boy.

    For some strange reason, I am very sad now. I feel like I lost one of the junior chess tournaments my parents used to make me play. I feel like crying. My chest is hot. I think I’m sweating. Before I reach for the Cleanex, I have to say, “I don’t care what you and mom think, I like her stories!”

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  5. ManDrake Avatar
    ManDrake

    I’m using 1.0.2 Firefox and it’s easy to see right at the top of the page. What OS are you using Frank?

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  6. Frank Avatar
    Frank

    Sorry to respond so late…XP….still playing around with blockers, but still can’t see it.

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  7. Moni Avatar
    Moni

    I may just rescan and redo the image. The detail doesn’t show very well, anyway. I’ll let you know when I do so you can let me know if that fixes it….

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