Talking animals in fiction
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Utility of talking animals in fiction
The use of talking animals enables storytellers to combine the basic characteristics of the animal with human behavior, to apply metaphor, and to entertain children as well as adults.
Realistic/non-fictional animals
In textual representations the creature retains its original form, other than being able to speak. Sometimes it may only speak as a narrator for the reader's convenience. The rabbits in
Fables
The tradition of using talking animals in stories dates as far back as 550 BCE with the Greek Aesop’s Fables. The Panchatantra, a collection of Indian animal fables, is another early example. Both use talking animals for didactic purposes.[4] More recent fables like Sarah Trimmer’s History of the Robins (1786) use talking animals to instruct children on how to behave in society as well as how to maintain the social order.[4] They also reiterate the superiority of humans to animals which is why humans are responsible for caring for animals.[4]
Animals in religious texts
The talking creature concept is featured within much traditional literature, and several mythologies, including
In the Qur’ān, animals are seen as gifts from God and thus are meant to serve humans.[5] Aside from a few animals being able to speak, they are never anthropomorphized, personified, or given names.[5] There are only a handful of times that animals speak in the Qur’ān and most of these occurrences happen in relation to Solomon.[5] For example, it is a hoopoe (a bird native to Africa, Asia, and Europe) that tells King Solomon of Queen Sheba’s idolatrous ways.[5]
Native American/indigenous texts
In Native American mythology, animals are integral to human survival and thus a part of the Native American family/community.[6] Distinctions between humans and animals are more fluid.[6] In these stories animals represent the ability to adapt and serve as mentors and guides.[6] For example, in Louise Erdrich’s book Chickadee the protagonist is saved by a Chickadee, who instructs him in finding food and water, after he escapes a kidnapping.[6]
Other examples of Native American works with talking animal stories include How I Became a Ghost, Keepers of the Earth, and The Orphan and the Polar Bear, just to name a few.[2]
Wilderness coming-of-age stories
In the Disney franchises of The Jungle Book and Tarzan, Mowgli along with Shanti and Ranjan can talk to the animals (such as a sloth bear, an elephant, a black panther, a tiger and a python) in the jungles of India, and Tarzan along with Jane and her father can talk to the animals: gorillas and elephants in African jungle.[citation needed] Out of the animals, Sabor the leopard does not speak.
In the French feral child comic book Pyrénée, Pyrénée can talk to the forest animals in the French mountains of Pyrenees.
In Go, Diego, Go! and Dora the Explorer, Dora and her cousin Diego can talk to the animals in the rainforest.
Naturalist animal fiction
Animal fictions with more conservation-oriented themes allow young readers to engage with challenging messages at a safe distance. For example,
Animal autobiography
Fictional works told from an animal’s perspective, like the horse in
Animal satire
For some authors talking animals, rather than human characters, allowed them to publish their satirical commentary by protecting them from censure. Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales and Orwell’s Animal Farm are some of the most famous examples of this.[4]
Contemporary fiction
Contemporary novels such as Alexis Wright's The Swan Book, Colin McAdam's A Beautiful Truth, Erin Hortle's The Octopus and I and Laura Jean McKay's The Animals in That Country show animal voices alongside human characters. These novels portray animals as equally deserving of a place in the narrative.
Fantastical creatures
Most people in the industries of professional illustration, cartooning, and animation refer to these types of creature characters as talking animals[7] funny animals,[8][9] or anthropomorphic characters.[10]
Fairy tales
Many
Whether shape-shifted or merely having the magical ability to speak, the talking creature is perhaps the most common trait of fairy tales. The motif is certainly present in many more tales than fairies.[11]
Science fiction
A good example of the science fiction genre is the
Toy stories
Animated toys in fictional works are popular for expressing human developmental and existential concerns.
Fantasy
Anthropomorphism of animals is common in the fantasy genre.
See also
- Anthropomorphism
- Furry fandom
- Talking animals in science fiction
- Uplift (science fiction)
References
- ^ a b c d e f g h Foster, John; Rahn, Suzanne; Whitley, David (2001). "Animals in Fiction". The Cambridge Guide to Children's Books in English. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press: Ed. Victor Watson.
- ^ a b c Mathis, Janelle B. "Animal Stories." Continuum Encyclopedia of Children's Literature. Eds. Bernice E. Cullinan and Diane Goetz Person. London, UK: Continuum, 2005. Web.
- ^ S2CID 216435756.
- ^ OCLC 57173551.
- ^ a b c d Eisenstein, Herbert. "Animal Life." Encyclopaedia of the Qurʾān. Ed. Jane Dammen McAuliffe. Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill, 2007. Web.
- ^ Project MUSE 840213.
- ^ Katalin Orban, Ethical Diversions: The Post-Holocaust Narratives of Pynchon, Abish, DeLillo, and Spiegelman, New York, London: Routledge, 2005, p. 52.
- ^ "Funny Animals Comics and Books". comicbookplus.com. Retrieved 21 August 2023.
- ^ "Jestful Nicknames". Funny Names. Retrieved 18 October 2023.
- ^ M. Keith Booker (ed.), Comics through Time: A History of Icons, Idols, and Ideas, Santa Barbara, California: ABC-CLIO, 2014, pp. 177.
- ^ Stith Thompson, The Folktale, p 55, University of California Press, Berkeley Los Angeles London, 1977
- ^ JSTOR j.ctt1dszwh6.5.
- ^ Bolat, Dorris, M. "Jestful nickname". Retrieved 29 November 2021.
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: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - ISBN 978-4-06-178721-6.
Further reading
- Blount, M. Animal Land: The Creatures of Children's Fiction. William Morrow & Company, 1975. 336 p.
- Cosslett, T. Talking animals in British children's fiction, 1786-1914. Ashgate Publishing, Ltd., 2006. 205 p. ISBN 978-0-7546-3656-4
- Elick, C. Talking Animals in Children's Fiction: A Critical Study. McFarland, 2015. 258 p. ISBN 978-0-7864-7878-1
- Clute, John; Grant, John (1997). OCLC 35978500.
- Morgenstern, J. "Children and other talking animals". The Lion and the Unicorn. 2000. 24.1. pp. 110–127.
- Speaking for animals: Animal Autobiographical Writing. Ed. by Margo DeMello. New York: Routledge, 2012. — 274 p. ISBN 978-0-415-80899-6
- Talking Animals Or Humans in Fur?: A Study of Anthropomorphic Animals in Illustrated Children's Literature. Victoria University of Wellington, 1998. 86 p.
- Teupe, L. The Function of Animals in Fairy Tales and Fables. GRIN Verlag, 2014. 12 p. ISBN 978-3-656-57197-1.
- Ziolkowski, J. M. Talking animals: Medieval Latin beast poetry, 750-115. University of Pennsylvania Press, 1993.
External links
- Media related to Talking animals in fiction at Wikimedia Commons