Talking Animals

It surprised me at first that Contemporary Realistic Fiction is the most popular genre in children’s books. But after reading this it made more sense why contemporary realistic fiction is the most popular genre. It approaches the reality of children’s own lives. They can also connect to it so much easier than other genres.

Animals are all around us - they are valued as pets and an important part of human society. Because of their involvement in our lives, it is important to protect them and their rights as living beings.

Human beings are considered to be the greatest creations that were given knowledge, skills and power to rule over the entire planet. However, at the same time, their relationship with other animals and its implications in human civilization cannot be denied. Historically, it is proven that for thousands of years, human beings have developed close contact with animals who were their means of living and at the same time often, great companions. Considering the great significance of animals in the lives of human beings, often their relationships were portrayed in literature by authors. It was meant to help the global community to have a clear understanding of the impact that animals have in the lives of human beings which is very much significant.

Children’s literature has existed for as long as there have been stories to be told to children. Stories, books, songs, poems are all made for children. Children’s literature does not have a definite definition of what it is; basically, it is anything a child reads (Lerer, 2008). Children begin to learn what reading and writing are used for before even knowing how the system works. Children recognise the function of written language by seeing examples of written language that are being used around them. Many children know the difference between reading and talking, they are aware that written language is used to do things in this world (Emitt, Zbaracki, Komesaroff and Pollock, 2015). Quintilian, John Locke, Saint Augustine and Doctor Seuss speculated on the ways children learn the Australian language and learn about their lives from literature (Lerer, 2008). In fact, Lerer states that “the history of children’s literature is inseparable from the history of childhood, for the child was made through texts and tales he/she studied, heard and told back,” (2008, p.1). Children’s literature nurtures an understanding of narrative structures and visual images played in storytelling, this helps develop

Millions of years ago, humans evolved from primitive animals and transformed into complex, intellectually gifted homo sapiens. Humans today are a lot different than the creatures we originated from, however, homo sapiens still bear animalistic qualities of our earliest ancestors. These animal attributes are commonly expressed in literature. One famous literary example of animal stereotypes is the symbolic brilliance of Aesop’s Fables. The ancient Grecian story teller used animals with human properties to teach lessons about human character and behavior. Similarly, author Walter Mosley uses animals to describe the physical, mental, and emotional qualities of his characters. In the novel, Devil in a Blue Dress, Walter Mosley uses animal symbolism to portray characters Easy Rawlins, Mouse, and Daphne Monet.

Children’s literature is an effective teaching tool for children but also a way for children to escape their daily lives through fantasy. Didactic material can be used to teach life lessons, manners and morals where subversive and fantasy genres can allow children to release from daily expectations and allows an outlet for their large imaginations.

“ Humans have long used animals for a variety of purposes. For hundreds of years, people have hunted for food and clothing. Between 10,000 and 18,000 years ago, humans began to domesticate animals such as dogs, goats, sheep, and chickens as beasts of burden and as food,”(Encyclopedia). Despite animal cruelty humans have used animals to recognize there beauty by painting them in all different types of looks creating master peaces all through history.

In this essay we have discussed the importance of symbolism in the novel and how the animals have similar characteristics to the characters. We discussed that Candy’s dog has similar

Most people think of small animals, such as sheep, as meek and submissive due to their frequent portrayal as innocent characters in children’s stories and folklore; in these same stories, antagonistic characters tend to be fiercer animals such as lions or wolves. However, the children’s movie Zootopia, in which all characters are mammals, shows that this is not always the case. The characters in this film break the stereotypes against them by being different or the opposite of what the audience expects based on their species or occupation within the film. For instance, Judy Hopps solves the case on the missing mammals and why they went savage despite being a “dumb bunny”, and Nick Wilde turns from a sly con artist to the first fox cop. This

The book is very rich in many ways, the “touch and feel” aspect, the combination of playful cartoon like images and beautiful photography for the animals in bold illustrations with multi layered text which introduce what each animal says or love along with an invite to feel a part of each animal. This detail allows children to make the connection and lead to captivate and stimulate babies and young children in many ways. Moreover, the book introduces the animals to babies through delightful illustrations and endearing text, allowing the babies to explore new listening, seeing and touching

In his novel, Life of Pi, Yan Martell uses similar techniques to George Orwell’s Animal Farm in order to explore human nature. Primarily, both authors use anthropomorphism to demonstrate to readers key features of characters’ behaviour. By utilising the stereotypes associated with certain animals, each author allows readers to explore the essential nature of people and of different classes. This anthropomorphism also enables for better understanding of traumatic events. Additionally, through comparisons between humans and animals each author draws different conclusions as to the true nature of humans. Symbolism is then used to explore human hope, with the structure of

Animals are a staple of childhood-- we are surrounded by them from birth into adulthood; hence, the overwhelming mountain of stuffed animals and picture books sifted through at our transition into maturity. Notably, animals appear in a variety of works, from children’s literature to classics like George Orwell’s Animal Farm and Herman Melville’s Moby-Dick. Recently, the scientific community has obsessed itself with identifying a clear, distinctive boundary between humans and animals, while the literary world has challenged scientific thought by blurring the boundaries between the two. In fact, several pieces of literature attempt to eradicate any similarities by presenting readers with a blend of human and animal characters who serve a

Authors anthropomorphize animal characters to allow readers to fully understand an animal’s actions or thoughts. By doing so, the reader is able to comprehend why an animal does a certain action or how an animal behaves towards a human or another animal. One novel that employs anthropomorphism of animals is Yann Martel’s Life of Pi. In the novel, Pi Patel, the main character, is stranded on a boat with a variety of animals. Pi then relates his daily experiences with these animals throughout his journey across the Pacific Ocean, especially with a tiger named Richard Parker. Based on a through reading and analysis of the novel, the use of anthropomorphism is integral to Pi surviving his experience on the open water because it allows Pi to understand how animal behavior can help him survive at sea.

The principal aim of the article is to discuss the phenomenom of zoosemy in George Orwell’s Animal Farm. The theoretical part of the paper briefly presents the basic mechanism of animal metaphor as a linguistic process, followed by an attempt of analysing zoosemic extensions within the conceptual domain of ANIMALS. The emphasis has been laid on certain negative human traits with which animals are endowed, with a special attention devoted to pigs. The analysis carried out in the second part of the article aims at demonstrating how the apparatus of cognitive linguistcs may be applied to literary studies. Certain correspondences between the characters from the novel and their historical prototypes are analysed in the light of animal metaphor – zoosemy has been used as a tool for interpretation and analysis.

Since the beginning of time, humans, and animals have had a deep bond. Though, the bond has changed a lot since the beginning. Humans used to just use animals for things such as hunting, herding, protection, and other similar activities. However, as time progressed, animals began to be used for companionship instead of being used for manual labor. It is said that animals keep humans alert and they are willing to listen without criticizing, which allows humans to easily confide in animals (Wiebe, 2014).