Fables and Allegories

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Fables and Allegories

• Introduction to Animal Farm
• Part II

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The Ant and the Grasshoppera Fable
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The Ant and the Grasshopper

• In a field one summer's day a Grasshopper was
  hopping about, chirping and singing to its
  heart's content. An Ant passed by, carrying along
  with great toil an ear of corn he was taking to
  the nest.

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The Ant and the Grasshopper

• "Why not come and chat with me," said the
  Grasshopper, "instead of toiling and moiling in
  that way?"
• "I am helping to store up food for the winter,"
  said the Ant, "and I recommend you to do the
  same."

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The Ant and the Grasshopper

• Why bother about winter? said the Grasshopper.
  We have got plenty of food at present. But the
  Ant went on its way and continued its toil.

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The Ant and the Grasshopper

• When the winter came the Grasshopper found itself
  dying of hunger, while it saw the ants
  distributing, every day, corn and grain from the
  stores they had collected in the summer.

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The Ant and the Grasshopper

• Then the Grasshopper knew...
• It is best to prepare for the days of necessity.

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A fable usually

• is very short
• features nonhuman characters who have been
  personified to an extreme
• such as animals, plants, inanimate objects,
  mythical creatures or forces of nature
• ends with a short moral lesson

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Aesop

• Probably the most well known writer of fables is
  Aesop, who lived in Ancient Greece.
• He wrote The Ant and the Grasshopper and lots
  of other fables still popular today.

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Quotations from Aesop

• Dont cry over spilt milk.
• Dont count your chickens before theyve hatched.
• Beware the wolf in sheeps clothing.
• Appearances are often deceiving.
• Birds of a feather flock together.
• Slow and steady wins the race.

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Allegory

• An allegory is an artwork in which every part has
  at least two meanings
• the literal meaning
• and a symbolic meaning

Many fables are also allegories.
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The Ant and the Grasshopperan Allegory, too!

• Literal Meaning Symbolic Meaning
• The Ant
• Corn
• The Grasshopper
• Summer
• Winter

Hardworking People
Work / Preparation
Short-sighted People
Opportunity Time
Hard Times
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Modern Fables

• Two modern writers of fables are James Thurber,
  who wrote The Shore and the Sea, and George
  Orwell, who wrote Animal Farm.

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Animal Farm

• Animal Farm is both
• a fable (with animals!)
• and an allegory
• (of the 1917 Russian Revolution).