literary allegory
Story with meaning
A literary allegory is a narrative in which characters, events, and settings represent abstract ideas or moral concepts beyond their literal meaning.
The story operates on two levels simultaneously: a surface plot and a deeper symbolic meaning that readers are meant to decode.
Classic examples include Bunyan's *Pilgrim's Progress*, where a journey represents the Christian soul's path to salvation, and Orwell's *Animal Farm*, where farm animals enact the corruptions of political revolution.
The novel works as a literary allegory for environmental destruction.
- symbolismRepresenting concepts through images
- hidden meaningUnspoken message beneath surface
- moralityRight and wrong principles
- everymanOrdinary representative person
- Pilgrim's ProgressAllegorical journey to salvation
spiritual journey · Dante's Inferno · metaphor · extended metaphor · parable · moral tale · religious texts · paradox · archetypes · political satire · emblem · symbolic imagery · Animal Farm · Spenser · mythology · moral instruction · good vs evil · personification
- allegoriesfable, parable, Animal Farm, Pilgrim's Progress, Everyman
- allegoryAnimal Farm, Narnia, The Little Prince, Bunyan, morality plays
- Asian beastsdragon, tiger, ox, rat, rabbit
- ParzivalFisher King, Middle High German
literary allegoryrealism
Accepting things as they are
verisimilitude · naturalism · social realism · reportage · autobiography
literary allegoryescapist fiction
Entertainment through imaginary worlds
pulp fiction · beach read · page-turner · potboiler · light entertainment