Animals in Writing

[animals in lit-source]

Introduction: 

 I've been blogging about how to write in a literary fashion.  Someone asked me recently what that even means.  It just means writing with greater than surface meaning.  A lot of literature throughout history has employed animals in their writing.  Animals can be employed to show deeper meaning in a story or poetry. 

[Eden's Snake-source]

Animals-as-animals

Frequently in literature, animals play their conventional role in the lives of human characters.  Dogs, cats, horses, and so on show up in the Bible, in Shakespeare, and in so many other places as an animal, often simply a tool or companion for humans.  Eden is full of animals that later appear on the ark or that fill a lord's menagerie, a farmer's pens, or a child's backyard. In many places, they're just part of the setting, the source of the sounds of mooing, the smells that fill the nose, or the meal on the table. They can give your fictional world its flavor, sometimes literally.  They can also be called on for all the standard symbolism, snakes as sinister, dogs as embodiments of loyalty, foxes as sly creatures, etc. It's a little harder to recreate the symbolism into something less conventional, but many have achieved it.  

[horses-source]

However, their literary capacity comes alive when the writer transforms them into part of the meaning of the book. An animal can be employed to reflect and highlight some aspect of your main character.  In The Three Musketeers, one of the Musketeers shows his carelessness and deep character flaws by gambling away his and the protagonist's horses. Basically, horses mean mobility and power, both of which he loses.  Ivanhoe, meanwhile, is empowered and aided through the loan of a horse.  Likewise, riding a horse in Shakespeare often shows the power, grace, and might of kings and other important characters.  In each case, animals reflect some critical aspect of human characters, who play the primary role in a story.  

[The animal mask-source]

Animals-as-metaphoric-humans

In some works, animals play the part of animals-as-metaphoric-humans. Authors mask some aspect of the human condition or character in the guise of an animal. Stories like Aesop's Fables, Seuss's books, and fantasy novels, among others, feature animals as human-like characters. This kind of story has a long history.  In Aesop's Fables, animals act as human stand-ins.  We are to learn from their stories lessons we can apply in our lives, such as the tortoise who wins the race over a hare through steadiness or the ant whose practical preparation stands in stark contrast to the near-sightedness of the grasshopper.  The reader is meant to learn how to behave based on the animal's actions.

[Puss-source]

The personified animal continued to appear through oral and literary fairy tales, sometimes to show morals and sometimes for other reasons. Puss from "Puss in Boots," for instance, is the main actor, who outsmarts the enemy in order to bring the human character his happily ever after.  The cat, then, would be a stand-in for a clever human. Because of the fictional cover, he does things humans can't or won't do, such as eating the enemy transformed into a mouse, but he shows the reader they can solve problems. It's a melding of fantasy and triumph of the human(ish) spirit. 

[children's books-source]

Animals continue to stand in for the reader into the modern literary era, especially in children's books.  The characters in Green Eggs and Ham, for instance, are clearly meant to seem like an adult and a child having a conversation, though they are both clearly furry and animalistic. Through their whimsical dialogue, the reader learns to have an open mind. Animals-as-humans can teach the reader lessons. The lessons aren't so moralistic in more modern tales, but they're still there.  

[spider-source]

Today

In recent years, editors have taken to discouraging the use of talking animals, but yet, they continue to be available to writers as a literary trope.  In Harry Potter, the spiders act as speaking characters, but they are clearly meant to be alien and other, the dangerous and predatory side of human nature.  Their characterization also complicates the idea of a simple moral.  They are neither clearly good nor truly bad, neither clearly ally nor unequivocally enemy.  Aliens, half-humans, and others that are not human may appear in the same way, as something that is other and yet reflective of some aspect of human nature.  

How do animals appear in your writing, if they do at all?  How can you bring added meaning into your story by employing either animals-as-animals or animals-as-humans-in-disguise?  

               

Balancing Light and Dark

[Balancing light and darkness; source.]

I've been blogging about writing in a more literary fashion.  One thing authors have struggled with is finding the right balance between light and darkness.  Some authors intentionally keep their pieces light.  Modern versions of fairy tales often have almost all light with very little darkness.  Yet the human experience rarely reflects this kind of existence.  If it's a book specifically for children, this makes sense.  But if it's for an older readership, there ought to be some kind of real challenge, some kind of difficulty or experience grappling with the darkness of this world.  If there's no real challenge/struggle/drama, there's no story.  However, a story that is unremittingly dark can overwhelm and turn off many readers.  Part of the point of writing is to entertain and to bring enjoyment to someone's life.  Most people don't find enjoyment when a piece is either all dark or all light. 

[source.]

So where can a writer find that balance?  Part of it is in the genre.  How much light or darkness is appropriate for the genre you're pursuing?  To find this, it's a great idea to read a lot of that genre.  Familiarize yourself with how others balance light and darkness.  Read materials about writing that genre.  You can push the envelope one way or another, but most people have certain expectations for the level of light or darkness and will find the experience of reading your book unpleasant if you stray too far outside the norm. 

[Hamlet]

Shakespeare is a good model for balancing light and darkness.  He writes characters with both light and dark aspects and tends to alternate dark scenes with light scenes.  A good model for this is "Hamlet" with the porter scenes.  We get a heavy, dark scene of Hamlet learning his father was murdered by his uncle, who now inhabits the throne and is married to his mother.  That is immediately followed by the porter scene, the source of the knock knock joke, full of whimsy and humor.  Another source for light would be love, hope, and joy.  However, I once read a book that went predictably back and forth like a wavelength, joy then sadness then joy then sadness then joy then sadness.  It got a little old and redundant. 

[Map your balance; source]

When you have a draft, I would recommend mapping out your areas of light vs darkness.  If it feels like there is too wide a span where it's one or the other, it may be a good idea to lighten the dark scenes with a bit of humor/hope or darken the light scenes with foreshadowing of hardship to come.  This doesn't mean undercut the emotional depth with humor.  It helps when the darkness and light can appear together, one enhancing the other as in a painting. 

[source]

The story needs to be balanced, but the first step is often to balance your characters, particularly hero and villain.  If you have a character who is just too dark with no redeeming characteristics, think of a way to help the reader see their point of view, even if the point of view is not one the reader can condone.  Show his/her humanity.  If you have a character that is so light that he/she becomes a Mary Sue, perfect without flaw, it's time to consider flaws that work within the context of the story.  Snow White is only a perfect Mary Sue in Disney.  In the Grimm Brothers' version, the evil queen reflects Snow White's own vanity, selfishness, and other dark traits back at her.  In destroying the queen, she's symbolically destroying the darkness from her own soul.  It's best when you plan these flaws from the beginning, so the story actually works as a way to help them work through those flaws, so the darkness springs somehow from or relates to the character him/herself.  Jane Austen's Emma highlights a character whose drama and exploits spring out of her own selfishness and ego.  Dr. Jeckyll self destructs--taking many people with him--because of his hubris and his drive to create a perfect world, instead, turning himself into a serial killing creature born of nightmares. 


It's important to figure out what balance would work for your story.  Are your characters a mix of dark and light?  Does this balance keep them intriguing?  Does your story balance dark and light in a way that works in your genre and with your plot line?  If not, it's time to work on it.