Allegory

Created:: November 5, 2020 9:58 AM
Forest status:: #soil

An allegory is a story within a story. It has a “surface story” and another story hidden underneath. For example, the surface story might be about two neighbours throwing rocks at each other’s homes, but the hidden story would be about war between countries.

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-- Literary A-Z --
No. 5
ALLEGORY
OK, now we're getting to the meaty stuff.
You know those stories that feel like they holds a hidden message? Well, that's allegory. It's a way to use characters and events to symbolize something deeper, often a moral or political idea. Let's take a look.

Allegory has ancient roots. While not the absolute oldest, Aesop's Fables (around 6th century BCE) are some of the most well-known examples of early allegory. These short, animal-centered stories use clear morals and symbolism to teach life lessons.

But it's not always entirely clear if an ancient story is an allegory or not. Some scholars see allegorical interpretations in Mesopotamian myths like the Epic of Gilgamesh, for example. The story of Gilgamesh's quest for immortality could be seen as representing the human struggle with mortality and the search for meaning in life. Maybe.

There's also the "Tale of the Eloquent Peasant" from ancient Egypt (c. 19th century BCE), which is possibly another early example of allegory. The story, on the surface level, details a peasant's fight for justice against a corrupt official. However, it can be interpreted as an allegory for the struggle between social order and disorder, highlighting the importance of truth and justice. Again: maybe.

You can even argue that certain sections of the Hebrew Bible can be seen as allegorical. For instance, Psalm 80, with its imagery of a transplanted vine, could be interpreted as an allegory for the Israelites' journey and their relationship with God.
Maybe.

The problem is that without a proper knowledge of context, allegory can be hard to spot or even completely misapplied. Who knows if the authors intended these ancient texts to be interpreted as allegorical? Thankfully, as long as we treat these texts primarily as fiction, or as part of an interpretative tradition, it doesn't matter. Meaning is made in the mind. Words are just pretty squiggles on paper and the conversation doesn't begin until we read them.

With more recent texts, however, a little bit of context is easier to get hold of and that can make all the difference. John Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress (1678) tracks Christian's journey to the Celestial City represents the Christian faith. Each obstacle symbolizes a real-world challenge on the path to religious salvation and character names and key moments in the plot ensure it becomes difficult to read it any other way.

But as literature matured, allegory became more subtle. George Orwell's Animal Farm (1945) has become the archetypal modern allegory. The farmyard animals represent the Russian Revolution, with the pigs symbolizing the oppressive Soviet regime, but the story can be enjoyed as equally on the allegorical as the literal level. The allegory allows a critique of totalitarianism while the core story and characterisation can remain as engaging as any other piece of fiction.

Modern allegory often uses less specific allusions to historical events and reflects more ongoing anxieties. Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale (1985) creates a dystopian society of Gilead, where women are controlled, as an allegory for the dangers of religious extremism and the oppression of women, and curiously has lost little of its relevance in the last forty years.

I think allegory can be a really engaging method through which authors can address complex issues in a layered way, inviting readers to participate in the interpretation. It's another of those techniques that makes the reader feel clever by making their interpretation part of the core appeal of the text. Of course, if it's too obvious it can feel blunt and unsatisfying.

I find it a real struggle to get the balance right in my own work. All too often I don't trust my reader enough and the work feels preachy. But more often than not, it's when I just write and stop thinking about it that it works better for me. My theory is that these things come across best when we don't force them and let the subconscious ideas come through naturally rather than intentionally. But, as always, YMMV.

What do you think?