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Defining Allegory

Defining Allegory. Using the Strategies of Definition. Allegory.

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Defining Allegory

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  1. Defining Allegory Using the Strategies of Definition

  2. Allegory • An allegory is a literary device in which characters or events represent or symbolize other ideas and concepts. As an extended metaphor, an allegory might entertain readers with realistic characters and exciting plots that actually represent a different, hidden meaning. The purpose of an allegory is to make people think about human nature or historical events in a new and meaningful way.

  3. Which Strategy? • One allegory, The Lorax entertains young people with a somewhat suspenseful story about a greedy Once-ler who uses up all the truffela trees and pollutes the air and water just to make a lot of money. The hidden meaning in the Dr. Seuss story is that humans need to take care of their environment, replanting our renewable resources so that they are not used up and polluted. Even the book Lord of the Flies presents an allegory on the human conflict between savage-like instincts and proper, controlled behavior. The movie “Avatar” presents an historical allegory of how Europeans took over and conquered Native American territories throughout the North American continent.

  4. Literary allegories do not present their ideas and concepts upfront in frank language. Walt Whitman never mentions the name Abraham Lincoln, nor does he use the words “Civil War” in his poem “O Captain. My Captain!” yet these are the ideas symbolized. Allegories are designed to make people think about their hidden ideas, not to “spell them out” boldly and obviously using candid and forthright rhetoric.

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