Philip Zhang
Human and Animals
Animals, as well as human beings, perform an important role in literature, especially in stories. The relationship between the animal characters and the protagonist in stories has been used in various ways to express emotions or to convey information and implications. For example, animal characters could be used to represent someone or something important to the protagonist, such as the lost ones. The purposes of animal characters in literatures will be analyzed through “The Raven” by Edgar Allan Poe and the photo on the front page. (what photo? What front page?)
In order to analyze the purpose of animal characters in a story, it is crucial to figure out the relationship between the animal characters and the protagonist (unless the protagonist itself is an animal). In the poem “The Raven”, the relationship between the raven and the speaker is changing as the story goes on. When the speaker first saw the raven, his attitude was friendly and happy, as “this ebony bird beguiling my sad fancy in to smiling” (Poe, 8th stanza, 1st line). Then the speaker started to be angry about the raven because it only repeated answering “[n]ever more” despite the questions. Consequently, he wanted it to “[g]et thee back into the tempest and the Night’s Plutonian shore” (Poe 17th stanza, 3rd line). While the relationship between the boy and the dog in the photo seems to be constantly harmony and peaceful. In the photo, they are staring at each other and the boy is holding the dog’s head closely to himself, as if he is going to kiss the dog, which conveys a message that they have strong trust and bond. After knowing the relationships between animal characters and human protagonist, readers can understand the purposes of using animal characters easily.
Animal characters are commonly used as symbols representing something else, including objects, emotions, ideas and implications....