Animal Farm

Allegory

A story that represents abstract ideas or moral qualities. An allegory has both a literal and a symbolic level of meaning. Example: Gulliver’s Travels.

Caricature

An exaggerated flat or static character. Certain features or mannerisms are exaggerated for satirical effect. Example: Napoleon in Animal Farm.

Fable

A short tale that illustrates a message or a moral. Fables usually incorporate elements of non-reality, such as talking animals. Examples: Aesop’s Fables, Animal Farm.

Irony

A perception of inconsistency, sometimes humorous, in which the significance and understanding of a statement or event is changed by its context. Example: The firehouse burned down.

• Dramatic Irony – the audience or reader knows more about a character’s situation than the character does and knows that the character’s understanding is incorrect. Example: In Medea, Creon asks, “What atrocities could she commit in one day?” The reader, however, knows Medea will destroy her family and Creon’s by day’s end.
• Structural Irony – the use of a naïve hero, whose incorrect perceptions differ from the reader’s correct ones. Example: Huck Finn.
• Verbal Irony – a discrepancy between what is said and what is really meant; sarcasm. Example: A large man whose nickname is “Tiny.”

Microcosm

The presentation of a world or society that is supposed to stand for all of humanity. Example: The Greek gods on Mount Olympus, with their jealousies, loves, faults, tricks, and problems, are seen as paralleling human behaviors.

Omniscient Narrator

Third-person narration that allows the author to relate the thoughts and feelings of any of the characters in an all-knowing manner. Examples: Johnny Tremain, 1984.

Parody

A mocking piece of literature that is designed to ridicule the subject in an exaggerated, often sarcastic way. Example: Cervantes’ Don Quixote poked fun at chivalry and its excesses.

This is a parody

Point of View

The position or vantage point, determined by the author, from which the story seems to come to the reader. The two most common points of view are First-person and Third-person. Examples: First-person point of view occurs in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn; the reader receives all information through Huck’s eyes. An example of third-person point of view is Dickens’ Hard Times, in which the narrator is not a character in the book.

Satire

Using humor to expose something or someone to ridicule. Examples: Animal Farm; Gulliver’s Travels.