What do you think of allegory? I suppose it is a massive metaphor that should be used to make a story more easily understood or beautiful.... Or you could skip the pretentiousness and just say what you want to say. For example, there's a story I want to tell. It's got nations and all this political stuff. If you're smart, you might sense that my nations are remixes and mish mashes reminiscent of real world nations. So why don't I just call them by their real world counter parts? Well they're not exactly their real world counterparts. But they're not completely different either. Seems pretentious.
That's not exactly what Allegory means... sorta based on real events doesn't cut it ... an allegorical tale is more like say Orwells animal farm , or the suggestion that Watership down was an allegory to super power relations (with Efrafa being Nazi Germany or Soviet russia) something Adams always denied
I use them all the time, because as a 46 year old, I am often trying to describe years of life experience in a way that my students can understand, so they do not make the same mistakes I do. I do this by talking to them, but also in the form of weekly class newsletters. I use them all the time...staff, students, essays...it gets my point across with brevity! As a writer, an allegory is a great tool to have because its a way to SHOW instead of tell. Yes, I can simply make a statement in my story that says, "slow and steady wins the race", but that is TELLING. Crafting a story about the Tortoise and the Hare, is a way to SHOW the concept of slow and steady winning the race. That also happens to be an allegory! As for when to use them? I call that my "Stop and Pet The Dog" moments. This is when I spend a little time letting the reader get to know the character a little better. With an allegory being a tool, I can slow down the pace of the story a bit, and through well crafted dialog, have a character use an allegory. It need not be a lengthy exchange however. This is an excellent way to show that a character is incredibly intelligent, or to add a bit of a surprise to a nit-wit of a character, thus adding depth.
Thank you very much. I suppose in some way, the answer is something I already know, but I struggle to contend with given my dualistic mind, since I tend to construct and deconstruct art with a scientific mind. Of course, perhaps it depends on whether I'm writing a beautiful fiction or a manifesto. How hidden should your allegory be? How obvious? Sometimes I worry that people will read my work and think, "Well this obviously represents factions and ideas in religion or oppressed demographics or current nations, so why don't I just turn on the news instead?" Again, I suppose the answer is just that I'm supposed to make it all digestible and beautiful and give my personal opinion on it all. That's why they picked up my manuscript.
