Allegory is a piece of writing that contains a hidden moral or political meaning.
What is allegory? How and why would you use it?
What is allegory?
Allegory is a simple story which has a symbolic and more complex level of meaning. Characters, setting, objects and colours can all stand for or represent other bigger ideas.
Fables and fairy tales
Many fables and fairy tales use allegory, like The Three Little Pigs. The pig that put in the most work builds the strongest house so the allegorical message is that if you work hard, you will see the rewards.
The Greek storyteller Aesop was well known for his fables, which were allegories. In his fable about the ants and the grasshopper, the ants worked hard all summer so they had food for the winter. But the grasshopper sang and danced the summer away, and when winter arrived had no food. The story is an allegory of the importance of working hard and planning ahead.
Political messages
The symbolic meaning of an allegory is often political like Arthur Miller's The Crucible. Accusations of witchcraft are used to explore the anti-communist movement in the USA during the Cold War.
Similarly, George Orwell’s novel Animal Farm is a story in which the main characters are farmyard animals. The novel is an allegory of the Russian Revolution and sees the animals overthrowing the owner of the farm, just as Tsar Nicholas II was overthrown by revolutionaries.
