Discuss why parables and fables are allegories

Fables are a subcategory of allegories, as are parables. Both probably are characterized by shortness. All three categories are forms of writing, art, or spoken utterance that encourage readers to look for meanings beyond what is said. As for the difference between fable and parable: the fable, as the OP says, has animals, plants, or objects acting. It therefore has to anthropomorphize, while a parable draws its images from human interaction mostly.

Therefore a fable most the time is more schematic in build and easier to decipher. Parables often allow for different ways of deciphering. Looking at Kafka, Brecht, or biblical parables, it is clear that there is often a key, hint, or explanation needed to decipher the parable. This might be because a fable describes something that is naturally not possible, as the actors are anthropomorphized, creating its moral effect using striking simplification, while the parable describes a naturally possible incident, allowing for more complexity due to acquaintance, creating its moral or parabolic effect through surprise.

Fable and parable therefore have much in common and overlap greatly. Sign up to join this community. The best answers are voted up and rise to the top. Stack Overflow for Teams — Collaborate and share knowledge with a private group. Create a free Team What is Teams? Learn more. What are the differences between "allegories", "fables" and "parables"? A story in which a human interacts with a talking animal would be considered a fable, due to the non-realistic story.

The other significant difference between the two is that parables almost always have a religious or spiritual aspect to them. While fables can teach moral and ethical lessons about how to behave, or how to treat others, for example , parables include those sorts of lessons, but also deal with larger spiritual truths such as heaven, or one's relationship with God.

The most famous examples of fables are obviously Aesop's. Many modern writers such as Orwell, Kafka and Dr. Seuss use aspects of fables in their work. And many modern stories share the traits of fables, although with much more complex storylines such as Orwell's "Animal Farm," and Pixar films like "Toy Story" and "Cars". Secular examples of parables again go as far back as Aesop.

Jewish culture is full of parables, as in the writings of Isaac Bashevis Singer. As Jewish theologians and professors Wilhelm Bacher and Jacob Zallel Lauterbach write: "The Talmudic writers believed in the pedagogic importance of the parable.

Considered to be a primary method of his teachings, Jesus used many parables to reach his followers. Ted Hann has been writing since He is a television casting director based in Southern California. Myth is applied to a type of brief allegory used especially by Plato in expounding a difficult philosophical conception. Such myths are, as a rule, invented and their characters and incidents are purely imaginary. In a fable the moral is usually clearly stated at the end.