Journal of Xi'an University of Architecture & Technology ISSN No : 1006-7930

ANIMAL SYMBOLISM IN LITERATURE

Franklin Thambi Jose. S*

J. Preethi**

* Senior Lecturer, Faculty of Languages &Communication, Sultan Idris Education University, Malaysia.
** Assistant Professor, Dept. of English, Jayaraj Annapackiam College for Women, Periyakulam, India.

ABSTRACT
Literature starting from its beginning has the usage of symbols. This paved the way to a literary
concept symbolism. It is an art of using an object to describe or represent an abstract. All the
abstract objects mentioned in literature have a symbolic meaning. Symbolism is used in different
ways like colors, animals, birds, real objects, human, etc. In the classical stories one can find the
use of caves, animals etc. and it is evident that the use of animals in our world from thousands of
years ago, to today, has created deep meaning in our lives. The meanings of animals in literary
works can be interpreted in different ways. The writers use animals which help them to write
about subjects that are controversial and sensitive social issues which strengthen and emphasize
their points and fulfil the purpose of their work. Jonathan Swift is one of the writers to use
symbolism in his literary works. In his The Battle of the Books, the spirit of the controversy
caught on towards the end of the seventeenth century is reflected. Dogs are used as symbolism.
They refer to an unruly group of dogs in terms of a republic. He examines the behaviour of dogs
and compares to the writers of the Ancient and the Modern. Moreover, George Orwell’s
Shooting an Elephant describes the reaction of the shooting of the elephant among the natives
and the Europeans in the town. This paper tries to examine the use of symbolism.

Key Words: Symbolism, controversy, animals, interpretation, republic.

Introduction

Literature is an art with words and images. In olden days, people represent their ideas through
images and later it developed as words. Many symbolic words are represented in literature to
denote different issues in the society. Animals too are used for such. Moreover, animals play a
crucial role in writings to reveal hidden messages and to satire politics in those days. It increases

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the narrative effect of the writings and gives the readers a break in the flow as a story in between.
It allows the reader to have a better understanding of a writings meaning and the author’s
objectives. From cave walls depicting animals to classical books and tales that will be discussed,
it is evident that the use of animals in our world from thousands of years ago, to today, has
created deep meaning in our lives. The meanings of animals in literary works can be interpreted
in different ways. The author uses animals which help them to write about subjects that are
controversial and sensitive social issues. Through the use of animals, the authors are able to
strengthen and emphasize their points and fulfil the purpose of their work.

Symbolism

Symbolism is an art to use any type of objects or action or human, etc. to represent the anything
symbolically to admire or satire (Awang, 2007). ‘Symbolism’ is a technique used in literature
when some things are not to be taken literally. The symbolism can be an object, person, situation,
events or actions that have deeper meaning in context. Symbolism is often used by writers to
enhance their writing and give insight to the reader.

This paper tries to depict how the authors had been used to stress their point effectively by using
animal symbolism. In Jonathan Swift’s “The Battle of the Books”, he reflects the spirit of the
controversy caught on towards the end of the seventeenth century. He defends his patron that the
moderns cannot achieve the same excellence which we find among the ancients.

The Battle of the Books

In his essay on The Battle of the Books, the first paragraph concerns the dispute between the
ancients and the moderns for the right to live on the highest peak of Parnassus. Before coming to
the point, the author refers to the interline warfare that goes on among the dogs of the street.
“Dogs” are used as symbolism to refer to an unruly group of dogs in terms of a republic. The
dogs are all the time snarling and barking except when their stomachs are full. He examines the
behaviour of dogs and compares to the writers of the Ancient and the Modern. He states that
sometimes the lucky dog provides his possession with a few others, so that with their help he
might ward off the danger from other discontent dogs. He compares this to the oligarchic system
of government in which the few rule over the many.

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“we may observe in the republic of dogs, which in its original seems to be an
institution of the many, that the whole state is in the profoundest peace after a fall
meal; and that civil broils arise among them in those dissensions we behold upon
a turgescency in any of their female.” (para 1: 13-20)

The republic of the dogs remains in peaceful state after a full meal, but civil broils arise among
them when it happens for one great bone to be seized on by some leading dog who either divides
it among the few or keeps it to himself which arises jealously in other dogs. The author tries to
insist his point that war among men is like the behaviour of dogs of the street.

In the same way, Swift has used “the Spider” in the following paragraphs in the same essay to
prove his satiric efficiency. When he talks on the controversy on the merits of the ancients and
moderns is going on in the library of St. James, he gives an example of the life style of the
“spider and the bee”. The Spider stands for the Modern writers and the bee stands for the Ancient
writers. He portrays the life of the spider how it dwells in a mansion and has swollen up number
of flies which falls on its web. As it happens, a bee unknowingly blunders into the spider’s web
and tries hard to escape from the web, but the web is broken. The author describes the
argumentative conversation between the two as if it is going on between the Ancients and the
Moderns. The spider proudly states that he furnishes his house with a native stock and spins his
web out of himself, whereas the bee depends upon flowers and nature to provide himself with
food. Therefore the bee is a universal plunderer, a vagabond without house, without stock or
inheritance born to no possession but a pair of wings and a drone pipe. The bee replies that
though it collects from flowers to enrich itself, it is doing without hurting the flowers and
without damaging the beauty of the flowers and not reducing the fragrance of the flowers too.
Whereas the spider’s web is no more than a ‘store house of dirt’ enriched by ‘sweepings exhaled
from below and full of venom.’

“born to no possession of your own, but a pair of wings and drone

pipe?....whereas I am a domestic animal, furnished with a native stock within
myself” (p. 11:5-10)

The author tries to say that the Moderns’ writings are like the web which does not have values
and can easily be broken. He interprets the dialogue between the bee and the spider as a dispute

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between the ancients and the moderns. According to him, the spider denotes the moderns through
which the author wants to exhibit that modern literature is made of materials as flimsy as
cobweb, it lacks durability and compared to the spider’s poison.

The bee collects honey from the flowers of the field and the garden, without causing any damage
to them. Likewise the ancients select the most suitable material which will be good and useful
for mankind as the bee produces honey and wax.

Shooting an Elephant

George Orwell’s Shooting an Elephant describes the reaction of the shooting of the elephant
among the natives and the Europeans in the town. He seeks to provide a justification for act of
shooting the elephant through the fact that it had already killed a native coolie.

It is an autobiographical essay which gives an account on how he had served in Burma after
joining in the Indian Imperial Police from 1922-1927 as an Assistant Superintendent of Police.
His experiences as an officer in Burma were bitter. He was a victim of the hostility and injustice
at the hands of his colleagues and officers. He had anti- imperialistic feelings, nut couldn’t
express them openly. It presents the psychological conflict in the mind of Orwell and his sense of
divided loyalties. Orwell’s anti- Imperialistic feelings form the subject of the essay. As its title
indicates, the essay gives an account of the incident of the shooting of an elephant who had gone
‘must’. Orwell has not only narrated this incident objectively. He has also presented an analysis
of the motives for killing the elephant. As he tells us he killed the elephant not only because it
was posing a threat to people’s lives, but also because he had to act as a sahib in order not to be
thought a coward and laughed at by the natives. In fact, he was indirectly forced by the crowd to
kill the elephant much against his wishes. The story is regarded as a metaphor for British
imperialism.

“But in falling he seemed for a moment to rise, for as his hind legs collapsed
beneath him he seemed to tower upwards like a huge rock toppling, his trunk
reaching skyward like a tree.”

Here the elephant rising up before it falls, witnesses the drama of the climactic moment in which
a grand creature is sacrificed for the sake of imperial pride.

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Conclusion

Many writers in literature have used symbolism to represent their ideas. The authors like Swift
and Orwell wanted to represent their voice through their writings by using symbolism to create
effectiveness in the minds of the readers. The capability of narrating is enhanced by using animal
symbolism. It is loved by the readers as if reading fables.

References

Gale, Steven H. (1996). Encyclopedia of British Humorists: Geoffrey Chaucer to John

Cleese, Volume 1. Taylor & Francis

Goneng, Awang, 2007. Growing Up in Trengganu, Singapore: Mansoon Books.

Kearns, James. 1989. Symbolist Landscapes: The Place of Painting in the Poetry and
Criticism of Mallarmé and His Circle. London: Modern Humanities Research Association.

https://www.biography.com/scholar/jonathan-swift

https://www.orwellfoundation.com/the-orwell-foundation/orwell/essays-and-other-
works/shooting-an-elephant dt. 6.4.2020

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