Animals and humans have a complicated relationship. Sometimes, they are friends, like an owner and pet. Sometimes animals may be enemies, such as for hunting, or when the animal hunts people. However, animals and humans can coexist, as a bird on the tree outside somebody’s house does. With so many relationships between humans and animals, the authors of children’s literature make no difference. They have included animals in the stories, and have expressed the ideas of animals and humans through symbolism and other literary devices. Four short stories especially make an example of such animal symbolism and metaphors. “The Fish Story” written by Mary Lou Brooks explores responsibility through the babysitting of Jaws the goldfish and Ernie, a boy with a bad history of doing a bad performance in summer jobs. Lob’s Girl written by Joan Aiken experiences the touching relationship between Sandy, a teenage girl and her dog, Lob, who is a German Shepherd. Gombei and the Wild Ducks is a Japanese folktale where Gombei, a trapper, tries to catch 100 ducks at once, but fails to and becomes a duck. Aaron’s Gift shows freedom as a pigeon flying away from the grasp of human hands, flying away to safety, while Aaron, the main character, stands up to the older boys in the gang. With so many examples on how people can be a friend, enemy, or coexisting with animals, these animals also are characters in children’s literature.
Animals are commonly used to deliver themes relating to education that are not easily expressed through a simple action or dialogue. Authors often use symbolism as a tool to signify themes, often because the theme is complicated and cannot be represented easily. It is a wonder that people are not willing to hear the universal truth directly. Mostly, people would prefer to get the message from the story which has a hidden meaning in which people have to figure out. In Gombei and the Wild Ducks, Gombei was a very selfish and lazy man, thinking that he could catch 100 ducks all at once and rest for 99 days. Because of his piggish and greedy desires, he turned into a duck himself which was just the opposite. If he had given up on the 99 ducks, he could’ve rested for 98 days, even though it wasn’t as much. This is the exact example of a fable concerning the themes of greed, which ultimately caused Gombei’s transformation to a wild duck himself. His desires of greed and laziness overcame him. In The Fish Story, Ernie learns to be responsible by taking care of the fish even though the fish was dead, and also bought another fish to take the place of him. THis shows his ability to cope with bad situations and find a new way to solve problems. The performance that Ernie showed in that job was impressive, although he had failed in many summer jobs. He used his own money and his own ingenuity to figure out how to make a good performance in the summer job. Although he finally knew that he wasn’t at fault, he has successfully found a way to find a new way to solve problems. The story Aaron’s gift displays the simple and valuable concept of freedom through the characters of Pidge and Aaron. Aaron lets Pidge go, and accepts the beating by himself, meaning that he was willing to keep Pidge safe, even if he had to get beat up and Pidge escape. Aaron didn’t want to let Pidge go, knowing that his grandma would let it go anyway. Also, he didn’t want it to be burned and beaten also, so he placed another in front of himself. Animals can deliver educational themes about how to be a good person.
Authors make use of animals in literature by representing the sheer might of humans and animals relationships. Instead of illustrating the relationship through dialogue and imagery, they can include it as part of their plot. This allows readers to recognize the strength of the pet and owner relationship, where people often overlook. In Lob’s Girl, Sandy recognizes Lob’s love toward her, willing to walk 400 miles just to meet her again. This is often perceived as strange, but Sandy successfully identifies the love that Lob has shown for her. She accepts it and really loves the attention. When Lob was able to walk 400 miles to meet Sandy in Cornwall, it is clearly displayed that Lob loved Sandy, and Sandy loved Lob Back. When Lob died, Lob’s soul came back to save Sandy so that she wouldn’t die too. They really loved each other. In Gombei and the Wild Ducks, the relationship with the wild ducks is apparent. Gombei and the wild ducks coexist, whilst Gombei traps ducks, only one at a time to eke out a living for him. In truth he had a really good job because there were lots of ducks and they were stupid and easy to trap. Though he was not rich and all, he was really greedy, which made him think of the idea of trapping 100 ducks at once. He caught 99 but he didn’t catch a hundred. In Aaron’s gift, he had a love for a pigeon, Pidge. This is caused by the fact that he saved it and healed it himself because he wanted it as his Grandmother’s gift. Aaron was really selfless to be bullied himself and in turn not get Pidge to die. This is really important to his grandma because she was really sensitive about the Cossacks and freedom of religion. To her, freedom meant everything. In The Fish Story, Ernie was very afraid about what happened to Jaws because he thought that he had killed it by not feeding it. However, it was already dead, so he bought a new one. This was really bad to Ernie, but it surprisingly turned out good. Ernie, although dishonest, had a really great way to solve the goldfish problem. He was really smart to think of it. People need to be truthful, but also have ingenuity. Animals can be used to show the strength of human and animal relationships.
Irony and literary devices are also used in animal and pet stories, where they add a playful tone. These pets and animals add a funny spark to the story, so that the story can be read with both a moral attitude and energetic tone. Although some stories may be sad, animals are the characters that the author enacts irony upon. In Lob’s Girl, the irony is the bond. The deep bond between Sandy and Lob is what causes Lob’s death. Lob instinctively stayed with Sandy, so instead of saving himself, he died for Sandy. The relationship is supposed to act so that they help each other, not to die because of the bond. The bond was supposed to keep each other alive. That is the irony. The irony in Aaron’s gift is that when Pidge is supposed to be with his grandmother, he flies away. Such irony is called situational irony, where the events are different from what the character originally wanted. Aaron wanted Pidge to be his Grandmother's gift, as she loved birds more than anything. Even though it was really tragic to have Aaron beat up and Pidge Escape, his grandma understood it. In Gombei and the Wild Ducks, the irony was that he turned into the last duck, which wasn’t Gombei’s starting notion. He wanted to catch all 100 ducks because he was lazy. Gombei really should have not caught 100 ducks and been so persistent. If he stopped at 99, or even just kept catching 1 per day, he would have never been so bad, such that he became another wild duck. The irony in the Fish Story is that when he thinks he is going to have no job, he actually has one from the Bensons, but it was also a disaster. He thought that the fish was his fault. Irony in this story was meant to be funny, and also this was hilarious. When people thought he was already done for, he had a job, and when everyone thought he was okay, he was actually thinking he was doomed. Irony in the stories which have animals add a playful snap to the story.
The use of animals in children’s literature is a tool in literary works. Animals can be used to convey themes, where it is a motif and has hidden meaning. People often use fables and such to make people understand the meaning behind the animal. Gombei and the Wild Ducks tell people not to be greedy and lazy, which is the meaning behind all of the ducks. The ducks represent laziness and greediness, something that everybody has. Also, the use of animals can convey the love between humans and animals, especially dogs. In Lob’s Girl, Sandy and Lob met at first sight, which meant that they loved each other. Because of this, Lob was willing to walk 400 miles in order to meet Sandy. This is demonstrated also in Aaron’s Gift. Aaron wanted Pidge to be the gift for his grandmother, but the older boys on the street made him join the club and kill the pigeon. Luckily he escaped, but Aaron had to pay the price. In addition, adding animals to stories will put in a little ironic spark into the story, which makes it fun and surprising.
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