Interpreting allegories in fantasy stories

Remember A few lessons ago we talked about how characters in fantasy face dragons – both literal and metaphoric --meaning big dangerous things in their lives that they needed to battle. Well, guess what, everything, absolutely everything in a fantasy story can be and is of ten invented by the author, many fantasy authors take that opportunity to make sure most things have multiple meanings. A lot of these stories actually are teaching real lessons, and that makes them what we call allegories.

Teaching point Today I want to teach you that fantasy readers can gain new insights into the real world by finding, understanding, and interpreting the metaphors and allegories that exist in fantasy. You can do that by noticing characters, objects, settings and creatures that might have multiple meanings.

Mufaro’s Beautiful daughters "A long way down the road, Manyara was confronted by an old woman seated upon a large stone. “I will give you some advice, Manyara. After you pass the place two paths cross, you will see a grove of trees. They will laugh at you. You must not laugh back at them. And later you will meet a man whose head is under his arm. You must be polite to him.” Manyara huffed, “How do you know my name? How dare you advise your future queen? Stand aside you ugly old woman!” and rushed on her way without looking back. Manyara came across the grove of trees the woman told her about, and it seemed that the trees did laugh at her. Manyara said to herself, “I must be calm. I will not be afraid.” She looked up at the trees and laughed out loud. “I laugh at you!” she shouted, and hurried on.

So what does It mean Where did the old woman come from? She seems to come out of nowhere and her interaction with Manyara turns to be so important that it makes me think that John Steptoe the author Is holding up a neon sign to the reader saying, “Look at me! Interpret me!”

Thief of Always The sun came to wake him soon after dawn—a straight white dart of light, laid on his lids. He sat up with a start, wondering for a moment what bed this was, what room, what house. Ten his memories of the pervious day returned, and he realized that he’d slept through from late afternoon to early morning. The rest had strengthened him. He felt energetic, and with a whoop of pleasure he jumped out of bed and got dressed. The House was more welcoming than ever today, the flowers Mrs. Griffin had set on every table and still sininging with color. The front door stood open, and sliding down the gleaming banisters Harvey raced out onto th eporch to inspect the morning. A surprise awaited him. The trees which had been heavy with leaves the prvious afternoon had shed their canopies. There wer new, tiny buds on every branch and twig, as though this were the first day of spring.

Connecting fantasy to the real world Today, consider how your novels are reflecting our world