An Analysis of the Fable, Parable, and Tale
Many parents enjoy reading their children short stories. In these short stories parents’ read their children, besides the instant entertainment, there is an underlying message to educate and perhaps teach a lesson. Some children’s favorite types of short stories are fables, parables, and tales. Many people do not know that these three types of short stories vary greatly in their individual characteristics, the type of story they tell, and their purpose.
The fable, parable, and tale all have differentiating characteristics when compared to each other, but are also similar in some ways. The fable, to start, has little detail about the characters it presents, and they can be just about anything the author decides. The structure of fables involve few extra details, as in the short story “The Appointment in Samarra” by W. Somerset Maugham (Kennedy 4), with his vague description of the servant being, “…white and trembling” at the ”threatening gesture” Death made toward him. This is that, fables, for the majority, are simple in their ability to directly state the moral clearly without any extra, unneeded information. This helps set the message of the story to memory. In comparison, parables have characters that are realistic or human like. However, parables do not directly state the moral at the end of the story, but instead leave the story open for interpretation. Lastly, tales have characters that, just like in fables, can be a range of things. This type of short story tends to have more details of events in the story than fables and parables. Tales unlike the other two types of literary forms, rarely have a moral. This type of story’s goal is less for the “revelation of character” than the “revelation of the marvelous” (Kennedy 8). Together fables, parables, and tales are all similar in being short stories but are equally different in the same aspects of being short stories.
Fable, parables, and tales each differ in how their story is told. Fables are stories that
The fable, parable, and tale all have differentiating characteristics when compared to each other, but are also similar in some ways. The fable, to start, has little detail about the characters it presents, and they can be just about anything the author decides. The structure of fables involve few extra details, as in the short story “The Appointment in Samarra” by W. Somerset Maugham (Kennedy 4), with his vague description of the servant being, “…white and trembling” at the ”threatening gesture” Death made toward him. This is that, fables, for the majority, are simple in their ability to directly state the moral clearly without any extra, unneeded information. This helps set the message of the story to memory. In comparison, parables have characters that are realistic or human like. However, parables do not directly state the moral at the end of the story, but instead leave the story open for interpretation. Lastly, tales have characters that, just like in fables, can be a range of things. This type of short story tends to have more details of events in the story than fables and parables. Tales unlike the other two types of literary forms, rarely have a moral. This type of story’s goal is less for the “revelation of character” than the “revelation of the marvelous” (Kennedy 8). Together fables, parables, and tales are all similar in being short stories but are equally different in the same aspects of being short stories.
Fable, parables, and tales each differ in how their story is told. Fables are stories that