Fables or stories with morals have always been
something that caught my interest, so reading Aesop’s Fables for me was a
breeze. Although I have had experience with fables, reading Aesop’s fables was
still a new experience for me, kind of like a second coming. Reading it with
fresh eyes, helped me notice how a lot of these fables not only teach a life
lesson, but they are also actual precautions and safe measures that we humans
use in our daily lives. The only question to pose was why were animals used to
tell these life lessons and not humans? Was it for comedic relief? Was it
because it would be less interesting to make it from the view of a human? In
Edward Clayton’s “Aesop, Aristotle, and Animals: The Role of Fables in Human
Life,” Clayton goes on to talk about why animals are always used in these
fables. He says uses a quote from Aristotle's “History of Animals” to argue how
animals and humans are the same. The point Clayton was trying to make is that
the only thing that makes animals and humans different is that we are
domesticated or “tamed” and animals aren't. As I went to read on, what I
understood was that because animals are not tame and they are still able to
teach you a life lesson, us as human being that are in fact tamed should learn
from these fables and apply them to our lives. We are the ones who are capable
of reason it shouldn't be that hard to follow these Fable’s message.
Your take on Clayton's writing is very insightful. You bring up good questions about the use of animals characters in fables instead of humans characters. I also like the fact that you talk about human's capability of reason and how that helps us understand and incorporate the lessons in fables into our lives. Great post.
ReplyDeleteYour post just made me think about why using animals might be so effective for trying to teach lessons or why Aesop might have used animals instead of Humans. I think it might be because, since people are "domesticated" as you mentioned, we've been conditioned to behave a certain way or to deviate from our own "animalistic" nature and using animals allows Aesop to portray natural human behaviors without having to account for the human compassion. I mean, he still could have used humans but it was just a thought that came up as I read your post.
ReplyDeleteI really like how you questioned the use of animals in the fables.I asked the same questions myself, and am glad I'm not the only one who did. I just though it was all just to teach a lesson, but it is more than just that. I also like how you understood what Clayton was saying, in how we are animals, but we are tamed. Other animals are just wild, but regardless, we are animals.
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