In this portfolio you will write your own allegory; an allegory is a story, poem, or picture that can be interpreted to reveal a hidden meaning, typically a moral or political one. Generally an allegory tells a story. You have a character (could be a human or animal) and something happens that is often adverse – generally caused by an outside source or the character does something adverse and this causes discomfort to others or to self or does something that is admired and shown to be the optimal behavior. The character learns that whatever he/she did was not beneficial and learns a lesson not to do it again or it is recognized that the behavior is ideal and the best comes from this action.
The allegory is a cautionary tale or it can be an illustrative tale to teach advisable behaviors. Remember, your allegory is a teaching story and you want the reader to come away with how one should behave and respond in the situation you provide in the story.
An example of an allegory is the medieval narrative poem;The Canterbury Tales; this allegory presents each pilgrim’s story and a particular lesson is learned from the actions and events presented by the character/pilgrim. Also, as you read “The Canterbury Tales” you have applied comprehension strategies to analyze the poem’s characterization, tone, narrator, voice, and perspective. Throughout the unit, you have also started gathering material to write a modern allegory inspired by the pilgrims’ stories in The Canterbury Tales by deciding on a theme, sketching characters, choosing a point of view, and creating an outline to organize the plot and other narrative elements. In this lesson, you will draft an allegory that is engaging for the reader and that conveys a moral message.
Tips: 1. Think about some Universal themes we all know: hope, fear, trust, values in society, change, betrayal, anger, humor etc… Think about the moral question you want to explore in the telling of the story.
2. Think about a situation that would describe and show this theme/moral question through the behavior of the characters.
3. Create two or more characters. One character needs to show the positive behavior and one needs to show the negative behavior. You want to describe the scene to allow the reader to understand that the negative behavior will have an adverse outcome (Good guy bad guy scenario)
4. Makes sure you create a story that allows the reader to see the growth of the characters and the results of the adverse behavior.
5. Show the moral question and how it is resolved. You need to illustrate how important the positive behavior is through the actions and reactions of the characters, the dialogue of the characters, and the tone of the narrator.
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