What Word Ascribes A Human Attribute To An Animal

Definition of Zoomorphism

Zoomorphism is a derivative of the Greek words zōon, which means "animal," and morphē, which means "class," or "shape." It is a literary technique in which animal attributes are imposed upon non-animal objects, humans, and events; and fauna features are ascribed to humans, gods, and other objects. Like in this instance,

"A couple of customers that had been heading for my slot began to knock confronting each other, like scared pigs in a chute."

(A&P, by John Updike).

Hither pigs are meant to be intelligent animals, and accept been used every bit a simile to evidence how people were behaving.

Opposite of Anthropomorphism

Zoomorphism means assigning a person, upshot, or a deity with animalistic characteristics. Anthropomorphism, on the other hand, is ascribing human qualities to other objects, animals, and inhuman creatures in order to give an insight into their functions.

Examples of Zoomorphism in Literature

Ane can find zoomorphism examples in literary pieces written during the time of the Romans and ancient Greeks. However, modernistic literature has used it extensively likewise.

Example #1: Barn Burning (By William Faulkner)

"The ii sisters got down, big, bovine, in a palpitate of cheap ribbons; one of them drew from the jumbled wagon bed a battered lantern, the other a worn broom. His father handed the reins to the older son and began to climb stiffly over the wheels … There was something about his wolf-similar independence and even courage when the advantage was at to the lowest degree neutral which impressed strangers, as if they got from his latent ravening ferocity not so much a sense of dependability, as a feeling that his ferocious confidence in the rightness of his own actions would be of reward to all whose involvement lay with his …"

Bovines are cows. They are perceived often equally boring, stupid, and lazy animals that do not question their masters. On the other hand, wolves are ferocious predators. In the higher up excerpt, the girls are represented as cows – having a lack independence, following their father without questioning. The begetter is compared to a wolf, which has "ferocious conviction in the rightness of his own actions."

Example #ii: A&P (By John Updike)

"You lot never know for certain how girls' minds work (do you actually think it's a mind in there or simply a little buzz like a bee in a glass jar?) but y'all got the idea she had talked the other two into coming in hither with here, and now she was showing them how to do it, walk slow and agree yourself direct … The sheep pushing their carts down the aisle – the girls were walking against the usual traffic (not that we have one-way signs or annihilation) – were pretty hilarious…"

In this case, buzzing similar a bee is supposed to imply that there is really nothing important in the girls' minds. While the customers are compared to sheep, who wander in groups mindlessly downwardly the aisles.

Example #3: The Holy Bible, Psalms (By Multiple Authors)

"For you have been my help. I volition rejoice in the shadow of your wings. (Psalm 63:7, English language Version)

"If I take the wings of the dawn, and settle in the remotest part of the sea…" (Psalm 139:ix, English Version)

Here, God is represented as a bird. The bird's/God's wings are compared to the condolement and shelter that God gives to His people.

Instance #four: A Midsummer Night's Dream (Past William Shakespeare)

"I have had a dream, past the wit of man to say what dream it was: man is just an ass, if he get nigh to expound this dream …"

This excerpt is the spoken communication of Bottom in the play, who had a dream in which he was an ass-headed monster adored by a gorgeous fairy queen. He describes that humans cannot comprehend his dream; it is beyond their approach.

Function of Zoomorphism

Zoomorphism is a literary technique. Examples of zoomorphism are often establish in brusk stories (used to finer provide detailed descriptions well-nigh the characters in stories). Records prove that it has been used as a literary device since the times of the ancient Romans and Greeks. It is a very helpful tool for the constructive description of different characters. The purpose of using this technique is to create a figurative language and provide a comparison.

Ezoic