Talking Animals in Children's Literature

This thesis describes and explains the characters of talking animals that appear in different literary forms and genres of children’s literature. A historical overview of animal stories presents a starting point for a more detailed analysis of animal characters in children’s fiction. Talking animals are analyzed in a selection of novels, especially those that belong to the genre of animal fantasy. Degrees of anthropomorphism are established, and specific traits, roles and narrative functions of animal characters are analyzed at each of the depicted levels. Animalistic novels demonstrate a variety of literary devices used to convey the thoughts and emotions of animal characters, even when they are only slightly anthropomorphized. Animal fantasy focuses on animal characters that are given the ability to speak human language, and such characterization is usually accompanied by higher levels of anthropomorphism. In some cases, animals keep their animal nature, human language being the main human characteristic they possess. Peter Rabbit, Aslan, Water Rat, Mole, Toad and Black Beauty present examples of animal characters whose behavior, thoughts and feelings are shaped according to the level to which they portray humans. The ways of interaction between human and animal characters are considered, and the study also focuses on animal characters which adopt the role of the narrator. It has been concluded that there are many variations between the extremes, and that it is often difficult to determine the exact degree of anthropomorphism of specific animal characters.