The Underneath

A long history of literature, particularly literature for children, features animal characters. Aesop, a Greek slave and writer who lived between the 7th and 6th century BCE, wrote fables that conveyed lessons. Most of his fables use animal protagonists and antagonists, whose situations refer to important truisms, such as “it is important to be honest” or “act with humility.”

Animals as protagonists create emotional distance that can make stories’ messages more palatable. For example, in one of Aesop’s fables, about a lion, an ass, and a fox, the lion asks the ass to divide food up between the three animals. When the ass gives each of the three animals equal amounts, the lion is angry and kills him. When the fox is asked to divide up the food, he gives the lion the greater portion. The lesson, or moral, of this tale is to learn from the misfortune of others. Had this story contained human characters, however, the action might have felt more shocking, whereas having a lion kill an ass seems within the spectrum of behavior one would expect from a powerful carnivore and is less disturbing. Similarly, in the more modern fable The Ugly Duckling (1843), by Danish poet and author Hans Christian Anderson, the story—about an ugly young bird who was mistaken for a duckling but turns into a beautiful swan—seems more lighthearted and less disturbing than a tale about an exceptionally ugly and therefore maligned child would be (Burke, Carolyn & Copenhaver, Joby. “Animals as People in Children’s Literature.” Language Arts, Volume 81, No. 3: 2004).

Furthermore, didactic lessons can be effectively conveyed through a means of storytelling that not only provides emotional distance but is inherently engaging and entertaining to children. Heinrich Hoffman, in his 1845 German book Struwwelpeter, uses exaggerated storylines, engaging illustrations, and anthropomorphized animals (animals to which human qualities are given) to teach child readers various lessons, such as to behave at mealtimes, to not play with matches, and to do as you’re told. These lessons, conveyed through amusing and silly stories with animals, help children learn acceptable behavior and the possible consequences for misbehavior (Burke, Carolyn & Copenhaver, Joby. “Animals as People in Children’s Literature.” Language Arts, Volume 81, No. 3: 2004).

Children’s inherent interest in animals is often used as an educational tool. Among the earliest examples is the text Orbis Sensualium Pictus, often considered the first picture book. Written by Czech teacher John Amos Comenius, it was published in 1658. It contains pictures of animals and descriptions of the sounds they make and is designed to help children learn the pronunciation of letters of the alphabet by linking these sounds to the sounds of animals. Presumably, Comenius sought to harness children’s interest in animal sounds to help them begin to link letters and sounds (McNamara, Charles. “In The Image of God: John Comenius and the First Children’s Picture Book.” The Public Domain Review: 2014).

Edwardian England saw explosive development of literature for children featuring animal characters, such as Beatrix Potter’s Peter Rabbit series (1902-1912) series and Kenneth Grahame’s The Wind in the Willows (1911). During this time, stories featuring personified animals often urged children to reflect on how to behave, such as Anna Sewell’s Black Beauty (1877), which urges readers to reflect on the treatment of animals—specifically horses—by people. Similarly, Kathi Appelt’s The Underneath encourages readers to consider humans’ responsibility to domestic and wild animals.