By KEVIN KAUMANS
Humans are an interesting group of creatures, are they not? For hundreds of thousands of years, we have been telling each other stories to entertain one another. A lot of them feature humans as the main cast, but sometimes there were also stories centered around other creatures; dogs, cats, monsters and even gods. Today, I am going to be talking about a trope in fiction that has been following me around ever since my childhood: The talking animal.
See, I was only eleven when I decided to become a writer. I was in the Kiowa Public Library, looking for a book to check out. Back then, I still did not know exactly what kind of books I like. By that, I mean I did not know how to tell if I would like a certain story enough to read it outside of school or if I would only finish for the AR tests my class was forced to take.
I remember the first book to grasp my interest for writing was “Survivors: The Empty City”, by Erin Hunter. The book is an introduction to this series about this group of city dogs who are forced to survive in the wilderness after a city-wide earthquake forces all the humans to leave. Looking back on it now, I see that the book’s writing is far from Hemingway. Still, it is important that I explain why this story is relevant.
As time went on, I found myself seeking out more literature that featured animals that could be understood by the reader. The animals did not have to be the main focus; they could just as easily be companions to the human characters. To me, all that mattered was witnessing the absurd concept of humans finally being able to understand the thought processes of the animal kingdom.
It is strange in a way though, is it not? We have all these biases, these stereotypes toward certain animals all because of this genre of fiction. Foxes are clever and care only about killing smaller, defenseless animals. Pigs are unclean and disgusting. Hyenas are sadistic and malign creatures that have no understanding of love. Dogs are dumb and need to be beaten in order to learn anything. In a way, the talking animal trope can be just as harmful as reinforcing negative stereotypes to humans.
But I would not say that this type of genre is a bad thing either. Animal fantasy has existed for over a century for a good reason; it gives us a look into how we as humans view the behaviors of other beings we can never fully understand. Psychological Criticism has always been one of my favorite schools of thought for reasons like this. Why do we see Lions as kings? Why are Foxes, on the other hand, seen as evil pests that are only good dead?
At the end of the day, no animal behaves perfectly. Sometimes, they attack humans with no provocation whatsoever. They do not care if you consider yourself a good person. They do not care if you think of yourself as an animal rights advocate. Their concept of morality will always be worlds different from ours. Sure, many animals of different species can love their owners. But we still need to remind ourselves that just because one neighbor’s dog bites, it is completely illogical to assume that another neighbor’s will.
What I am trying to argue here is for us as a society to treat animals with the respect they deserve. If a fox is outside your hen house? Go ahead and shoot him. You need to hunt deer to feed your family because of how rural your area is? Do it. I am just saying that we need to stop trying to wipe out or domesticate every species of animal that fits our narrow-minded human view of good and evil.
Before I end this, I need to mention that I myself have self-published two books of the animal fantasy genre that includes them as the main characters. The books can be found on Amazon, titled: “Wolves of the Tundra”, under my pseudonym, Samuel Seeker. I myself look back on these books and wonder why my younger self chose to write the wolves of his story in the strange, absurd ways they do.
Animal behaviour is my favorite field of zoology. Since I could walk, I have always been obsessed with trying to understand why animals react to certain things the way they do. The trope of the talking animal, whether it is the protagonist or simply a companion to a humanoid character, is what makes this area of study so intriguing to me. After you finish reading this article, I can only hope that some of you will see it too.